A Captive Heart (5 page)

Chapter Thirteen

The next day Tamsin ventured to the cave on her own, early in the morning. She had refused Reuben’s offer to accompany her as he saddled her horse, in case it invited free talk amongst the Royalist men on duty at the castle. There would be whispers, as a young girl she most certainly attracted the mens’ eyes around her, and they might report this to their officers and her father. This troubled Tamsin - she did not wish her loyal young friend Reuben to get into trouble.

Today for the first time she noted a change in Adam’s face. It showed signs of strain and his eyes were looking feverish and bright. This worried her immensely. The cause for this was soon discovered when she uncovered his wound and found it still weeping and slow to heal. ‘This should be getting better. I must help you to leave and sooner than I thought, Adam. We risk your life the longer we keep you here. Your wound is not healing as it should have.

‘I shall have to ask Reuben for his help again... Your wound will give you a high fever and you could die if the poison from it disperses quickly into your blood.’

‘And
I will not be well enough to leave here even with your help.’ He groaned and she could see he would need help quickly if he was ever going to survive this at all.

It
could not be allowed to fester further, and she had to ask Reuben for his help once again.

Would
he give it willingly though? His father had been a Cornish healer and Reuben was far wiser than his eighteen years and had inherited his knowledge and usage of herbs. If he could have had an education Tamsin felt sure that Reuben could use his skills well as a doctor.

‘I
must leave you, Adam, at once. But I promise you I will get you well enough to leave here before long.’

He
reached out for her hand and lifting it to his lips kissed it. ‘Tamsin Trevanian you are an angel in disguise. You have already risked far too much for me. I know that I do not deserve it but I must escape before I lead you into more trouble.’

She sighed. ‘But if you do not let me go now I cannot get the help you need.’

Chapter Fourteen

On her return to the castle stables she found Reuben looking out anxiously for her. ‘Your father was asking for you,’ he signed to her. ‘Why have you been so long away? It is no longer wise to do this. And he worries about your safety daily.’

‘Reuben,
you are the only one I know who can use the herbal medicines wisely. Please listen to me. You are the only one I can trust to help me. You can make Adam better. He needs you now. We must leave here with him soon.’

He
didn’t look happy but he agreed to do what she asked. He understood what had happened to Adam’s wound. It was a setback that now had to be overcome quickly. He shook his head at first but listened to her plea carefully. Yes he did have the healing plants close at hand that Adam needed, and he could not let his earlier attempts to save him go to waste. He saw the fear in Tamsin’s eyes and had no to wish to cause her any more stress.

He
hoped that this encounter with Adam would not hurt or harm her in anyway. Without attracting his mother’s curiosity he set about carefully procuring the necessary herbs from the small herb garden he kept within the castle grounds.

*

After an hour or so Reuben returned with Tamsin to the cave, albeit reluctantly, to take a fresh look at the injury. After bathing and cleaning it he used the healing poultice of Chamomile to draw out the virulent poisons in the wound. The look he wore in his blue eyes while doing this made his own reservations very clear to Adam as he worked on him even if he could not put his opinion into words.

‘You
may not fully approve but you have not given up on me quite yet as a lost cause then?’ Adam said. ‘Thank you, Reuben. Thank you, Tamsin.’

Adam
felt frustrated by this fresh complication, his arm and shoulder were painful and ached badly, his head felt warm and feverish. It meant that he would not be able to leave as quickly as he had first hoped.

They
had been lucky so far that no one had come to search the cave. Adam knew that the fears that he had for her safety far outweighed any that he might have for his own. He could not, must not admit that he felt such deep feelings for her and what he felt grew with every hour he spent in her company. This spelt danger in the field of work he did. They were enemies for as long as the war and conflict continued.

Tamsin, he knew, could be in real trouble because of him. She had taken so much on her young shoulders and he smiled when he thought of her shy confession that she had first thought on discovering him that he could be a Merman, a legendry creature from the sea. Would that he could have been for her sake. He could then have returned quickly from whence he came...the sea was only short distance away.

The
longer he stayed only served to increase her difficulties. Someone might soon notice her taking meats and pastries from the kitchen pantry daily and her frequent rides across the countryside. It could possibly ruin her Royalist father’s good reputation as well because he was Sir Philip Carey’s best friend, and Tamsin had protected and saved his son, a Roundhead spy. He could not allow Richard Trevenian’s good name to be besmirched by his daughter’s innocent intent to save him.

He
could not allow her to risk anything more for his sake. He could not allow anything or anyone to hurt her. He would have to leave as soon as he felt able to take the climb back up the cliff. He still remembered the appalling, agonizingly, difficult descent he had made, losing blood from his open wound.

Once
again he thanked Reuben gratefully, as he finished his work on his shoulder and knew in his heart that the youth only did this because Tamsin asked it of him. The sooner he left Tresco the easier it would be for Reuben too. He could be punished most severely for helping the enemy even if it was instigated by the Colonel’s daughter.

Once
hostilities infringed on their lives again, it would force them apart to be on different sides. It would make no difference to how he really felt about her. He knew he could never forget her.

Chapter Fifteen

As she left Adam once again, Reuben riding silently by her side, Tamsin’s mind was racing. It was a lovely day, the afternoon sun was shining, so how could she feel as desperate and miserable as she did now? How could the war make things so bad for everyone here on Tresco, such a beautiful island? Adam was supposed to be her enemy. Maybe he would have no course but to betray them once he was safe back with his own men, but how could she hate him? He was fighting for the cause he believed to be right too.

Every
time Tamsin said goodbye to him it became so much harder for her to bear. She took the picture of his face back with her. It haunted her constantly as she wondered how he really felt left alone in the flickering candlelight. But he could be using her for his own purpose and she had to remember this, however much he set out to charm her.

Brushing
her hair out hard that evening until it shone like molten copper silk in the candle light, she looked at herself in her small hand mirror and wished that she could picture his face close to hers in it. Wished too that his arms could reach out, to enclose her with their warmth and strength to tighten around her right then as they once did when they were children.

She
had never felt like this before for anyone. She ought to hate him but instead as she touched her cheek, she wondered how the dark stubble on his chin would be if it brushed against her skin. What if her parents had arranged a marriage between them, would she know now what it was like to have him share her marital bed where he would shower her with kisses as men did if they really loved you?

Reuben had shaved Adam’s chin smooth for him with his knife that day, leaving some small cuts on his skin, but his face was looking much better and even more handsome than before, if that was possible, Tamsin thought. She sighed - she doubted now that she would ever discover what real love was like.

Tamsin
knew she must get Adam out of her life forever but she found it hard to find the strength to do so when she thought of the heartbreak that would inevitably follow his leaving.

*

The next morning, Martha, watching Tamsin carefully, made clear her plans for her. She knew that Tamsin’s father wanted her to leave so she could take her rightful place in country society once again, but as she was behaving at the moment - like a young madam - it was going to be hard work for her part.

‘It’s high time, young lady, that you spent your days learning how to manage a household as a wife.’ Martha took her firmly in hand as Tamsin was once again preparing to set out on her early morning ride to the cave. ‘You are spending far too many days abroad riding and roaming the countryside. You are a young woman not a lad, and it is your father’s wish that you behave like one. You could soon be somebody’s wife.’

‘No!’
Tamsin frowned and tossed her head. ‘I do not wish to marry anyone.’

Martha shook a long forefinger at her. ‘One day quite soon you will wish to marry and you need to be prepared to become a wife and mother. You’d best listen to what I have to say.’ She frowned sternly at Tamsin. ‘You are still in my charge. You shall do as you are told and take a turn in the stillroom, in the kitchens and the linen room. You shall learn all I can teach you about housewifery.’

Tamsin
had little choice but to do as she was told. She dared not disobey. She knew that Martha had right on her side. She was still looking after her, a motherless girl, to the best of her ability and Colonel Trevenian would support her in this.

Adam
would have to wait a while longer till Tamsin could get away without causing Martha to question her further. She dared not arouse her suspicions more or she would never be able move freely around the island.

With
Martha’s help Tamsin put on a petticoat and an elegant silk lilac gown, and dressed her curling, titian hair into pretty ringlets around her face. Afterwards, Tamsin was forced to admit she hardly recognized the fashionable young lady she saw in the mirror. Martha, taking her severely to task, tut-tutted over the tiny sprinkling of light freckles that she could see marching in procession over the bridge of Tamsin’s pert nose.

‘Just
look at you,’ she declared sternly. ‘Too much time spent out in the sun without a bonnet. Take a good look, madam. It will take some hard work with a camomile and honey lotion to be rid of these.’ Martha scolded her severely, holding up the hand mirror so Tamsin could see better for herself. ‘If you wore a straw hat while out riding on these hot sunny days you would not be kissed by the sun so easily. A lady, if she really wants to look her best, takes care that her skin remains unblemished, fair and stylishly pale.’

Tamsin
wrinkled up her nose in the mirror and laughed. ‘I insist I am not looking for a husband. With this terrible war and all the fighting going on around us how can I expect to meet any young men that are free to marry and want to settle down?’

Martha
nodded. ‘Aye - that it is true. But the war will not go on forever, child. Sooner or later you must marry and marry well.’ Tamsin’s fine brows rose at this. ‘Oh, yes, your father will soon wish it. He will see to it that a marriage is arranged for you and it would be better for you if he were a young man of your own choosing. A young man of good birth and with enough wealth to take care of you well and support a family.’

Tamsin
threw her arms up in the air. ‘Oh! And where am I ever likely to find such a Royalist gentleman, pray? One who pleases me? One that is, young, free and healthy and handsome? I doubt that they will be rich because if Cromwell wins he will strip them of everything: their lives, wealth and estates. What will happen to our young Cavaliers then? If they survive at all and are able to emigrate to France they will not own anything.’ She paced the bedchamber floor and gestured again with her slender arms. ‘They will have their homes and land taken away from them unless they have friends in high places with Cromwellian sympathies.’

Martha
was much disturbed. She did not like to hear her young charge talking as freely as this. She seemed to have grown up so quickly in the last few days. And it appeared that her words were coming true - so many known Royalists were now going abroad to live in France, their homes and estates falling forfeit to their enemies. Soon there would be no young men left in England able to court the young women of their choice.

Tamsin
longed to get away out of the restricting walls of the castle, but she did as she was told and listened carefully to Martha’s instructions on how to clean soiled clothes with fullers earth, how to make wax candles, syllabubs and many other useful things. If she did not, she knew she would never be free to spend her time as she wished…

Chapter Sixteen

Tamsin changed back into a simpler blue gown, one more suitable for riding. This would be the first time that Adam saw her wearing a dress of any kind and her hair tidied into fashionable ringlets. When she approached him in the cave he was waiting for her. Standing up to greet her his face seemed to have filled out well for the better. He held out his arms but she carefully kept her distance. She thought it wiser to do this in case she betrayed how she felt about him.

He
laughed. ‘What happened to you? You are late! I thought you were in trouble. Were you?’

‘
No, Martha made me work in the kitchen. I have played truant much too long and she simply will not allow it.’

He sighed. ‘Then I must not put you more in jeopardy. I cannot demand that you keep me company here any longer.’

‘You
cannot stop me, I will do my best to see that you leave Tresco safely, or it will ever be on my conscience, Adam, and my father’s too. He is worried because he has been looking and has not found you amongst the prisoners.’

Adam
was forced to leave his fate in her hands once again. This young woman had a will of her own which served her well and matched her brave spirit. More than ever he wished that he could make her see that they could never be enemies because she meant too much to him now.

Tamsin
meanwhile did her best not to reveal her true feelings to him. If she did, she thought, it could only put her further in his power and he could betray her father and the other royalists by releasing knowledge of their defences here on the Isles of Scilly that he had gathered since he first came here.

Her father it seemed had much to say that evening over supper about how he thought the war was going. It was only too obvious to Tamsin that he was attempting to tell her something he did not want to discuss. Had he found out about Adam? Perhaps she had been followed and Adam had been taken away, and put in the prison awaiting execution and her father did not know how to tell her.

‘Father
what is it? What is wrong? Please tell me - what troubles you?’

‘My
dear girl.’ He studied her face. ‘I can never keep anything from you.’ He sighed and drank down his glass of wine looking troubled. ‘Alas, I have to send you away. It is for the best and it is as I decided. What would happen to you if I were captured? You cannot stay here any longer. It is far too dangerous now. We could be attacked at any time without warning.’

Tamsin
cried out, ‘No, Father!’ She ran round the table quickly to him, placing her arms around him, and her cheek against his said, ‘No! Never! I shall not leave you!’

‘Tamsin,
you must listen to me.’

‘Father!
I will not leave you. I cannot. Pray do not ask it of me.’

‘Please, daughter, hear what I have to say. I have strong reason to think that it will not be long before we are overrun here. And next time it would not be so pleasant for you. I could be put in prison like our King was and executed. And the young Prince, too, if he is caught may be tried and hanged. We may all have to face this ere long: a country without a King and no heir to the throne.’

‘The
Prince of Wales executed? Hanged? Like a common thief? They cannot do it to him.’

‘Yes,
my daughter. Cromwell can if it so pleases him. Thus they would rid us of our royalty for ever.’

She
stared back at him but she saw by the look of pain in his eyes that it was the truth, as he believed it.

‘They
could not, would not do that to the Prince! That is vile! They would be brutal cruel villains to do such a terrible thing. ’

Tamsin
was badly shaken by this news. The Prince of Wales, the King’s own son, was also forced to hide, like a wanted criminal with a price on his head. It seemed that the Parliamentarians cared little for their royal family, they wanted to wipe them out and the term Ironsides suited them well. How long would they carry out this tyranny unheeded and unchecked? Then her thoughts wandered to Adam Carey and how he would fend if she were made to leave Tresco soon.

‘Daughter!
Are you listening to me? You must leave Tresco by the end of the week. I have arranged passage on a French sailing ship to take you, Martha and Reuben safely over to the mainland,’ he insisted gravely.

‘No,
Father! I shall not go.’

She
put her arms around him. Surely her tearful pleading would change his mind, but he was adamant, he would not have it. ‘I am sending you home at once to Treganna. You will be safer there.’

‘I
do not want to go, Father.’

‘Your
Aunt Phoebe would be pleased to have you to stay with her. It is lonely for her with Bevil away. Martha has been already instructed to get your things together and your Aunt Phoebe has your rooms made ready, dear girl. You must not feel unhappy about it.’

‘Would
Mother have left you? No she would not! I do not want to leave you, Father. How can you be so cruel to me?’

She
moved away sat down covered her face and wept. But it did not have the desired effect on him.

He
studied her carefully and said sternly, ‘I thought you had grown up, Tamsin. It appears that you have not. I cannot pay you enough attention here and Martha tells me you ride out and run wild like a gypsy girl on Tresco these days and it only goes to show that it is wrong for you to stay here. I have told you my decision and you will do as you are told. You shall stay with your aunt Phoebe at Treganna.’

Shaking
her head tearfully Tamsin ran from the room without uttering another word. She desperately needed time to think. This was catastrophic. If she had to leave so soon, then so did Adam. What could they do about him? She had to make use of the decision that had been forced on her. If she left Tresco, Adam had to be got out of the cave somehow and put on a boat back to the mainland. It seemed to Tamsin that he would have no choice but to take the journey home with her.

There
was no other way round it; she had to tell Martha what she had done. She would need help from the right quarters and it was not going to be easy. Her nurse would do anything for her, well almost anything. But it was asking her a great deal to get her to help Adam Carey.