The Midwife and the Assassin (5 page)

I considered the situation, hoping I might find an escape, but it was clear that he had set his trap well.

“What would you have us do?” I asked.

 

Chapter 4

Marlowe returned to his seat and leaned back, smiling broadly at my surrender. It struck me that his smile would not have been out of place on a wolf. And if he was the wolf, was I not the lamb?

“Before we discuss the terms of your service,” Marlowe said, “we should bring in your nephew. He has as much an interest in these matters as anyone. Colonel Reynolds, would you please fetch Mr. Hodgson?”

My heart leaped at Marlowe's words, and I heard Martha gasp. Could it be so easy to obtain Will's freedom? And after three years apart, what would I say to him when he finally appeared?

Each moment that Martha and I waited for Will's arrival seemed to last ten thousand years. For a moment I worried that this was some sort of game, that Marlowe would raise our hopes only to dash them, and in doing so bring us entirely to our knees. I could not deny that such a ploy would work, and I prayed that he was not so cruel as that.

The Lord must have heard my entreaties, for the door opened and Will appeared. Even as I rushed to embrace him, I recognized the changes that the last three years had wrought on his frame. He still carried his cane, for his clubfoot would never be healed, but he nevertheless seemed stronger than when we'd parted ways. I also saw that he'd cut his hair in the Roundhead way, and wondered what it might mean. Had he joined that faction?

Will wrapped his arms round Martha and me, burying his face between us. Within moments all three of us were sobbing, and our tears washed away the anger and resentment that had driven us apart during our last dreadful days in York. After a time, I stepped back and let Will and Martha hold each other. I heard murmured apologies, declarations of love, and promises that they would never again spend so long apart. I prayed that this was true, but knew the world had a habit of mocking such words, however genuine they might be.

I looked to Colonel Reynolds and I was surprised to find his eyes brimming with tears. He looked to me and offered a small, sad smile, as if he had known such love, but only in some distant past. I was less pleased by Marlowe's expression, for there was no longing in his smile, only the cold satisfaction of a man who had drawn the ace of trumps and didn't care who knew it. He had already demonstrated that he would use my love of Will to force me into service, and now he knew he could do the same to Martha.

Marlowe rapped on his desk, reclaiming our attention. “Now that we all are here, we should discuss why I brought you together.”

Silence fell over the room, and I felt like an accused criminal awaiting my sentence.

“As you know, these are tumultuous days for England. The King has made war on his own people, and now he is prisoner on the Isle of Wight. Parliament rules the land, but it faces threats from every quarter.” Marlowe stood and began to count off Parliament's enemies.

“The most dangerous faction is the bloody-minded Royalists. They have fomented rebellions here in England and planned invasions from abroad, including from France, Scotland, and Ireland. They wish to restore the King's tyrannical rule even if it means plunging the nation back into war.

“Then there are so-called moderate men who wish to negotiate with the King. They would play Esau to his Jacob, returning him the throne in exchange for little more than a bowl of stew. If either of these factions has their way, the King once again will rule as a tyrant.

“Finally, there are the Levellers. These mad-brains accuse Cromwell and Parliament of ruling as tyrants no different from the King. They seek to overthrow the present government and to replace it with anarchy.”

I glanced uncertainly around the room. I did not know what Royalists, moderate men, or Levellers had to do with me. Since leaving York I'd kept clear of the political tumult, and could offer Marlowe little help discovering the plans of any party he named. Martha and Will seemed no less confused than I, and Colonel Reynolds's face betrayed nothing.

“Before the end of the year,” Marlowe continued, “these matters will come to a head and the fate of the King will be decided. These next months will be dangerous ones. It is my duty to secure the ship of state and help her to reach safe harbor.
Your
duty will be to assist me in this task.”

“I told you already,” I said, “I am a midwife and that is all.”

“Not anymore,” Marlowe replied. “You are my creature, and you will do my bidding. And it is not just you, Lady Hodgson, but all three of you. I am told you work well together, or at least you did in York. You will bring those skills to London and put them to good use.”

“And if we don't, I will return to the Tower,” Will said.

He had taken a step away from Martha, and now I could see him more clearly. He appeared to be in good health, and strangely clean for having lain in the Tower for several weeks. Of course, since he was bait for me, rather than a true prisoner, Marlowe would have been careful to keep him alive. If Will had died in prison, Marlowe's advantage over me would have evaporated like the morning fog.

“Liberty has its price,” Marlowe said to Will. “If you wish to remain free, you, your aunt, and her maidservant will work on my behalf. It is as simple as that.” Marlowe spoke as if our conscription into his service were as inevitable as the rise and fall of the tides.

“If you would have me inform on my friends, you have missed the mark entirely,” I said. “Other than Sir Robert, I know only one family in London, and they will have nothing to do with me. You will have to look elsewhere for your spy.”

“Oh, it's not the Wallingtons,” Marlowe said. “Indeed, it's not the Royalists at all.”

I was shocked that he had heard of my visit to Esther, for he only could have known of our plans by reading the letters I had sent from Pontrilas. How long had he been doing that?

“It is the Levellers,” Will said. “He means for us to spy on the Levellers.”

“What?” I cried. “How so? I know none of them.”

I had read about the Levellers, of course, and knew their arguments to be quite mad. No matter which crack-brained fool was writing, their demands were those of lunatics. Some demanded the right to print whatever they wanted, however seditious or blasphemous. Others sought toleration of all religions, no matter how foolish or atheistic. And some demanded that all men, no matter how poor, be allowed to vote for members of Parliament. They were, as Mr. Marlowe had said, mad-brains one and all.

“I know them, Aunt Bridget,” Will said. “I am why he chose you.”

Martha and I looked at Will in confusion.

“Last year when I left the Lord Mayor's service, I came to London,” Will said. “I fell in with some who are called Levellers. Soon after, Mr. Marlowe's men burst in upon one of their meetings. They arrested me and many others.”

“Are you a Leveller?” I asked. I could not imagine Will joining up with such a mob.

He shrugged. “Do not judge them by what their enemies claim. You must hear their ideas for yourself. And whatever Mr. Marlowe might say, they have no desire to destroy the government. They simply believe the government should rule by the consent of the people, not by force of arms.”

Marlowe snorted dismissively at Will's description. “Luckily for your nephew, he was taken up before he could find himself too deep in their plotting, else he would be in the low dungeon. But it was through him that I learned of you and your unusual work in York.”

“I am sorry, Aunt Bridget,” Will said. “When the questioners asked about my family, I told them about you. I hoped that your rank might win me my freedom. I did not mean for you to be trapped as well.”

I took his hand. “You could not have known. It is not your fault.”

Will shook his head in despair, unwilling to be so easily forgiven.

“Blame who you like,” Marlowe said, “the fact remains that I have restored your nephew to you, Lady Bridget, and now you will work for me.”

“I told you, I know no Levellers,” I said. “You've wasted your time and ours.”

“You may not know them yet,” Marlowe replied. “But you will know them very soon. Colonel Reynolds will explain what we have planned for you.”

The three of us turned to face the Colonel.

“The Levellers are scattered throughout the city.” Colonel Reynolds spoke softly, as if he regretted his place in the sordid business. “There is a group across the river in Southwark, where we found Will.”

“We had planned to put you with that crowd,” Marlowe said. “But we discovered that their gangrenous ideas have spread to the city itself.”

“Our concern now is with a group in Cheapside,” Colonel Reynolds said, “not far from St. Paul's. They meet in a tavern called the Nag's Head. We watch those meetings as best we can, but we need to know what is said in private gatherings.”

“We are worried about one family in particular,” Marlowe said, “Daniel and Katherine Chidley. They are born Levellers and as turbulent and factious a pair as you'll find in all of England.”

“Katherine?” Martha asked. “The wife as well?”

“Especially the wife,” Marlowe replied. “Before the war, she was a thorn in the King's side and the Bishops' as well. Now she makes trouble for Parliament. She is opposed to all good order and authority, whatever its form.”

“And she is a midwife,” Colonel Reynolds added. “That is why Mr. Marlowe chose you for this task. You should have no trouble striking up a friendship.” He produced an envelope from his coat pocket and handed it to me. “You and your maidservant will live in the Cheap—Cheapside—across the street from the Chidleys. We have rented an apartment for you there. Your nephew will stay with me at a nearby inn called the Horned Bull. You and I will meet from time to time and you will tell me what you have learned. You need do nothing more than watch and listen.”

“An apartment?” I asked. “You don't think people will find it curious that a gentlewoman from Hereford suddenly took it into her head to move to London and occupy a tenement in Cheapside? If the Levellers are so easily gulled, they could hardly threaten the government.”

“Yes, you are right, of course,” Marlowe said. “And you can credit Colonel Reynolds with untying that particular knot.”

Marlowe paused, relishing his words, and once again I felt like a lamb that had wandered into a wolf's den.

“Before you go to the Cheap,” Marlowe said, “we will turn you from a gentlewoman into a common widow.”

I can only imagine the expression on my face, but Marlowe found it delightful enough to laugh out loud. It was not a natural sound.

“Once you arrive in the Cheap, you will no longer be
Lady Hodgson,
” Marlowe continued. “You will be
Mrs. Hodgson,
or
Widow Hodgson
, or even
Midwife Hodgson,
if you like. But from this day forward you are no better than any of your neighbors.” Marlowe paused. “If it is any consolation, Martha will still be your deputy.”

I could not even gibber. Even Martha was shocked into silence. My mind reeled at the idea of lowering myself to such a place.
Mrs.
Hodgson?
Widow
Hodgson? It was not that there were no respectable women outside the gentry, of course. Indeed, in York many of my best gossips were common folk. But I'd been
Lady
Hodgson for so long that I had come to rely on both the name and the title. And now Marlowe would have me walk away from that world entirely.

“You will find all you need in that envelope,” Colonel Reynolds said. “You have a copy of your husband's will, and a license from the Archbishop of York allowing you the office of a midwife. If anyone should question you, they will prove your story to be true.”

I opened the packet and leafed through the papers. While I'd kept my name, little else about me had survived. I now hailed from Halifax, where I'd lived with my husband, Edmund. Edmund—a clothier, it seemed—had died the previous spring, leaving me nothing except a spinning wheel, two chairs, and three pounds.

“You have a little money to help you get settled,” Colonel Reynolds said. “But you will have to work if you want to eat.”

To his credit, Colonel Reynolds seemed quite uncomfortable with his duties. The scheme may have been his, but he was not enjoying its execution.

“You will need new clothes, of course,” Marlowe said, his eyes shining with unseemly glee. “Or rather, old ones, for a new widow can hardly wear new clothes.” Marlowe actually laughed at this. “And you will have to send away your carriage. Once you look the part of a poor widow, Colonel Reynolds will take you to Cheapside.”

“Will two days be enough time?” Colonel Reynolds asked.

I nodded numbly. I had no idea how long such a change would take. And then I thought of Elizabeth. “What of my daughter?” I asked. “If I am to be in your service, I must bring her here.”

Marlowe thought for a moment. “She will stay in Hereford for now. I cannot have you mothering, midwifing,
and
spying. Do you have any questions?”

I stared at Mr. Marlowe, aghast that with a few words he'd deprived me of my daughter. I shook my head.

“Good,” Marlowe said. “Two days it is. I look forward to your reports.” With that he returned to his papers. It seemed we were dismissed.

Colonel Reynolds accompanied Will, Martha, and me to the Tower gate and then down to the riverside.

“Colonel Reynolds,” I said, “You told me that you would call on us in two days' time.”

He nodded.

“How do you know where we are staying?
We
didn't know where we would be staying until last night.”

Colonel Reynolds smiled ruefully. “Mr. Marlowe has more spies in his employ than the three of you. He knew the road you'd be taking in from Hereford, and learned from your letters that your first stop would be at Esther Wallington's. He had a man watch the Wallingtons and follow you from there. London is growing, but a beautiful gentlewoman newly arrived from Hereford will stand out even among so many thousands.”