The Song of the Siren (10 page)

“What are you doing with General Langdon?”

“Saving his life. Is that not a commendable thing to do?” | “But he ... he is the King’s prisoner.”

“He was,” said Hessenfield.

“You mean ...?”

“I told you, Mistress Main, that it is not for you to ask the I questions. Do as I tell you and who knows, you might save your skin.”

I was silent. He stood up and moved off. Then he came back with jjsome bread and bacon for me. I turned my head away.

“Take it!” he thundered.

So I took it.

“And eat it,” he said.

“I do not wish to eat it.”

“But you will eat it all the same.”

He stood there, legs astride, looking down at me. I ate a little of the bread and bacon. Then he came back with a flask of ale. He threw himself down beside me and offered me the flask. I drank a little. He smiled and put it to his lips. “We shall share the flask,” he said. “One “night say it is a loving cup.”

Then I was conscious of a tingling fear because there was that in

I

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his eyes which I understood. I thought of what one of the others had said: “You have other plans for her. We expect that of you, Hessenfield.”

I saw that I was completely at his mercy. The others would have killed me and thrown my body in a stream or buried it under the trees and nobody would ever know what had become of me. I would disappear ... as Beau had disappeared.

He stretched out beside me eating bread and bacon and drinking from his flask.

He said: “You are a bold young lady, I know. Don’t think I don’t see those flashing eyes. You must realise that you are in ^cute danger. Your hope is in me. You know that. You have stumbled on something which is a matter of life and death ... your death as well as others. You were too curious, mistress. Why did you not go on when there was no room at the inn? Why did you walk into that room when you had no business to?” He leaned towards me. “But, do you know,” he went on quietly, “I am glad you did.”

I did not answer.

I wondered what would happen to me next. I knew he desired me. I knew that he was a man who would have mistresses throughout the country. He was so like Beau in many ways. He did not want to kill me as the others did, at least not until after he had been my lover.

Death was very close but, strangely enough, I felt more alive than I had since Beau had died.

We were in the wood for two hours before we set out again. I was very conscious of his proximity and he was aware of this. I could see by the expression in his eyes that this amused him; but I warned myself against him. He was as ruthless as the rest of them.

They seemed to be making for some special place and I very soon realised that we were heading south. I was all right for now and then I fancied I caught the tang of the sea. We kept away from main roads and at length we came to a house in a very isolated part of the country. It overlooked the sea but there appeared to be no other dwelling for miles around.

We rode into the courtyard and dismounted. As we had ridden along I had been trying to think of ways of escaping from them. That was not going to be very easy, I could see; but the thought exhila-73rated me. I imagined their rage and fear when they discovered I had gone, and that gave me a certain pleasure.

One thing I had gathered was that General Langdon was no unwilling prisoner; and I came to the conclusion that they had rescued him from the Tower. Surely quite an undertaking, but I already knew that if Hessenfield made up his mind to do something he almost certainly would.

Could it really be that these men were members of that often spoken of Jacobite community who were determined to put James on the throne? That General Langdon was one of them I already knew. I could see what a dangerous intrigue I had fallen into without caring one way or the other for their aims.

I was hustled into the hall. There was an air of absolute quiet about the place.

Hessenfield said: “Better search thoroughly. Every room, every possible spot.”

I looked about the hall.

“Pleasant place,” said Hessenfield conversationally. “We’re lucky to have it.”

“How did you know it would be empty?”

He held up a finger almost playfully. “Really, my dear, must I tell you again not to ask questions?”

I turned away impatiently and I saw the excitement leap up in his eyes and it sent a shiver of apprehension through me which I could not honestly say did not hold a slight touch of pleasure.

One of the men, who was called Geoffrey, returned to the ball.

“All in order,” he said.

“Good. Now for a council of war. First get the invalid to a bed.”

I said: “His leg is bleeding badly. It needs attention.”

They were all looking at me.

“She’s right,” said Hessenfield. “One of you had better see about that doctor. You know where to go.”

Durrell said: “I’ll go.”

“At once.”

“The bleeding should be stopped at once,” I said.

“Help him up and we’ll look at his leg again,” said Hessenfield. He was gripping my arm and two of them carried the General up the stairs. Hessenfield and I followed.

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The house was in good order. I could not understand why it should be deserted. There was a wide staircase leading to a landing, and the General was taken into a bedroom and laid on a four-poster bed.

His hose were removed and his breeches cut away. There was an ugly wound on his thigh.

I said it should be bathed and bandaged. That might stop the flow of blood.

“Get water for her,” said Hessenfield.

“I want bandages too,” I said.

It seemed that there were no bandages, but one of them found a man’s shirt in a cupboard and we tore it up. It served well enough.

“How did this happen?” I said.

And Hessenfield gripped my shoulder and laughed at me, reminding me that I was at it again. Questions were forbidden-at least coming from me.

“You understand we have to stop the flow of blood,” I said. “If we don’t he’ll die.

I think I know how to do it.”

I was remembering an occasion when Damaris had cut her arm badly and Leigh had stopped the bleeding. I had watched him fascinated and now it came back to me.

“I need a strong stick,” I said.

There was silence and then Hessenfield said: “Find something for her.” They found a back scratcher on the dressing table; it was long and thin, yet strong, made of ebony and had carved claws at the end.

I found the throbbing point and put a pad of cloth over it; then I tied a strip of bandage over it leaving a half-knot in which I placed the back scratcher before tying it firmly. Then I carefully turned the wood, tightened the bandage as I had seen Leigh do. It was not long before the profuse bleeding had stopped.

I sat by the bed and anxiously watched the General. The men were looking at the wounded man. I could see that he was badly injured and wondered how he had affected his escape from the Tower.

It seemed a long time before the doctor came. He was obviously nervous and I guessed that he was a Jacobite and would not have been brought to the house otherwise.

I explained to him what I had done. He said: “Good. Good,” and I felt an immense lifting of my spirits.

“He has lost a lot of blood,” he said. “A little more could have been fatal. This action may well have saved his life.”

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I was overwhelmed with joy. Hessenfield was looking at me with a sort of proprietary pride which amused me and I must say gave me a certain exhilaration.

I was walked out of the room by the man called Durrell and put in the next one. He stood guarding me. I knew that he would have despatched me on the spot if he had had his way.

He was not young; he must have been about fifty. There was fanaticism in his face; I guessed he was a man who would take up a cause and give everything to it. He was different from Hessenfield, to whom I was sure life was intended to be enjoyed however serious the undertaking. Hessenfield must be at least twenty years younger than this man. I guessed him to be about thirty, though, like Beau, he appeared to be younger.

I wished I could stop comparing him with Beau.

I heard the doctor leave. Hessenfield came into the room. He was smiling. “He’ll be all right,” he said. “He couldn’t have afforded to lose much more blood. You see, Durrell, our lady is proving a useful member of the party. Perhaps she will prove to be more useful. Who knows? There is usually some good to be found in feminine society.”

Durrell went close to him and whispered: “Do you realise someone has to guard her all the time?”

“I shall make that my special pleasure.”

“All the time ... have you thought what that means?”

“All the time will be only a day or so.”

“It might be a week.”

“No! Three days at most.”

“Weather permitting,” said Durrell.

I guessed then that they were here to wait for a ship to take them to France.

I was beginning to piece the story together.

The two men went out and one of the younger ones, named James, was sent to guard me. James was very young, about eighteen, I supposed, an earnest boy who I was sure was longing to die for his cause.

I was getting to know them all. Hessenfield, Durrell, James, Shaw and Carstairs.

James was the son of Carstairs. They were of the nobility, I believed, and at one time had been at court. Hessenfield clearly the leader-which was fortunate for me, for there was no

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doubt that had it been left to Durrell I should have been dead by now. Durrell believed that I was an encumbrance and I could quite see his point. At least I had been useful in attending to the General, and the General’s life was of the utmost importance to them otherwise why should they all have risked their own to save it?

It was like living in a dream. In fact, I kept thinking that I was going to wake up and find it really was one. It was so fantastic to find myself in a mysterious house which looked as though it had been inhabited a few minutes before we arrived and then was miraculously empty. In the kitchens, I was to discover, were hams and joints of beef and mutton. There were pies in the larder-ample food to feed a party of men for at least a week. It was clear that we had been expected. And here was I in the heart of this fantastic adventure with a sword of Damocles hanging over my head, for I was here on sufferance. One false step and that would be the end of me. I was being allowed to live because of some purpose the man called Hessenfield had in store for me. I had stumbled on a dangerous plot and become part of it.

I did not need an explanation of what was happening. It was obvious. They were Jacobites; General Langdon had tried to raise an army to fight for James; he had been discovered, imprisoned and would have been condemned to death. Then a band of bold conspirators, headed by Hessenfield, had rescued him from the Tower and they were trying to get him out of the country. That was why they were in this house waiting for the ship which would take them across to France where they would join King James at St. Germain-en-Laye.

For me to have discovered so much without being told explained how very vulnerable they all were. If I escaped and gave the alarm before they were able to get out of the country it would be the hangman’s noose or the executioner’s block for the lot of them.

So it was not surprising that it should be deemed wise to despatch me on the spot, bury my body somewhere and let my disappearance remain the mystery which Beau’s death was. That set me wondering if something like this had happened to Beau.

Darkness fell.

We went down to eat in the great kitchen. The doors were bolted and barred and no one could have got in easily.

I sat at the table with them and there was little conversation. I

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made that impossible. Durrell was afraid to say too much in front of me. My impression grew that he would kill me if he had a chance.

They ate heartily, which was more than I did. They drank openly to the true King.

No secret drinking to the King Across the Water here.

Hessenfield said: “We shall retire early. It may be that our deliverers will be here by morning.”

“I pray God we will be gone by this time tomorrow,” said Durrell.

“Aye, I hope He will hear your prayers,” said Hessenfield.

Durrell was looking at me.

“You may leave her to me,” said Hessenfield; and I saw the rather sour smile on Durrell’s lips.

Hessenfield had me by the arm.

I said: “I will stay here. I will give you my word ...”

“That you will not try to get away?” said Hessenfield. “I’d feel safer with you in my care.”

Again that smirk.

He nodded to everyone, and still holding my arm he took me from the room.

We went to that one which he had chosen for himself. It was a very fine bedchamber with a four-poster bed draped with green velvet curtains.

He locked the door and turned to face me.

“Here we are at last,” he said. “I am sorry, Mistress Main, that you must remain our prisoner but we must make the best of it, do you agree?”

“It is always wise to make the best of everything,” I muttered.

“And you are wise. I see that ... almost always wise. But perhaps not so wise as usual when you pried into matters which did not concern you this morning.”

“I did not intend to pry. Let me tell you that I am not in’ Bested in your plots and counterplots.”

“Well, interested or not, you have become part of this one.”

He removed his coat and started to unbutton his waistcoat.

“I think,” he said, “you will find this bed more comfortable than the one you had last night. A wretched affair, was it not? I was so sorry that you were forced to use that. I’ll warrant you slept little.”

I went to him and laid a hand on his arm. “Let me go,” I said.

78”What do you think will happen? Do you think my family will stand aside and allow me to be kidnapped in this way?”

“My dear Carlotta. May I call you that? Mistress Main does not suit you in the least.

Carlotta, my dear. They are not going to find you. You left the inn with your horse early in the morning as was arranged; you went to join your grooms a mile up the road. It was early morning. There was no one about. Lying in wait for you was some footpad. He stole your possessions. Being you, you put up a fight, in which you were killed. He buried your body in a wood or threw it in a stream or something such.