The Song of the Siren (8 page)

58You could have imagined it, I told myself.

Perhaps I wanted to think that on this May morning. I began to think of riding in the woods near Eyot Abbass with Benjie and rowing over to the Eyot with him. We could picnic there and stroll among the ruins. I was conceived there. My mother had told me that much. And when she and my father, Jocelyn, had returned to the mainland he had been captured and taken off to his execution. Yes, it was not to be wondered at that I had a special feeling for the Eyot.

We rode for a long time along the coast road and made good progress the first day.

The weather was ideal and we put up at dusk at the Dolphin Inn, where I had stayed on other occasions and was known to the host. He was delighted to see me and my party and served us some very good pike. There were quarters for us all at the inn, and following a good night’s rest we left early in the morning after a hearty breakfast of ale and cold bacon with freshly baked bread to which we did justice.

The morning began well. The sun was warm and the roads fairly good, and just before midday we stopped at the Rose and Grown and there partook of pigeon pies with the inn’s special brew of cider, which was a little more potent than we realized. I had very little of it but the groom in charge of the saddlebags was less abstemious and by the time we were ready to go he had fallen into a deep sleep.

I roused him but I could see that he would be little use on the road until he had a rest.

I said to Jem, the chief of the groom guards: “We can either wait or leave him.”

“If we wait, mistress,” answered Jem, “we’ll not reach the Black Boar by dusk.”

“We could stop somewhere else, perhaps.”

“I know of no place, mistress, and your mother was insistent that we stay at the Black Boar.”

I shrugged my shoulders impatiently. “We will find somewhere else. It only means that we shall be a little late arriving at Eyot Abbass.”

“I know of no inn other than that of the Black Boar in the district; and we have to be careful. There are all sorts of wicked people on the roads. My lady impressed on me that we were to keep to the main roads and to stay only at inns which we knew could be trusted.”

“There is so much fuss,” I said.

59”Mistress, I am to guard you and I dare not disobey my orders.”

“Well, I’m giving orders now,” I said. “We have to decide whether to leave that oaf to sleep off his drunkenness and go on without him or wait.”

“To go on without him means there are only two of us to look after you.”

“Oh, come, I am not a helpless invalid. I can give a good account of myself if necessary.

Give him an hour and if he is not fully awake by then we’ll leave him here. He can follow us with the saddle horses and at least we will get to the Black Boar tonight.”

This was what we did. The grooms were very uneasy. I laughed at Jem. “You are looking over your shoulder all the time, Jem,” I cried. “Just because Old torn gets tipsy on cider we are in no greater danger. I’ll swear he would be little good to us if we were attacked and we shall get away more easily without the packhorses. Moreover we have less to be robbed of.”

“There’s bad omens, mistress,” said Jem shaking his head, “and I never like it when things start to go awry.”

“He’ll get a good scolding when arrives at the Abbass, I promise you.”

“Oh, mistress, he weren’t to know how strong the cider were.”

“We knew by the first mouthful,” I protested.

In fact we were able to get along more quickly without torn and the saddle horses, even so twilight was fading when we reached the Black Boar.

As we rode into the courtyard I was astonished by the activity there. Grooms were running about attending to the horses and there was a general air of bustle, which was unusual.

Jem helped me dismount and I went into the inn. The host came out to meet me rubbing his hands together with an air of consternation.

“My lady,” he said, “Oh, my lady, we are in such a turmoil. We are full to overflowing.”

I was dismayed.

‘You cannot mean that you have no room for us?” I cried in dismay.

“I fear so, my lady. I have let the whole of the floor to a party. They are most important gentlemen and one of them is sick.”

I felt a twinge of apprehension. I remembered Jem’s saying that if

60

one thing went wrong, it started a chain of events. If it had not been for that stupid groom drinking too much cider we should have arrived two hours earlier and have had our rooms before the important gentleman came. Always before there had been room at the Black Boar. It was not as though it was one of those inns on the main road to a big city. It was quite off the beaten track, and never before when travelling back and forth between Eyot Abbass and Eversleigh had I encountered such a situation.

“What can we do?” I cried in distress. “It will be quite dark soon.”

“There’s only the Queen’s Head as I can think of and that’s ten miles on.”

“Ten miles. We couldn’t do it. The horses are tired. There are only three of us-the grooms and myself. I have left one behind at the Rose and Crown to sleep off a surfeit of cider. It is because of him that we have arrived so late.”

The innkeeper’s face lightened a little. “Well,” he said, “I do wonder . . .”

“Yes.” I said. “Yes. You wonder what?”

“There is a little room-well, ‘tis scarce worthy of the name. A big cupboard more like. But there is a pallet in it and a table and chair ... no more, mind. ‘Tis on the same floor as the gentlemen have took. I said naught about it. One of our maids sleeps there sometimes.”

“I’ll take it,” I said. “After all, we shall be off early tomorrow morning. What about my grooms?”

“Well, I be thinking of them too. There’s a farmhouse a mile along the road. Reckon they could sleep in the loft over the stable if they was prepared to pay for it.”

“I will pay,” I said. “Now show me this ... cupboard.”

“ ‘Tisn’t what I like to offer you, my lady....”

“It will suffice, I’m sure,” I said. “It will teach me to be early in future.”

He was immensely relieved and I followed him up the stairs.

We were on a landing which I remembered from the past. The first door was that of my cupboard. There were four other doors on the landing.

The innkeeper opened the door. I was dismayed, I had to admit. It was indeed little more than a cupboard. The pallet occupied one side of it and a stool and a small table were all else that it contained.

61I

There was a small window in it which would make it just tolerable.

The innkeeper was looking at me dubiously. I said: “It will have to do.” Then I turned to him. “There are four good rooms on this floor,” I went on, “and only six in the party, you say. Perhaps they would agree to share more evenly, so that I could have one of the rooms.”

The innkeeper shook his head. “They were most certain what they wanted. It was all that floor. They paid me well for them ... right on the nail. They said the whole floor. They had this sick gentleman. They said they didn’t want him disturbed. Best say nothing, my lady. They said the whole floor. They was most insistent on that.

I hadn’t thought of this little place, see.”

“Well, I’m grateful to get it. I’ll see my grooms and send them off to the farmhouse.

Then will you send me some hot water so that I can wash the grime of the road from my hands and face.”

“I will have it sent, my lady.”

I followed him down, saw the men and told them that they were to ride to the farmhouse.

I would be up soon after dawn and pick them up as it was on our way.

Then I went back to my room and had not been there a few minutes when a maid arrived with some hot water for me. She set the bowl on the table and I felt a little better when I had washed and taken off my hat and shaken out my hair.

I would have something to eat in the dining room. The innkeeper had said there was sucking pig and I knew that it was a speciality of the inn and few people served it in a more tasty fashion than the innkeeper’s wife.

It had been a bad moment when I thought I was not going to find shelter for the night, but I had my little cupboard and it was only for a few hours. I should not undress.

There was no room. Besides, anything I should need would be in the saddlebags.

A plague on the drunken groom. He would be roundly scolded by Harriet and Gregory when I arrived. It was a good thing we were not going back to Eversleigh. Priscilla would have been reduced to great anxiety-as for my grandfather, he would be capable of dismissing the groom on the spot.

Well, here I was and tomorrow I should have forgotten the incident.

I opened my door and stepped onto the landing. As I did so a man

62

opened one of the other doors and came out. He stared at me in amazement. I felt a sudden tremor of excitement which I could only suppose was because he reminded me of Beau. Not that he looked the least bit like him. It was just his height and the fact that he was dressed with that fashionable discreet elegance which few men of my acquaintance possessed. His coat was square cut and as it was unbuttoned his embroidered waistcoat was just visible beneath it. His long shapely legs were encased in blue stockings with silver clocks and there were silver buckles on the garters just below the knee. The lower part of his coat was stiffened with wire, I imagined, and beneath it I caught a glimpse of a sword. He wore square-toed shoes with rather high blue heels and the silver buckles on his shoes matched those on his garters.

His peruke was long and formally curled and on it he wore a three-cornered hat trimmed with silver galloon. It seemed strange to notice what a complete stranger was wearing.

Afterwards I said it was because he had clearly taken such pains with his appearance that it seemed impolite not to notice it. There was a faint perfume emanating from him and that perhaps more than anything reminded me of Beau. He was a dandy-like Beau-and they were habitually users of scent. Beau once said that there were so many evil smells about that they must protect themselves. This man looked like someone one would meet at Court rather than in a country hostelry.

I did not have long to take in all this for he was clearly astonished to see me.

I was about to shut the door of my cupboard room when he burst out: “Who are you and what are you doing up here?”

I raised my eyebrows to express my surprise.

He went on impatiently, “What are you doing on this landing? I have paid for the use of it, and have particularly asked that there should be no intruders.”

“I,” I replied haughtily, “have paid for this room ... such as it is, and let me tell you, sir, I deeply resent your manner.”

He said: “You ... have paid for a room here!”

“If you can call it a room,” I said. “I have taken this ... this ... space for the night, understanding that you and your party have taken the rest of the rooms.”

“How long have you been here?”

“I fail to see that that is any concern of yours.”

63He walked past me and went downstairs. I heard him calling for the innkeeper.

I stood where I was, listening.

“You rogue. What do you mean by this? Did I or did I not pay you for the use of your rooms this night and was it not on the understanding that I and my party were not to be disturbed?”

“My lord ... my lord ... the lady has only this small room. It could be of no use to you. That was why I did not mention it. The lady comes frequently. I could not turn her away, my lord.”

“Did I not tell you that I have a very sick man up there?”

“My lord ... the lady understands. She will be very quiet.”

“I have expressly commanded . . .”

I went downstairs and swept past them, for they were standing at the foot of the stairs.

I said: “Your sick friend will be more disturbed by all the noise that you are making than he possibly can by my presence on that floor.”

Then I went into the dining room.

I was aware of him looking after me. He turned and went back upstairs.

The innkeeper’s wife was in the dining room. She was clearly disturbed by all the fuss that was going on and tried to pretend that she was not.

The sucking pig would be served at once, she told me, and I said I was ready for it. She brought it herself. It was succulent and appetising and there was cold venison pie with a mulled wine to wash it down with. This was followed by apples and pears and biscuits flavoured with tansy and some herbs which I could not recognise.

It was when I was eating the biscuits that the man entered the dining room.

He came to my table and said: “I wish to apologise for my behaviour.”

I inclined my head to imply that an apology was needed.

“I was so anxious about my friend.”

“I gathered that,” I answered.

“He is a very sick man and is so easily disturbed.”

“I promise I shall not disturb him.”

64

I had an opportunity now to look at his face. It was an interesting one. He was deeply bronzed, and his peruke was dark but I imagined beneath it his hair would be fair; his eyes were light brown, almost golden, and he had strongly marked dark brows.

It was a strong face-a deep cleft in the chin and full lips-sensuous lips, I decided, which could be cruel; there was a merriment in his eyes which contrasted with the mouth. His was a disturbing personality; or perhaps, as Beau had hinted, I enjoyed the company of the opposite sex in what he had called a normal, healthy way.

I wished I could stop remembering what Beau had said and cornparing everyone with him. My interest in this man was because there was something about him which reminded me of Beau.

“May I sit down?” he said.

“This is the general dining room, I believe. And I am about to go.”

“You understand my discomfiture when I discovered that others were close by my sick friend.”

“Others? You mean when you discovered I was.”

He leaned his elbows on the table and studied me intently. I saw the admiration in his eyes and I had to admit that I was gratified.