Strife Beyond Tamar Page 5

  Kate still looked puzzled. 'Well, if he has to fight I would rather him join the King,' she said slowly.

  'Kate,' her mother said hesitantly, and Kate looked at her, arrested by the tone in her voice.

  'What is it?'

  'You realise, that much as Jonathan regrets it, we will have to postpone your wedding?'

  'Oh! Yes, I suppose so,' Kate answered blankly. Then, avoiding Petroc's eye, she smiled. 'At least I shall be able to keep you company for a while longer, and no doubt this fighting will soon be over!'

  Her mother looked relieved, then turned her head to listen.

  'That sounds like Jon arriving home. He had to go out for a while. I will go and tell him you are here.'

  She left the room with an abstracted smile at Petroc, and he rose and crossed to take Kate's hand into his.

  'Do not regret this,' he said gently. 'You will not regret it, but it is very certain Jonathan Peyton will curse the day he let you slip through his fingers!'

  Chapter 4

  Kate glared angrily at Petroc, but before she could reply Jon entered the room and crossed swiftly to her to take her hands in his.

  'My dear Kate! What is this I hear?' He turned to Petroc. 'As for you, Tremaine – '

  'I know not whether Mistress Anscombe would have arrived here safely had I not taken her in charge, but she is safe now, at any event. And now, unless you have anything particular to say to me, I must return to my ship. Mistress Anscombe has been most aware that our encounter – has somewhat delayed me already.' He looked across at Kate, an amused glint in his eyes, and Jon looked narrowly at them, his brow creased.

  Kate inclined her head. 'I do thank you, Mr Tremaine. Goodbye, and fare well with your next voyage!'

  Petroc waited a moment, his eyebrows raised interrogatively as he looked at Jon, but the latter decided not to pursue what he had intended to say, and Petroc bowed himself out. Jon turned swiftly to Kate.

  'My love, are you all right? Truly? He offered you no insult?'

  Kate laughed. 'None, apart from making it very clear I was in the way, and ignoring me whenever possible! Oh, Jon, I am so glad to be with you again!'

  'But why did you leave Saltash, where you were safe? It was most unwise of you! What did you think to achieve?'

  'I wished to join Mother, I did it for the best, knowing that she would worry about me when she heard Hopton had taken the town.'

  'Foolish of you! Kate, I had thought you to have more wit than to put yourself into such a position.'

  Kate grew angry. 'There was little enough danger, and I was unfortunate not to have succeeded in what I set out to do! Am I always to cower at home and never heed aught but my own safety?'

  'You should pay more heed to it,' he returned.

  'Jon,' she pleaded, 'I was thinking of Mother, and also of you, of how you would be concerned over me.'

  'If there had been need for concern I would have come to you. Do you doubt that?'

  She looked up at him, some of the anger dying from her eyes. 'Would you truly have done so?'

  'But of course, my dear. You know you are the most precious person in the world to me! Could I leave you in danger? But I knew you were not.'

  'Then do not be angry with me, that we thought differently on what I should do.'

  He pulled her close to him. 'My love, I was angry because I was worried about what might have happened! I want only your wellbeing!'

  She smiled up at him, and he bent to kiss her, not the formal salute of greeting, but a more loverlike kiss than he had ever before given her. Kate relaxed in his arms, and sighed with contentment.

  'I am sorry I give you cause for worry. I do not mean to, but it is strange for me yet to remember you care so greatly for me.'

  Jon laughed. 'Yet we have been promised to each other for years.'

  'I know, but until recently it did not mean a great deal to me, for then I just thought of you as a friend. Now I love you,' she said shyly, and he kissed her again.

  'As I have loved you, my dearest Kate. But you are young, and will soon learn not to be foolish.'

  She drew away slightly, pouting. 'I am sorry to have worried you but I will not admit that it was foolish!'

  'Well, we will let the matter rest. Kate, did your mother tell you I was planning to join the King's forces?'

  'Yes. I did not think you were anxious to fight. Why?'

  He sat down on a settle and pulled her down beside him. 'I am not anxious to fight, no man in his senses could be, but I have come to realise that if people are allowed to rebel against the King once, successfully, there is no knowing where it might end. Oh, I do not entirely support the view he is right in all he has done, but unless this war is ended quickly it will be the ruin of trade. And I am a merchant, trade is my prime concern. We cannot have anarchy in the country.'

  'Do you think it can be ended quickly?'

  'Yes, if enough men show they are firm in their support of the King.'

  'I hope so, and then we can be married.'

  'I too, my love! I do regret having to decide to postpone our marriage, but it must be so.'

  'Need it?' she asked, doubtfully. 'Mother had little to say about it, but surely we could be married now? Why must we wait?'

  He sighed. 'I regret the necessity as much as you, Kate, but it would not be fair to rush you into this.'

  'It is not exactly a hurried decision on our part,' she protested.

  'No, not in that way. But have you considered? We could marry soon, but there would be none, or few of the festivities that are so dear to girls. I might have to leave at any time, we could not plan for even a few days together.'

  'I do not want festivities, they are not important! What matters is the marriage!'

  Jon laughed, gazing down into her eyes. 'That is what you may think now Kate, but you would always regret it and possibly blame me. Yes, you would,' he repeated, as she shook her head in quick denial. 'Besides, what if I had to leave at once?'

  'Then we would have had a short time of happiness,' she said softly. 'I would have some memories to support me while you were away.'

  'You are very sweet to say that, but I know it would be worse for you than if we had not wed. Besides, I might be killed.'

  'No!' She grasped his arm and looked hard at him, horrified.

  'Oh, I shall do my best not to be, but 'tis a possibility I must face before going to war.'

  'But then I could never be your wife,' she said bleakly. 'Jon! That I could not bear! Oh, I shall dread every minute you are away, but this makes it more important we should snatch at a chance of even a few days of happiness before you go! Jon, please, if you love me do not cancel the wedding! Hasten it rather!'

  'It is because I love you that I will not agree, Kate. If I were killed, then it would be the will of God. If not, then I would prefer to celebrate our marriage without haste, and we would enjoy it all the more after a few months of delay. Do not fear, it is most unlikely I shall die! Most soldiers return. And it will be for such a short time, I am convinced of that.'

  Kate argued for a long time but Jon was adamant, and at last, reluctantly she had to accept his decision. She secretly told herself that some of his reasons made sense, but she was aware Petroc's words had made her apprehensive about her marriage, and this delay therefore seemed more important than Jon seemed to think it was. She found her mother supporting Jon and agreeing with him that the festivities surrounding a wedding were more important than Kate would allow. Kate wrung from them a promise that if the hostilities continued beyond the following summer they would reconsider the matter, this they agreed, and the matter was dropped.

  After dinner they sailed back to Saltash, and when Jon had seen them settled in, with Annie, now able to hobble about on her bandaged feet, and Moll restored to them, he went off to find the commander of the Royalists and offer his services.

  *

  The next few days were tense ones. Little seemed to be happening though Jon came every day to give Kate a
nd her mother what news he had gleaned.

  'Sir Ralph has persuaded the others to raise five infantry regiments and one of horse, and Lord Mohun has been to Oxford to see the King. He returns with a joint commission for himself, Sir Ralph, Berkeley and Ashburnham for the western counties.'

  'What is to happen now?' Kate asked.

  'Recruiting still until we have more men, and we also await the supplies from the Queen that are being shipped to Falmouth. I expect your father will be going there, for Plymouth and Saltash are considered too risky with Parliament poised across the Tamar.'

  'Father should be home soon, he reckoned the end of October. I hope he is here for my birthday.'

  'There is some good news from the King,' Jon went on. 'He met the Parliamentarians at a place called Edge Hill and seems to have defeated them. I believe he will now march for London, and very likely the war will be over in a few weeks, if not days.'

  This was good news and Kate was further cheered when her father arrived, having indeed, as Jon had predicted, taken his ships to Falmouth which was well under the control of the Royalists.

  'And will remain so as long as Sir Nicholas Slanning rules at Pendennis,' Mr Anscombe chuckled.

  'He is governor there, is he not, as well as being a Member?' Mistress Anscombe asked, and her husband nodded.

  'Hot for the King's cause, and full of plans for maintaining supplies. The Queen is arranging for tin to be exchanged for munitions in France, and Sir Nicholas will organise the shipping of both. He wishes me to make a journey when I go back. But that is not all he plans. He has learned from the time he sat on the commission on piracy! He means to put that knowledge, and the experience he gained as Admiral of the southern shore, to good use in protecting our ships and, I suspect, ensuring the Parliament men do not receive all intended for them!'

  Kate gasped, a picture in her mind of the sacks Petroc had removed from the merchant ship outside Plymouth. Her father turned towards her.

  'Are you shocked, my dear?'

  'You mean he will authorise acts of piracy?'

  'Call it what you will, it amounts to protection for Cornwall!'

  Kate laughed. 'You sound as partisan as this Sir Nicholas must be,' she commented. 'I thought you did not wish to take sides.'

  'No more I do,' he replied seriously. 'I will attempt to make my business profitable, in whatever way I can without breaking the law. But what is the law in these times? However, I have a family to care for. I confess that in my younger days I might have been tempted by the thoughts of adventure, but I am too old to do more than try to avoid trouble. Kate, and you too Robert, do not allow any feelings you have for the King's cause to be too openly displayed, or it might bring trouble on us.'

  Privately Kate despised such dissembling, but she understood her father's caution and loved him too dearly to show her critical attitude, and so she turned the talk to the celebrations she and her mother planned for her birthday which was in a few days time.

  When the day came Jon appeared early with a gift for Kate. She was delighted with the emerald pendant, which Jon told her matched her eyes to perfection, and then, after he had fastened it for her, she asked what news there was.

  'Not so good for my father, I suspect,' he said. 'Parliament has empowered the deputy lieutenants to take up any small ships they need, and compensate the owners. They are now in control of the navy and are sending ships to blockade the western ports and prevent arms from reaching us.'

  Kate was immediately concerned. 'Will your father lose his ships?'

  'Very likely. And the compensation is not like to be sufficient. Your father is more fortunate that his ships are in Cornwall, and safely away from Saltash at that. I would advise him to keep them at Falmouth.'

  'That will be safe, I am sure. No one could successfully blockade the Cornish coast!'

  Mr Anscombe agreed with her, but he was nevertheless concerned, and set off the next day to return to Falmouth and supervise the preparations for his next voyage.

  'I will try to come again by the end of the month,' he promised. 'But in the circumstances, I cannot know with any certainty what I may need to do. Promise me that if there is any danger, you will go to Fowey?'

  They promised and waved him farewell. Two days later Jon also left them, going with Sir Ralph Hopton on an attempt to join forces with the Devon Royalists living beyond Parliamentary Plymouth. The first attempt to besiege Exeter was a bitter failure, with the Royalists driven into headlong, ignominious retreat to Tavistock. A month later a further attempt to gather the Devon Royalists and attack Plymouth was foiled, and Kate heard of this when Jon rode into Saltash, his right arm encased in heavy bandages and resting in a sling.

  'It is but a cut,' he laughed, and hugged her tightly with his other arm. 'I wished to remain, but Slanning would not hear of it. We are short of food and of fodder for the horses!'

  'What happened?' she asked later, when she had been reassured about the extent of his injury.

  'What might be expected from men who consider war a game!' he answered angrily. 'Sir Ralph cut off Plymouth's water supply, then went with half his forces to meet the Devon posse at Modbury. Colonel William Ruthin who commands at Plymouth, mounted a night attack, and the posse, craven fools that most of them are, scattered. It was in trying to rally them that I received this cut. Nick Slanning was surrounded and I went to his aid. We came off, and Sir Ralph also had a narrow escape, but our forces were gone.'

  'What is Nick Slanning like?' Kate asked curiously, recalling what her father had said of this man, Governor of Pendennis Castle, and most probably leader of a force of privateers. Would Petroc be amongst their number, she wondered.

  'Slanning? Why, very pleasant. He is about thirty, slight of figure, but accounted excessively handsome by the women, I'm told!' Jon laughed. 'But he is popular with men also, has fought in the United Provinces, and is, I believe, knowledgeable about scientific matters.'

  'A paragon,' Kate murmured. 'I look forward to meeting him!'

  'I think he owes me too much to steal my bride!'

  Kate turned swiftly to him, and gently touched the bandaged arm Jon held close to his side.

  'I know, my love! I am thankful you received no greater hurt.'

  Kate ministered to Jon, relieved when the sword cut healed fast, but trying to restrain his impatient desire to rejoin the army. This impatience was increased when they heard another attempt on Exeter had been repulsed. However, despite the disappointed anger of the infantry and their threatened mutiny, Sir Ralph had succeeded in retreating to Launceston with his artillery intact.

  'I must rejoin him. My arm is almost healed,' Jon told Kate, and she nodded slowly.

  'Soon, yes. But there will be another lull now. Wait just a little longer to be sure. If you exert yourself too greatly too soon the wound will open again, and you will be worse off. Besides,' she added mischievously, smiling at him, 'I want you to be here next week when Mistress Penlyn gives her ball!'

  'Kate! That is a frivolous reason!' he protested, laughing at her.

  'Of course, but as you can be of no use to Sir Ralph for a while, you may as well be of use to me, and escort me there!'

  But all thoughts of the ball were driven out of Kate's head the next day, when Saltash was subjected to a bombardment by Ruthin, who had many guns placed at strategic points on the Devon side of the river, and in addition brought three ships into the estuary to increase his attack on the town.

  For almost a week the bombardment continued. The townsfolk cowered indoors, venturing out only on the most essential errands, but the soldiers in the town were sufficient to guard the river, and despite many efforts to cross to the Cornish side, Ruthin failed to achieve a landing. Hopton had arrived in person to supervise the resistance, and with him came Mr Anscombe, anxious about his family, and hoping that when they could safely move he could take them to the greater security of Fowey.

  But this was not to be, for a while at least. The suffering townsfolk heard with di
smay that the council of war had ordered a general retreat to Bodmin, there to meet the posse. Reluctant as he was, Hopton had to obey, and there was no time in between his withdrawal and Ruthin's triumphant entry into the town for the Anscombes to depart.

  Chapter 5

  Kate looked disbelievingly at her mother.

  'Mistress Penlyn still intends to hold the ball?' she asked.

  'Yes, my dear. I met her this morning, and she told me she saw no reason to cancel a social occasion just because some silly men chose to play at soldiers. That is how she phrased it!'

  Kate chuckled. 'I can imagine her saying that.'

  'And so, Kate, my dear, look out your ball gown for tomorrow.'

  'But will the Parliamentarians allow it?'

  'They are invited!'

  'How so? Are they not too busy? Will they not wish to take revenge on those who gave aid to the Royalists?'

  'My dear, what a deal of questions!'

  Kate laughed. 'You must confess 'tis a puzzling matter!'

  'I do. Mistress Penlyn told me she called to see that Parliamentary commander, General Ruthin, and asked his advice. He said he realised the town had no option but to admit the Royalists and he has no wish to act against us. To show his good will, he suggested he and his officers might be invited. I believe that was what Mistress Penlyn wished for all the time, for she would have been sorely perplexed to find enough young men without the soldiers!'

  'It seems dishonest, to change sides like that,' Kate said slowly.

  'I do not think dishonesty is the right word. Mistress Penlyn has social ambitions, not political ones, and you must confess that a ball held in such circumstances has a certain amount of piquancy to recommend it! It will ensure it is remembered.'

  'But does not attending it, with the Parliamentmen, imply we approve of them?'

  'Your father thinks it would be expedient to attend in order not to declare ourselves against. And Kate, it is not certain who will win the war. Those who have opposed the eventual winners will be remembered, and mayhap disadvantaged.'

  'I see,' Kate murmured. ' 'Tis fortunate Jon went away with Sir Ralph. Even though he was not fit he would have been in a worse predicament if he had remained.'