Page 11 of By the Sword
‘Scotland is some way distant, lad, and Worcestershire is hardly on the route,’ he observed. ‘I take it you are up to your old tricks?’
Jonathan resisted the urge to laugh. His grandfather managed to make everything he did sound like the prank of a naughty child but Colonel Jonathan Thornton, King’s Commissioner, did not indulge in tricks. His business was deadly serious. His natural ability as an actor had made him invaluable to the Royal cause long before the execution of Charles I when he had carried the coded messages of the imprisoned King to his exiled Queen.
Now, once again he found himself playing the role of the King’s messenger.
‘You mean am I here with the King’s Commission to gather support for his cause? You know the answer to that question, Grandfather.’
The old man sighed. ‘Where you go, inevitably trouble follows. And is there the support the King expects?’
Jonathan threw back his head. ‘What do you think? Can you spare any coin for the King’s cause? I think not. You’re no different from any other man who followed Charles’ father.’
‘So the cause is doomed before it has even begun?’
Jonathan said nothing. He looked at his grandfather and their eyes met in perfect understanding.
‘So why did you send for me?’ Jonathan changed the subject.
‘I’m dying. I wanted to see you again.’
‘You’ve been dying for the last three years,’ Jonathan observed.
‘The time has come for decisions. Have you met the boy?’ Francis asked and Jonathan understood.
Unable to take the stuffiness of the room anymore, Jonathan stood up and walked over to one of the windows and opened it, breathing in the fresh air. Below, in the garden, Kate Ashley had returned to her battle with the weeds. Thick, honey-coloured hair tumbled down her slender back from beneath the brim of a battered straw hat. She had pushed up the sleeves of the blue gown, revealing strong brown arms. A woman of strength and determination, he thought, as he watched her hauling on a well-established dandelion.
He recalled the look of incredulity that had crossed the attractive, freckled face, and the concern in her grey eyes when she had realised the identity of her son’s rescuer, and wondered if she suspected why Sir Francis had brought her to Seven Ways. She would need every ounce of strength and determination if Sir Frances got his way.
‘Jonathan.’ His grandfather rapped the cane on the floor ‘Did you hear me?’
Jonathan turned back to face the old man again. ‘Yes, I have met young Thomas Ashley,’ he said, ‘and I commend you on finding the solution to your problem.’
If his grandfather heard the irony in his voice, he gave no sign.
‘I like the boy,’ Sir Francis said, a note of petulance in his voice. ‘He has the Thornton spirit.’
‘And what is the Thornton spirit, Grandfather?’ Jonathan turned back to the window again. ‘If you mean using a slingshot and scaring horses then I would have to agree with you. He could have killed me.’
Sir Francis’ laugh was a hoarse, dry sound.
‘Did he, by God? Lucky for him that you are the horseman you are.’ The old man added. The bantering went from his tone, ‘I see a lot of you in him.’
‘Well, God help him,’ Jonathan leaned against the window casement and crossed his legs at the ankles. ‘He’s nine years old, Grandfather. Do they know the burden you intend to leave them?’
‘Them?’
‘Yes…them. It is, after all, his mother who will have to carry the burden until the boy is of age.’
‘Ah, his mother.’ Sir Francis smiled. ‘What a fortunate woman his mother turned out to be. I couldn’t have asked for better than the widow of a respected Parliamentary officer, an acquaintance of Sir Thomas Fairfax no less, and a thoroughly sensible young woman too. She’s had the running of her husband’s estates since Ashley died.’
‘And she is a woman who has a right to know what you intend,’ Jonathan said, making no attempt to disguise the exasperation in his voice.
‘Of course she does, and I want you to tell her,’ the old man said.
Jonathan straightened. ‘Me?’
‘Well it most closely affects you and,’ the old man said with what was once a winning smile but now resembled a grimace, ‘you have a better way with women than ever I had.’
Jonathan turned back to the window and sought out the distant figure in the blue gown. He saw again the clear, level gaze of her grey eyes and wondered if Thomas owed the spirit his grandfather so admired to his mother rather than his father.
