Page 110 of By the Sword
‘Tabitha?’ he whispered. ‘Would you come with me?’
Tabitha looked up at him with large, fearful eyes. She glance at Bet, who cowered in the doorway, watching the scene in the parlour, her hands twisted in her apron.
‘Dame Judith won’t let me,’ she said.
Jonathan shot a glance at the old lady. She seemed to have deflated, leaning on the table as if it was the only thing that kept her from sliding to the floor.
‘It’s not for Dame Judith to say,’ he said.
‘You take her from this house and I will set the soldiers after ye.’ For all her frailty, Dame Judith’s voice had lost none of its spite.
He nodded. ‘Yes, you probably will,’ he said, ‘but it alters nothing. Tabitha is my daughter and she is coming with me.’
The old woman subsided into a chair. ‘You’d take her from me?’ she asked and for the first time, she sounded fretful and pleading. ‘She’s all I’ve got in the world. My little Tabby.’
Jonathan did not reply. Words were inadequate to express his repulsion for this woman whose mean spirit had shadowed the short life of her granddaughter and now seemed set to dothe same to her great-granddaughter. It was too late for Dame Judith to play at being the loving grandmother.
‘I’ve seen for myself how much you value the love of this child,’ he said. He set Tabitha down and laid a hand on her hair. ‘Go with Bet and pack your clothes,’ he said. ‘We will leave now.’
‘Where are we going?’ Tabitha’s eyes shone with sudden hope.
Dear God, I have no idea, thought Jonathan. He forced himself to smile at the child. ‘We’ll know when we get there,’ he said.
He stood up and looked at Bet. ‘Dress her warmly.’
Bet glanced at the old woman who sat hunched and defeated in her chair. ‘Sir Jonathan,’ she said, ‘she’ll send for the soldiers, you can depend on’t.’
‘I’ll be long gone, Bet. Now hurry.’
Bet disappeared upstairs, leading Tabitha by the hand. Dame Judith glared up at Jonathan like a predatory bird caught in a net from which it knows there is no escape. He looked away. He had nothing to say to her; she was beyond his contempt.
Bet returned with Tabitha dressed in a thick winter cloak. She clutched a small bundle and the raggedy doll he had seen her with the day before. She looked up at him and smiled and just for a moment he thought he could see a little of Tom in her.
‘Are we going now?’ she asked.
He nodded and Bet knelt beside her and made a pretence of fussing over her cloak. ‘Now you be very brave and do everything your father tells you,’ she said in a tear-choked voice. ‘It’ll be a grand adventure. Just remember your Bet loves you.’
The child threw her arms around Bet’s neck. ‘I love you too,’ she said.
‘Bet, would you come?’ Jonathan asked impulsively.
The maid looked up at him then over at the old woman. ‘No, thank ’ee, Sir Jonathan,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I can’t leave her, not now.’
He nodded. ‘Will you be all right?’
Bet smiled at him. ‘Aye. She’ll rant and rave but she knows I’m all she’s got.’
‘I can’t leave her to raise the soldiers as soon as I have walked out the door.’ He sighed. ‘I have no choice but to lock you both in the cellar.’ He stood back from the door and bowed mockingly. ‘After you, ladies.’
Dame Judith laughed, a harsh, humourless cackle. She rose to her feet and hobbled towards him and her eyes, unrepentant, held his for a moment.
‘Take your spawn and I wish you well of her. She’ll bring you naught but grief. Born of tears she was.’ She rounded on Bet. ‘And as for you, you traitorous baggage, you’ll be out by the evening.’
‘Oh, you don’t mean that,’ Bet said. ‘It’s for the best and you know it. If you send me away, who’ll put up with you?’
Jonathan gestured at the cellar door. ‘In there, both of you.’
He waited until the old woman had descended the stone steps before catching Bet’s eye. He held up the key and indicated that he would leave it where it could be reached under the door.
