Page 19 of By the Sword
As they parted at the door, he took her hand, lifting it to his lips. ‘Farewell, Mistress Ashley. Thank you for your company tonight. Please say goodbye to Tom for me.’
He turned away and did not look back.
Chapter 5
In the days following Jonathan’s departure, Sir Francis took a turn for the worse.
Kate found him propped up in his bed, wasted and faded like the last of his spring roses. Resisting the urge to gag at the closeness of the invalid’s room, she forced herself to smile as she set the tray with his evening meal on the table and drew a chair up to the bed.
The corners of his mouth twitched in the semblance of a smile, which seemed an echo of his grandson’s easy smile.
‘You’ve been avoiding me.’ He looked at her with his bright, shrewd eyes. ‘When are you leaving?’
‘Tomorrow,’ Kate said. ‘While the weather continues fair.’
She picked up the bowl and walked over to his bed. Too weak to feed himself, he allowed Kate to feed him the invalid gruel like a small child.
‘My grandson says he told you of my plans for the boy to inherit Seven Ways,’ Sir Francis said at last.
She paused, the spoon halfway to his mouth. Whatever the state of his body, his mind was still sharp and the subject needed to be broached.
‘He did.’ She set the spoon back in the bowl and folded her hands in her lap.
‘I hope you don’t think to change my mind,’ he said. ‘The papers are drawn and I can now die in peace.’
‘I did not presume to think I could change your mind, Sir Francis. I know better than that. Thomas is your great-grandson and you have every right to provide for him as you think fit,’ she replied, with a serenity she did not feel.
‘You’re not pleased?’
Kate met his eyes without blinking. ‘No,’ she said with what her sister would call Yorkshire bluntness. ‘Why should I be? Neither Thomas nor I need Seven Ways. Thomas is already well provided for by his Ashley grandfather. Leaving my son a penniless estate, burdened by fines, is hardly bestowing honour upon him.’
‘You’re right, of course.’ The old man’s faded eyes did not leave Kate’s face. ‘But what else could I have done?’
‘There are always choices.’
‘No.’ The old man’s hands tightened on the bedclothes. ‘There were no choices. I’ll have no half measures. Dearly though I love my grandson, if he cannot inherit the estate in his own right he’ll not have it by other means. It is his folly that has brought Seven Ways to its present state.’
‘Nonsense,’ Kate said. ‘It is the folly of all of you. You, firstly, for providing finance to the King’s cause, and your son for raising a regiment to fight for the King. Jonathan’s only folly was to be the one who survived the war to become the family scapegoat.’
To her horror, Francis started to laugh. The effort brought on a coughing fit. She steadied him, holding a beaker of small ale tohis lips and only after he lay back on his pillow did he look at her and smile.
‘Forgive my laughter, my dear,’ he said and the corners of his mouth drooped. ‘You are quite correct Jonathan is a convenient scapegoat for the family fortunes. He deserves better and he has a good advocate in you.’ His faded eyes narrowed. ‘I’m fully conscious that it is an imposition upon you and an onerous task, but it is seldom that I have met a woman who I felt more capable of the responsibility. I see in you, my dear, the best hope that this family has had for many years. Richard did well in his choice of a bride.’ He paused, catching his breath. ‘Ultimately, of course, it will be your decision as to what becomes of Seven Ways. I’ll not fetter that freedom. You’re free to sell the estate, although for what little it will fetch, I doubt that you’ll see its true value realised. That b–Colonel Price over at Longley Abbey would have it off you for the cost of a lamb.’
He coughed again and Kate waited until he continued. ‘Although my motives may appear purely personal, my primary concern is not so much for what happens to the last of the Thorntons but for the people dependent upon my family. By that I mean my servants and my tenants who have served this family faithfully for generations. I owe them a debt to them far greater than that which I owe to this Parliament. It is my responsibility to ensure there is enough to eat for the winter and none of them lacks for clothes or shoes. So far I have succeeded in that end but at a terrible cost to my estate and myself. When you make your decision, my dear, think about them.’
Kate sighed and looked at the dying man lying in the bed. She thought of the tenants whose farms she and Nell had visited during the weeks she had been at Seven Ways– the women, the children, the old and the sick–and knew that he was right. Whatever became of the last of the Thorntons, the tenants needed care.
‘I am sorry that it had to be like this, Katherine,’ Sir Francis said, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper. ‘I have lived more than eighty years and have few regrets. My greatest sorrow is that I let my daughter go in a fit of petulance that cut me off from her family for so long. I speak in all honesty when I say my intention in bringing you here was not just to test young Thomas’ suitability to be my heir, but to make amends for thirty years of my own stupidity.’
Looking into the faded eyes, Kate saw that he spoke the truth. She laid her hand over his frail hand and nodded. There seemed nothing more to be said, and she sat with him until he slept.
Chapter 6
‘Is it much further, Mother?’
Tom’s fretful whine set Kate’s teeth on edge.
Ignoring her son, Kate stared resolutely into the gathering gloom as her weary horse picked up one hoof then another only to set them down again into the thick, gluey mud of the road. She didn’t need Tom to remind her that England’s notoriously fickle weather made travel a nightmare.
