Page 78 of By the Sword
‘There’s no choice, Giles,’ Nell said, her tone softening as she saw the look on her husband’s face. ‘It will not be forever. The soldiers may come but they won’t stay. We’ll be left alone soon enough.’
Kate rose to her feet. ‘Nell, we’ll use the priest hole in the study. It’s the largest. Ellen, can you find a mattress and the other things he’ll need?’
‘You won’t shut me in there until you need to, will you?’ Giles pleaded.
Kate shook her head. ‘We have no choice but I promise, we will leave the entrance open until we need to secure it.’
Not without difficulty, they managed to manoeuvre Giles up the stairs and installed him on a straw mattress in the priest hole. It was entered through a cupboard and concealed behind sliding panelling that could only be accessed by swinging the beam out of the wall behind. Kate felt quietly confident that Giles would be quite secure there until the danger passed.
Fortunately, Giles was too weary to argue about the accommodation and he was asleep before she closed the door to the study. She left Nell sitting in the cramped space beside him, her arms wrapped around her knees, lost in exhaustion and confusion.
Chapter 26
Stephen Prescott laid his hat and gloves on the table of the lower parlour and smiled at Kate. Washed and rested, he presented a less threatening presence than he had the previous day, and she could almost believe that his smile held some warmth.
Kate did not return the smile. ‘Are you here to turn my house upside down again?’
‘No. I don’t think that will be necessary, Mistress Ashley, do you?’ He raised an enquiring eyebrow at her.
‘You have my word that no errant royalists have come this way since your last visit, Major.’
His gaze scanned the room before returning to her. ‘I’m pleased to hear it. No, I have come in the hope you may be able to assist me with another problem. Mistress Ashley, we probably have some weeks of work ahead of us, rounding up the stragglers from the battle. Colonel Price has suggested that given yourobvious and declared loyalty to the Commonwealth, you would be amenable to some of my men being billeted with you.’
It was not a question. Kate felt the colour drain from her face.
Your face is a book, Jonathan had told her.
She covered her panic with bluster. ‘I am most certainly not amenable to any such suggestion. There is no man in this house, and I do not wish to have my household subjected to the moral danger of having soldiers inflicted upon them.’
Prescott looked down at his gloves on the table. A vein twitched in his temple and she wondered for a horrible moment if she had said too much. However, he maintained his smile as he looked up at her.
‘I regret it’s not something over which you have much say, Mistress Ashley.’ His tone remained even, but his eyes had lost their warmth. ‘While I appreciate your sensibilities on the matter, perhaps you could view it as being a matter of your household’s protection? You surely would not wish to have any desperate men forcing their way in on you. I’m sure such a risk would present considerably more moral danger to your loyal household than my godly soldiers.’
She looked at him, defeated by her own logic. ‘How many men do you propose to billet on me, Major Prescott?’
‘No more than thirty.’
‘And yourself?’ she asked, her voice tight with anxiety, trying to imagine how she could keep up the pretence with this man under her roof.
‘Of course. We’ll not trouble you unduly, Mistress Ashley. We have the Lord’s work to perform in rounding up the traitors and that will keep us much occupied for some days to come.’
‘And who is to feed them? We have barely enough for this household let alone another thirty mouths.’
His face revealed nothing and his tone was icy as he replied. ‘Then you should reacquaint yourself with the gospel of St John 6 beginning at verse 1.’
The gospel of the loaves and fishes.
‘I am quite well aware of the verses to which you refer, Major,’ she snapped.
She folded her arms and walked over to the window. Looking across the courtyard to the unused wing of the house, a sudden thought came to her.
‘As it seems I have no say in this matter and you have my assurance of loyal adherence to your cause, Major Prescott, may I suggest you and your men take the north wing? It is presently shut up, and there you can come and go without disturbance to my household,’ she said.
He joined her at the window and, following her gaze to the north wing, nodded in agreement. ‘That sounds entirely reasonable, Mistress Ashley. Your co-operation is greatly appreciated. It is refreshing to come across a sympathetic household amid such disloyalty.’
Kate did not look at him and chose to say nothing.
‘I will bid you a good day, Mistress Ashley.’
