Page 112 of The King's Man
‘You’ve done well, Mistress Granville. You may give Captain Lovell a message from me. Firstly, you must tell him that the arrangements must go ahead as described. You may also tell him that if he is right and there is a satisfactory conclusion to this matter, then his debt to me will also be considered discharged.’
‘What is your hold over him?’ Thamsine asked.
‘That is between Captain Lovell and myself, Mistress Granville. Now, good day to you.’
Thamsine hesitated at the door. ‘Lovell,’ she said, turning back to look at him. ‘My name is Lovell. We were married a week ago.’
Thurloe’s eyes widened with genuine surprise. ‘Indeed? I had not thought of Lovell as the marrying kind. I must say, you seemideally suited to each other. Good day to you … ’ he paused and the corners of his mouth twitched. ‘Mistress Lovell.’
***
Thamsine stood at the window of Kit’s bed chamber watching the tall, lanky figure of the schoolteacher, Vowells, striding away from the Ship Inn, his head lowered against the cold rain. He carried with him the details of a meeting that night. A meeting that would probably mean his death. She turned to her husband, her eyes flashing silent accusations.
‘Don’t look at me like that.’ Kit turned his head away.
‘You’ve sent him to his death. How do you live with yourself?’ When he didn’t reply, Thamsine sat down on the edge of the bed. ‘We had a bargain. I want to hear the whole story.’
‘My confession?’
‘If that is how you wish to put it.’
Kit laid his good arm across his forehead. ‘I’m Thurloe’s agent because I am a coward, Thamsine. Well, partly because I am a coward. The second reason is probably more honourable.’
Thamsine leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. ‘Go on.’
‘After Worcester … ’ He broke off and sighed. ‘I was wounded at Worcester, badly wounded. I was lucky to survive. It was only because the wife of one of the sergeants took pity on me that I survived.’
‘Was she pretty?’ Thamsine smiled.
‘No, she wasn’t,’ Kit snapped. ‘She was as wide as she was tall and as strong as any man. I was in no position to argue with her. I survived and found myself in a hellhole. No other word for it, Thamsine. I had ample cause to regret that I had not died and I prayed for death because it seemed the only release. That’s how Thurloe found me. He promised me liberty and offered a means of persuasion that could not be resisted.’
‘Did he torture you?’
Kit shook his head. ‘He didn’t need to, Tham. He knew I would acquiesce.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he held my brother. Did I mention I had a brother?’
Thamsine nodded.
Kit’s lips tightened. ‘Like you and your brother, Daniel and his sister, Frances, are the children of my father’s second marriage. Daniel would be twenty-one now. Frances is two years younger.’
‘They’re both alive?’
‘Frances lives with her mother and my grandfather at Eveleigh Priory. Eveleigh was one of the last sieges of the war. My father and I held it for two months before Parliament’s troops took it by storm. The house was largely destroyed, my father killed, and I was taken prisoner. They released me in ’47 and I went straight to France.’
He took a breath. ‘My brother Daniel had been a boy when Eveleigh fell. When I returned in ’51 he was eighteen, fearless and spoiling for a battle. Just as I had been ten years earlier.’
‘Like Edward.’
‘Indeed. I had regaled him with too many stories of the high times and glory. I didn’t think … didn’t notice that he hung on every word. He saw this as his chance to regain the family fortunes and he begged to come with me. In the end, I agreed to take him. My stepmother was hysterical but she could no more have stopped him than I. He would have come anyway and it seemed far better to let him come with me, under my protection. I promised his mother I would look after him and keep him safe.’ Kit gave a hollow laugh. ‘You know how the battle went? God knows it was as hard a battle as ever I had fought. I kept Daniel at my side but the fighting separated us. He was beset on all sides and I tried to reach him but I was cut down and a musket stock –’ He touched his head above the right ear ‘– took the lastfight out of me. I woke up a prisoner in Worcester Cathedral. No one could tell me what became of Daniel and for months after the battle, I thought he was dead.’
‘But he survived?’
Kit swallowed. ‘Six months after Worcester, Thurloe came to Warwick Castle, where I was held, with his proposition. He had me dragged to a window. Below in the courtyard in the cold, the mud, and the rain were a group of Scottish prisoners who were to be transported to Barbados. Daniel was among them, shackled and beaten, with barely a rag on his back. However bad my lot had been, his had been infinitely worse. Thurloe told me that Daniel would be transported with the other prisoners and unless I co-operated he would be dead by year’s end. Barbados.’ Kit spat the word out. ‘I don’t know if you have heard of the conditions in Barbados, Thamsine?’
She shook her head.
