Page 30 of The King's Man
‘May and I reckons you might need a few things: clean linen, stockings, cloak, petticoat and bodice. Comb. Candle, tinder, a flagon of wine and one of me pies, some bread and cheese and most importantly … ’ There was a jangle of coins as a purse landed on the bed beside Thamsine. ‘That’s your earnings from t’other night. Jem was right peeved when those soldiers took you away. Thought you was a nice little earner.’
Thamsine stared at the girls. Nothing in their short acquaintance had given any indication of friendship.
‘You didn’t have to do this,’ she said.
Nan’s lip curled. ‘Nah, ye’re right. No one made us do it but after all the bother you caused us, we had a bit of an investment in you.’
‘Did you really hurl a brickbat at the Lord Protector?’ May asked
Thamsine nodded.
‘Why d’ya go and do a stupid thing like that?’ Nan demanded.
Thamsine looked from one twin to the other.
‘I needed a diversion,’ she said. ‘I didn’t stop to think what I was doing.’
‘A diversion? What from?’ Nan looked incredulous. ‘Come on, Thamsine. I reckons you owe us your story.’
Thamsine shrugged. There seemed little point in keeping her silence.
‘I ran away from a man,’ she said. ‘A man who wanted to marry me.’
‘Well that’s not such a bad thing, in’t it? I wish there was someone who wanted to marry me,’ May said.
‘Not like this man. He is violent and vicious and his motives for wanting to marry me have nothing to do with love and everything to do with money.’
‘Oh, so you have money then?’ Nan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Could’ve fooled me.’
Thamsine gave a bitter laugh. ‘Yes, but when I marry it goes to my husband and until I marry it is controlled by my guardian, who is the same man who thinks he has a right to marry me.’
‘Same man?’
Thamsine nodded.
May shook her head. ‘Sometimes I reckon it’s best to be poor, then if a man marries you, you can think it’s coz he likes you … ’ she sighed, ‘… or coz he got you in the family way.’
‘So what happened?’ Nan put in over her sister’s musings.
‘He … treated me badly.’
May’s eyes widened. ‘He didn’t …?’
Thamsine grimaced as she took the girl’s meaning. Of course, he had tried. It had only been the chance intervention of another that had prevented it.
‘He is capable of that and worse. He thought he could force me into marriage with him,’ she said
‘How d’ya get away?’
Thamsine swallowed, the memory of that terrible night as vivid as if it had only just occurred. ‘I shot him. I thought I’d killed him. I ran away to London to hide.’
‘You didn’t kill ’im?’
Thamsine shook her head. ‘No. I know I didn’t kill him and he’s here in London looking for me.’
‘How’d you know that?’
‘I saw him in the crowd that day. That’s why I threw the brickbat. If I hadn’t, he would have caught me and then … and then … ’ An unimaginable fate, far worse than her present predicament, loomed before her. At least he couldn’t find her while she was incarcerated in the Tower.
