Page 7 of Exile's Return
Daniel let out a low whistle. A gold Unite was worth over twenty shillings.
‘Such a sum could buy a deal of loyalty,’ he said. ‘Do those sitting in Whitehall know that Elmhurst has the coin?’
Hyde cleared his throat. ‘We think Elmhurst may have tried to turn his cousin, Tobias Ashby, to the King’s cause. As a result, it is likely that Tobias Ashby knows or suspects that the stolen coin may be at Charvaley.’
‘If so, he misjudged his cousin. Tobias Ashby is certainly the man who denounced Elmhurst to the authorities,’ Longley put in.
‘And James Ashby did not protest his innocence and hand over the coin? Surely that would have earned him a reprieve from execution,’ Daniel said.
‘It would have availed him very little. During the taking of the coin, a personal friend of General Lambert’s was killed. Lambert made it known that an example had to be set.’ Hyde paused. ‘I have been informed that Elmhurst died yesterday.’
Longley looked up. This was evidently news to him.
‘We received the news only an hour ago,’ Hyde replied in answer to Longley’s unspoken question.
‘Then what is it you think I can do?’ Daniel enquired.
Hyde snorted. ‘Elmhurst had few close friends but he has left behind a mistress, a woman by the name of Agnes Fletcher. She is currently lodging at the sign of the Blue Boar with Elmhurst’s children. She is your key to Charvaley and the location of the King’s gold. You have a pretty face, Lovell, use it.’
Daniel laughed. ‘You put a lot of faith in me, Hyde. I am not possessed of a long history of charming the location of hidden treasure out of ladies. I am rather better at holding a knife to their throats.’
Hyde shrugged. ‘If you think that might work.’
Longley spluttered into his ale. ‘Hyde!’
Daniel drummed his fingers on the table. He cared not a jot for the fate of the late Earl or the missing gold, but were these menoffering him a means to an end? It would be sufficient reward to look into the eyes of Tobias Ashby just before he killed him — as Ashby had killed his father — in cold blood and unarmed.
‘And what do I get if I am successful?’ Daniel enquired.
Hyde recoiled as if Daniel had made an importunate suggestion. ‘You mean a reward?’
Daniel narrowed his eyes. ‘I have seen my home destroyed, my father murdered, and in the last eight years, I have endured prison, torture, enslavement and worse in the King’s name. I am done with all causes except my own. If I am to undertake this mission, it will not be for love of the King’s cause alone.’
Hyde considered him for a long moment. ‘Find the King’s gold, my friend, and you will not find His Majesty ungrateful. He does not forget his friends.’
Daniel leaned forward. ‘Curiously, I felt somewhat forgotten when I was lying in chains in Barbados.’
Hyde harrumphed and Longley interposed. ‘Lovell, we understand that you may hold little love for the cause, but your assistance will hasten the process. If we can recover the gold left in Elmhurst’s possession, we will see the King restored within months.’
Daniel looked from one to the other. ‘Very well, but I would see full pardons for myself — and my late brother — and a restoration of lands and title, if they have been seized, as the price of my assistance.’
Hyde huffed out a breath as if he had been holding it in anticipation of Daniel’s response. ‘Of course, of course. Consider that done, my friend. There is a ship leaving Ostend on tomorrow night’s tide. Be on it.’
Daniel flashed the man a hard, contemptuous look. ‘I take no orders from you, Hyde. I am nobody’s to command, not anymore.’
Hyde rose to his feet. ‘Then don’t waste time, Lovell. Major-General Lambert and his Committee of Safety are trying to hold on to power in London. Elmhurst’s death was intended as a show of strength.’ He glanced at Longley. ‘Coming, Longley?’
Longley looked at his cup. ‘I will finish my ale, Hyde.’
Longley waited until Hyde had pushed his way out of the crowded inn, before setting aside his empty cup.
‘Don’t make an enemy of that man, Lovell,’ he said. ‘He will control the throne when the King is restored.’
Daniel looked away. ‘I do not seek to make an enemy of him, Longley, but I have no heart for the game of politics. I will do as I promised but that will be an end to it. My brother is dead and I have our family fortunes to rebuild.’
Longley nodded. ‘I understand. Now, if I may request a personal favour of you?’
Daniel shrugged. ‘If it is within my power.’
