The King's General by Daphne Du Maurier

  "I have met Sir Edward Hyde," said my brother. "He seemed to me a very able man."

  "Able my arse," said Richard. "Anyone who jiggles with the Treasury must be double-faced to start with. I've never met a lawyer yet who didn't line his own pockets before he fleeced his clients." He tapped young Joseph on the shoulder. "Give me some tobacco," he said. The youngster produced a pipe and pouch from his coat. "Yes, I hate the breed," said Richard, blowing a cloud of smoke across the table, "and nothing affords me greater pleasure than to see them trounced. There was a fellow called Braband, who acted as attorney for my wife against me in the Star Chamber in the year '33--a neighbor of yours, Harris, I believe?"

  "Yes," said my brother coldly, "and a man of great integrity devoted to the King's cause in this war."

  "Well, he'll never prove that now," said Richard. "I found him creeping about the Devon lanes disguised the other day, and seized the occasion to arrest him as a spy. I've waited eleven years to catch that blackguard."

  "What have you done to him, sir?" asked Robin.

  "He was disposed of," said Richard, "in the usual fashion. No doubt he is doing comfortably in the next world."

  I saw young Joseph hide his laughter in his wineglass, but my three brothers gazed steadfastly at their plates.

  "I daresay," said my eldest brother slowly, "that I should be very ill advised if I attempted to address to you, General, a single word of criticism, but..."

  "You would, sir," said Richard, "be extremely ill advised." And, laying his hand a moment on Joseph's shoulder he rose from the table. "Go on, lads, and get your horses. Honor, I will conduct you to your apartment. Good evening, gentlemen."

  I felt that whatever reputation I might have for dignity in the eyes of my family was gone to the winds forever as he swept me to my room. Matty was sent packing to the kitchen, and he lay me on my bed and sat beside me.

  "You had far better," he said, "return with me to Buckland. Your brothers are all asses. As for the Champernownes, I have a couple of them on my staff, and both are useless. You remember Edward, the one they wanted you to marry? Dead from the neck upwards."

  "And what would I do at Buckland," I said, "among a mass of soldiers. What would be thought of me?"

  "You could look after the whelp," he said, "and minister to me in the evening. I get very tired of soldiers' company."

  "There are plenty of women," I said, "who could give you satisfaction."

  "I have not met any," he said.

  "Bring them in from the hedgerows," I said, "and send them back again in the morning. It would be far less trouble than having me upon your hands from dawn till dusk."

  "My God," he said, "if you think I want to bounce about with some fat female after a hard day's work sweating my guts out before the walls of Plymouth, you flatter my powers of resilience. Keep still, can't you, while I kiss you?"

  Below the window, in the drive, Jo and Dick paced the horses up and down. "Someone," I said, "will come into the room."

  "Let them," he answered. "What the hell do I care?"

  I wished that I could have the same contempt for my brother's house as he had. It was dark by the time he left, and I felt as furtive as I had done at eighteen when slipping from the apple tree.

  "I did not come to Radford," I said weakly, "to behave like this."

  "I have a very poor opinion," he answered, "of whatever else you came for."

  I thought of Jo and Robin, Percy and Phillipa, all sitting in the hall below, and the two lads pacing their horses under the stars.

  "You have placed me," I said, "in a most embarrassing position."

  "Don't worry, sweetheart," he said. "I did that to you sixteen years ago." As he stood there, laughing at me, with his hand upon the door, I had half a mind to throw my pillow at him.

  "You and your double-faced attorneys," I said. "What about your own two faces? That boy out there--your precious Joseph--you told me he was your kinsman?"

  "So he is," he grinned.

  "Who was his mother?"

  "A dairymaid at Killigarth. A most obliging soul. Married now to a farmer, and mother of his twelve sturdy children."

  "When did you discover Joseph?"

  "A year or so ago, on returning from Germany, and before I went to Ireland. The likeness was unmistakable. I took some cheeses and a bowl of cream off his mother, and she recalled the incident, laughing with me, in her kitchen. She bore no malice. The boy was a fine boy. The least I could do was to take him off her hands. Now I wouldn't be without him for the world."

  "It is the sort of tale," I said sulkily, "that leaves a sour taste in the mouth."

  "In yours, perhaps," he said, "but not in mine. Don't be so mealymouthed, my loved one."

  "You lived at Killigarth," I said, "when you were courting me."

  "God damn it," he said, "I didn't ride to see you every day."

  I heard them all in a moment laughing beneath my window, and then mount their horses and gallop away down the avenue, and as I lay upon my bed, staring at the ceiling, I thought how the blossom of my apple tree, so long dazzling and fragrant white, had a little lost its sheen and was become, after all, a common apple tree; but that the realization of this, instead of driving me to torments as it would have done in the past, could now, because of my four-and-thirty years, be borne with equanimity.

  21

  I was fully prepared, the following morning, to have my brother call upon me at an early hour and inform me icily that he could not have his home treated as a bawdy house for soldiery. I knew so well the form of such a discourse. The honor of his position, the welfare of his young son, the delicate feelings of Phillipa, our sister-in-law, and although the times were strange and war had done odd things to conduct, certain standards of behavior were necessary for people of our standing. I was in fact already planning to throw myself upon my sister Cecilia's mercy over at Mothercombe, and had my excuses already framed, when I heard the familiar sound of tramping feet. I bid Matty look from the window, and she told me that a company of infantry was marching up the drive, wearing the Grenvile shields. This, I felt, would add fuel to the flames that must already be burning in my brother's breast.

  Curiosity, however, was too much for me, and instead of remaining in my apartment like a child who had misbehaved, I bade the servants carry me downstairs to the hall. Here I discovered my brother Jo in heated argument with a fresh-faced young officer, who declared coolly, and with no sign of perturbation, that his general, having decided that Radford was most excellently placed for keeping close observation on the enemy battery at Mount Batten, wished to commandeer certain rooms of the house for himself as a temporary headquarters, and would Mr. John Harris be good enough to show the officer a suite of rooms commanding a northwestern view?

  Mr. Harris, added the officer, would be put to no inconvenience, as the General would be bringing his own servants, cooks, and provisions. "I must protest," I heard my brother say, "that this is a highly irregular proceeding. There are no facilities here for soldiers, I myself am hard pressed with work about the county, and..."

  "The General told me," said the young officer, cutting him short, "that he had a warrant from His Majesty authorizing him to take over any place of residence in Devon or Cornwall that should please him. He already has a headquarters at Buckland, Werrington, and Fitzford, and there the inhabitants were not permitted to remain, but were forced to find room elsewhere. Of course, he does not propose to deal thus summarily with you, sir. May I see the rooms?"

  My brother stared at him tight lipped for a moment, then, turning on his heel, escorted him up the stairs which I had just descended. I was very careful to avoid his eye.

  During the morning the company of foot proceeded to establish themselves in the north wing of the mansion, and, watching from the long window in the hall, I saw the cooks and pantry boys stagger towards the kitchen entrance bearing plucked fowls, and ducks, and sides of bacon, besides crate after crate of wine. Phillipa sat at my side, stitching
her sampler.

  "The King's General," she said meekly, "believes in doing himself well. I have not seen such fare since the siege of Plymouth started. Where do you suppose he obtains all his supplies?"

  I examined my nails, which were in need of trimming, and so did not have to look her in the face.

  "From the many houses," I answered, "that he commandeers."

  "But I thought," said Phillipa, with maddening persistency, "that Percy told us Sir Richard never permitted his men to loot."

  "Possibly," I said with great detachment, "Sir Richard looks upon ducks and burgundy as perquisites of war."

  She went to her room soon after, and I was alone when my brother Jo came down the stairs.

  "Well," he said grimly, "I suppose I have you to thank for this invasion."

  "I know nothing about it," I answered.

  "Nonsense. You planned it together last night."

  "Indeed we did not."

  "What were you doing then, closeted with him in your chamber?"

  "The time seemed to pass," I said, "in reviving old memories."

  "I thought," he said, after a moment's pause, "that your present condition, my dear Honor, would make talk of your former intimacy quite intolerable, and any renewal of it beyond question."

  "So did I," I answered.

  He looked down at me, his lips pursed.

  "You were always shameless as a girl," he said. "We spoiled you most abominably, Robin, your sisters, and I. And now at thirty-four you behave like a dairymaid."

  He could not have chosen an epithet, to my mind, more unfortunate.

  "My behavior last night," I said, "was very different from a dairymaid."

  "I am glad to hear it. But the impression, upon us here below, was to the contrary. Sir Richard's reputation is notorious, and for him to remain within a closed apartment for nearly an hour and three-quarters alone with a woman can conjure up, to my mind, one thing and one thing only."

  "To my mind," I answered, "it can conjure up at least a dozen."

  After that I knew I must be damned forever, and was not surprised when he left me without further argument, except to express a wish that I might have some respect for his roof, though "ceiling" would have been the apter word, in my opinion.

  I felt brazen and unrepentant all the day, and when Richard appeared that evening, in tearing spirits, commanding dinner for two in the apartment his soldiers had prepared for him, I had a glow of wicked satisfaction that my relatives sat below in gloomy silence, while I ate roast duck with the General overhead.

  "Since you would not come to Buckland," he said, "I had perforce to come to you."

  "It is always a mistake," I said, "to fall out with a woman's brothers."

  "Your brother Robin has ridden off with Berkeley's horse to Tavistock," he answered, "and Percy I am sending on a delegation to the King. That leaves only Jo to be disposed of. It might be possible to get him over to the Queen of France."

  He tied a knot in his handkerchief as a reminder.

  "And how long," I asked, "will it take before Plymouth falls before you?" He shook his head, and looked dubious.

  "They have the whole place strengthened," he said, "since our campaign in Cornwall, and that's the devil of it. Had His Majesty abided by my advice, and tarried here a fortnight only with his army, we would have the place today. But no. He must listen to Hyde and march to Dorset, and here I am, back again where I was last Easter, with less than a thousand men to do the job."

  "You'll never take it then," I asked, "by direct assault?"

  "Not unless I can increase my force," he said, "by nearly another thousand. I'm already recruiting hard up and down the county. Rounding up deserters, and enlisting new levies. But the fellows must be paid. They won't fight otherwise, and I don't blame 'em. Why the devil should they?"

  "Where," I said, "did you get this burgundy?"

  "From Lanhydrock," he answered. "I had no idea Jack Robartes had laid down so good a cellar. I've had every bottle of it removed to Buckland." He held his goblet to the candlelight, and smiled.

  "You know that Lord Robartes sacked Menabilly simply and solely because you had pillaged his estate?"

  "He is an extremely dull-witted fellow."

  "There is not a pin to choose between you where pillaging is concerned. A Royalist does as much damage as a rebel. I suppose Dick told you that Gartred was one of us at Menabilly?"

  "What was she after?"

  "The Duchy silver plate."

  "More power to her. I could do with some of it myself, to pay my troops."

  "She was very friendly with Lord Robartes."

  "I have yet to meet a man that she dislikes."

  "I think it very probable that she acts spy for Parliament."

  "There you misjudge her. She would do anything to gain her own ends but that. You forget the old saying: that, of the three families in Cornwall, a Godolphin was never wanting in wit, a Trelawney in courage, or a Grenvile in loyalty. Gartred was born and bred a Grenvile, no matter if she beds with every fellow in the Duchy."

  A brother, I thought, will always hold a brief for a sister. Perhaps Robin at this moment was doing the same thing for me.

  Richard had risen and was looking through the window towards the distant Cattwater and Plymouth.

  "Tonight," he said quietly, "I've made a gambler's throw. It may come off. It may be hopeless. If it succeeds, Plymouth can be ours by daybreak."

  "What do you mean?"

  He continued looking through the window to where the lights of Plymouth flickered.

  "I am in touch with the second in command in the garrison," he said softly, "a certain Colonel Searle. There is a possibility that for the sum of three thousand pounds he will surrender the city. Before wasting further lives, I thought it worth my while to assay bribery."

  I was silent. The prospect was hazardous, and somehow smelt unclean.

  "How have you set about it?" I asked at length.

  "Young Jo slipped through the lines tonight at sunset," he answered, "and will, by now, be hidden in the town. He bears upon him my message to the colonel, and a firm promise of three thousand pounds."

  "I don't like it," I said. "No good will come of it."

  "Maybe not," he said indifferently, "but at least it was worth trying. I don't relish the prospect of battering my head against the gates of Plymouth the whole winter."

  I thought of young Jo and his impudent brown eyes.

  "Supposing," I said slowly, "that they catch your Joseph?"

  Richard smiled. "The lad," he answered, "is quite capable of looking after himself."

  But I thought of Lord Robartes as I had seen him last, with muddied boots, and the rain upon his shoulders, sour and surly in defeat, and I knew how much he must detest the name of Grenvile.

  "I shall be rising early," said Richard, "before you are awake. If, by midday, you hear a salvo from every gun inside the garrison, you will know that I have entered Plymouth, after one swift and very bloody battle." He took my face in his, and kissed it, and then bade me good night. But I found it hard to sleep. The excitement of his presence in the house had turned to anxiety and strain. I knew, with all the intuition in my body, that he had gambled wrong.

  I heard him ride off, with his staff, about five thirty in the morning, and then dead tired, my brain chasing itself in circles, I fell into a heavy sleep.

  When I awoke it was past ten o'clock. A gray day, with a nip of autumn in the air. I had no wish for breakfast, nor even to get up, but stayed there in my bed. I heard the noises of the house, and the coming and going of the soldiers in their wing, and at twelve o'clock I raised myself upon my elbow and looked towards the river. Five past twelve. A quarter past. Half past twelve. There was no salvo from the guns. There was not even a musket shot. It rained at two, then cleared, then rained again. The day dragged on, dull, interminable. I had a sick feeling of suspense all the while. At five o'clock Matty brought me my dinner on a tray, which I picked at with faint ap
petite. I asked her if she had heard any news, but she said she knew of none. But later, when she had taken away my tray, and come to draw my curtains, her face was troubled.

  "What is the matter?" I asked.

  "It's what one of Sir Richard's men was saying, down there to the sentry," she answered, "some trouble today in Plymouth. One of their best young officers taken prisoner by Lord Robartes, and condemned to death by Council of War. Sir Richard has been endeavoring all day to ransom him, but has not succeeded."

  "Who is it?"

  "I don't know."

  "What will happen to the officer?"

  "The soldier did not say."

  I lay back again on my bed, my hands over my eyes, to dim the candle. Foreboding never played me wrong, not when I was seized with it for a whole night and day. Maybe perception was a cripple quality. Later I heard the horses coming up the drive and the sentries standing to attention. Footsteps climbed the stairs, slowly, heavily, and passed along to the rooms in the northern wing. A door slammed, and there was silence. It was a long while that I waited there, lying on my back. Just before midnight I heard him walk along the passage and his hand fumbled a moment on the latch of my door. The candles were blown, and it was darkness. The household slept. He came to my side, and knelt before the bed. I put my hand on his head, and held him close to me. He knelt thus for many moments without speaking.

  "Tell me," I whispered, "if it will help you."

  "They hanged him," he said, "above the gates of the town where we could see him. I sent a company to cut him down, but they were mown down by gunfire. They hanged him, before my eyes." Now that suspense was broken, and the long day of strain behind me, I was aware of the feeling of detachment that possesses all of us when a crisis has been passed, and the suffering is not one's own.

  This was Richard's battle. I could not fight it for him. I could only hold him in the darkness.

  "That rat Searle," he said, his voice broken, strangely unlike my Richard, "betrayed the scheme, and so they caught the lad. I went myself beneath the walls of the garrison to parley with Robartes. I offered him any terms of ransom or exchange. He gave me no answer. And while I stood there, waiting, they strung him up above the gate..."