Forever Amber Page 23

"That's a damned lie and you know it! I never so much as spoke to another man until you brought that slut in here! And anyway I haven't laid with anyone but Blueskin—and that only a few times! This brat is yours and you know it, Black Jack Mallard, and you'll own it or I'll—"

  He tossed the bone aside and leaned forward to pick up a cluster of purple Lisbon grapes. "For God's sake, Bess, stubble it! You sound like a beggar's clack-dish! I don't care what you do. Lay with who you damned please, but don't bother me about it."

  His back was half-turned and for a moment she stood staring at him, her eyes like glass, her whole body beginning to tremble with rage. And then with an animal-like cry she lunged for him, snatching up a knife off the table. A quick look of surprise crossed his face as he saw the swift descending flash of the blade and his arm went up to defend himself, thrashing out then and giving her a violent blow that sent her sprawling across the room.

  She was crouched on the floor, staring ferociously up at him where he loomed above her, when Mother Red-Cap rushed in from her room down the hallway. "What is it?" she cried. "Oh!" She put her hands on her hips. "Well, I've warned you before, Bess, and now you go. Get your belongings and leave this house!"

  Bess glared up at her with sulky defiance, but got slowly to her feet. For a long moment she stood there without moving.

  "Go on!" repeated Mother Red-Cap. "Get out of here!"

  Bess started to protest and then she gave a sudden furious scream. "Don't say it again! I'm going! I'm going away from here and I'll never come back! I wouldn't come back if you got on your knees and begged me! I hate you! I hate every one of you and I hope you—" Suddenly she whirled about and ran from the room and they could hear her feet pounding up the stairs.

  Black Jack gave a low whistle and glanced at the knife where it lay on the floor, knocked out of her hand when he had struck her. "Whew! The crafty little gypsy. She'd have slit my throat, I think." He gave a shrug and went back to take up the cluster of grapes, picking them off and tossing them one at a time into his mouth.

  Mother Red-Cap went to the table, got out her ledger, and sat down to settle Bess's account. "I'll be glad to be done with her. She's never been much use to me, and ever since Mrs. Channell came she's been an infernal nuisance. Oh, well—you can't make a whistle of a pig's tail."

  Presently Black Jack went into the kitchen to tease Pall, who adored him though she blushed and stammered and scratched nervously at her lice whenever he appeared. The house was quiet for several minutes and then Amber came in the front door. She was wearing a thin pale-green silk dress with her hair tumbling about her shoulders and tied with a ribbon, and she had two of Penelope Hill's choicest yellow roses stuck into the low-cut neckline.

  "Ye gods! I swear this is the hottest day in an age!" She dropped into a chair, fanning herself with her lace-trimmed handkerchief, and Mother Red-Cap went on with her work. After a few moments Amber got up and started for the doorway that led into the hall where the stairs were.

  "I don't think you'd better go up there, my dear," said Mother Red-Cap, dipping her pen into a pewter inkwell, but neither turning nor looking around. "I just sent Bess to pack her rigging and she's in a tearing rage."

  Amber glanced back, smiling. "Bess is going?" She shrugged. "Well, much I care if she's in a rage or no. Let her just say something to me and I'll—"

  "Never mind, my dear. I don't want another brawl in my house. Go into the kitchen with Black Jack and Pall until she's gone."

  Amber hesitated for a moment but finally turned and went into the other room. After a few minutes they heard Bess's high-heeled shoes coming down the stairs, Mother Red-Cap's voice talking to her, though Bess did not answer, and then with a bang she was gone. Black Jack proposed a toast to the peaceful life, and he and Amber presently wandered back into the parlour and sat down to play a game of cards.

  They had spent interminable hours at cards and dice, for they did not go out on business more than once or twice a week—sometimes even less—and the long days and nights had to be passed somehow. Black Jack had taught her every trick in a gambler's repertoire—palming, slurring, knapping, the brief—and in seven months she had attained to a very creditable proficiency. She felt that she could hold her own now at a table with any lord or lady in the kingdom.

  After a while Blueskin came in and they started to play at putt, the favourite tavern game and one which had probably been the undoing of more country-squires' sons than any other. It was three or four hours before she went upstairs to her own room, and there she found Bess's final gesture to the rival she despised. Her smocks and gowns and petticoats littered the room, ripped and slashed to pieces. There were torn fans, gloves cut in two, cloaks backed by scissors, and she had dumped the contents of the chamber-pot onto the remnants of Amber's finest gown.

  Black Jack promised to find Bess and give her the beating she deserved, but she had disappeared from Sanctuary and left not a trace, and they all knew it would never be possible to seek her out in the great sprawling city with its half-million inhabitants. She could lose herself in the warrens of Clerkenwell or St. Pancras, in the glutted seafaring center of Wapping, or in the alleys and courts of the Mint across the river in Southwark.

  It was a bad shock to Amber; she decided that her life was cursed and that she would never get out of Whitefriars. She became gloomy and despondent, trailed listlessly about the house, and was sullenly bad-tempered with all of them. She hated Bess and Black Jack and Mother Red-Cap, Pall and Blueskin and the house-cat, even herself.

  No matter what I do, she thought, no matter how hard I work and how much I save, there's always something happens! I'll never get out! I'll die in this stinking hole!

  Three days after Bess had gone Mother Red-Cap came into the bedroom and found Amber lying on her back, stretched out straight with her hands behind her head. She had been awake for at least two hours, mulling over her troubles, and the longer she thought about them the more insurmountable they became. She gave Mother Red-Cap a sulky glare, annoyed at being interrupted, but she did not speak.

  "Well, my dear," said Mother Red-Cap, as cheerfully as though Amber had greeted her in good humour. "This is no ordinary day for us, you know."

  Every morning she got up punctually at five, like an apprentice, put on her plain, neat dress, and began to go about her numberless tasks. From the moment she woke she was brisk and alert and ready for the day. The sight of such determined activity was irritating to Amber.

  "It's an ordinary day for me," she said crossly.

  "How now! Surely you've not forgot this is the day you're going to Knightsbridge."

  "It's not the day I'm going to Knightsbridge!"

  "But, my dear child, this is most important. There's a great deal of money involved."

  "It isn't the first time there's been a great deal of money involved—but I never saw much of it!" The subject had been discussed between them before, always with considerable bitterness for though Amber protested she was being cheated of her rightful share Mother Red-Cap insisted that she got exactly what her services warranted, and Black Jack agreed. "Anyway, it'd be like Bess Columbine to have the constables waiting on us. She knows all our plans."

  "Nonsense, my dear. I think I know Bess better than you do, and I assure you she's no such desperate creature as that. She hates the sight of a constable worse than a fishmonger hates a hard frost. But as for the money—I came up here to tell you I'll double your earnest this time, to make up for the loss of your clothes." Considering the matter settled she started toward the door. "Black Jack is below with Jimmy and Blue-skin. They intend setting out within the hour."

  But as she went Amber flounced over on her side, scowled and called after her, "I'm not going!"

  Mother Red-Cap did not reply, but within a few minutes Black Jack appeared and after half-an-hour's coaxing and wheedling and assuring her that they had changed their plans so that Bess could not catch them if she tried, she got up and began to dress. Even so she would not leave befor
e she had gone to consult an astrologer who lived in Mitre Court. Upon his assurance that the day was a propitious one for her she borrowed a cloak from Mother Red-Cap and, still sulking, left the Sanctuary with Pall and the three men.

  Knightsbridge was a quiet little village on the West Bourne just two miles and a half out of the city, and they reached it by taking a barge up the river to Tuthill Fields and then hiring a coach to the village. Because of its convenient situation Knightsbridge was much frequented by highwaymen who attacked travellers leaving or entering the city. Mother Red-Cap had had a message from the inn-keeper in her employ there that an old gentleman, Theophilus Bidulph, who came into London twice a year, was expected on the 8th of September.

  Sometimes they had to wait two or three or more days for a victim to appear, but Amber heartily hoped that this time it would not be necessary. They went upstairs to the room assigned to them and Pall immediately took off her shoes, complaining—as she had ever since leaving home—that they hurt her feet. Having nothing else to do Amber sat down to arrange her hair all over again, a process which could easily take half-an-hour, and when that was done she plagued Pall until the miserable girl finally admitted that she was with child by Black Jack Mallard. By nightfall she was distractedly bored, pacing uneasily about the room, hanging out the window and tapping her fingers on the sill, wishing she was anyone but who she was and anywhere in the world but there.

  But at last she heard the pounding of horses' hoofs, the clatter and bang of a coach; dogs began to bark and the ostlers ran out into the courtyard to greet the arriving guest. A few moments later there was a hasty tap at her door and the host told her Theophilus Bidulph had come and was ordering his supper downstairs. Amber waited about a quarter of an hour and then she went down herself.

  Mr. Bidulph was standing beside the fireplace drinking a glass of ale and talking to the host and he did not see her until she spoke his name. Then he turned about in some surprise. He was a short merry-faced old gentleman with great bushy pointed eyebrows and the look of a good-natured imp.

  "Why, Mr. Bidulph!" she cried, giving him a sparkling smile and holding out her hand.

  He took it and made her a bow. "Your servant, madame." In spite of his courtesy he was frankly puzzled, though he looked at her with interest.

  "I vow I think you've forgotten me, sir."

  "By the mass, madame, I fear I have."

  "I'm Balthazar St. Michel's eldest daughter, Ann. Last time we met I was no more than so high." She bent a little, indicating with her flat palm a very tiny girl. "Surely you remember me now, sir? You used to dandle me on your knee." She continued to smile at him.

  "Why—uh—of course, madame—my dear, I mean. And how is your father, pray? It's some years since we've met and —uh—"

  Her face fell a little. "Oh, Mr. Bidulph, he's not well. The old gout again. Sometimes he's in bed for days." She gave him another quick smile. "But he speaks so often of you— He'll be so pleased I chanced to see you."

  Mr. Bidulph drank down his ale. "You must give him my regards, child. But what are you doing all alone out here?"

  "Oh, I'm not alone, sir. I'm traveling with my woman. I'm going into town to visit Aunt Sarah—but one of our horses lost a shoe and we stopped here for the night. They say the ways are thick with highwaymen nowadays."

  "It's true the wretches are everywhere—much worse than when I was a young fellow, let me tell you. But then, of course, nothing is as it was. But won't you ride in with me in the morning? I'll see you get there safe and sound."

  "Oh, thank you, sir! How kind that is! For the truth on it is, those cutthroats everywhere about have me uneasy as a witch."

  While they talked Amber saw some of his footmen going through the room bearing trunks and boxes on their backs; evidently the old gentleman did not intend to trust his belongings to the surveillance of the stable-boys. But at least that would make it possible for Black Jack to take what he wanted, while she occupied Mr. Bidulph's attention. And, long before morning, all five of them would be in Whitefriars again. Amber was eager to have it over and done and to be back in safety once more—for Bess's jealousy hung above her like an ominous threat. She thought the girl was mad enough to do anything for her revenge.

  At Mr. Bidulph's invitation Amber sat down to have supper with him, and they lingered there afterward while she listened to his tales of the Civil Wars. She heard of numerous instances demonstrating his and everyone else's heroic valour, of the dead King's nobility and martyrdom, the magnificent leadership of Prince Rupert. Nothing, he assured her again and again, could have been more glorious than the way the Royalists had lost the war.

  Amber kept an eye on the clock.

  By ten she was beginning to grow nervous and had to force herself to sit still and smile and ask questions. They had been there at the table for more than three hours, and certainly Black Jack should have finished his work by now and made her a signal to join them. A feeling of panic was rising in her, and her stomach turned over and over, fluttering like a captive bird.

  Oh! she thought wildly. Where is he! Why doesn't he come! What can have happened!

  Then all at once she heard a noisy commotion from outside. The dogs began to bark again, horses' hoofs beat along the roadway, and there was a babble of voices—men shouting, a woman's scream. Pall opened their door at the head of the stairs to wave frantically at her. And Amber, suddenly terrified, thinking that Bess had arrived with a party of constables, leaped to her feet.

  "Good Lord, madame! What's amiss?"

  "It's thieves!" cried Amber wildly. "Quick! Put out the lights!"

  She darted across to snuff out the candles burning in wall-sconces, and as she did so Pall burst from the room above and came running down, wailing with fear. "Shut up!" cried Amber frantically. At that moment she heard the unmistakable sound of Bess Columbine's voice and a bellow of rage from Black Jack.

  The voices were nearer now and Amber—able to think of nothing but saving herself—started for the front door. She heard Pall bawling her name, and Mr. Bidulph, catching the contagion of excitement, went stumbling around in the dark, calling out, "Mrs. Ann! Mrs. Ann! Where are you!" By mistake he grabbed hold of Pall and she shrieked with terror.

  Amber rushed on and then, just as she got outside, she heard footsteps coming that way and saw the flare from their torches. Bess's voice screamed: "She's in here! Let him go—He's not the one! The woman's inside!"

  Amber whirled and ran back inside, heading for the kitchen. Mr. Bidulph was still floundering about and calling her name while Pall screamed but could not decide what to do; as Amber ran by he reached for her and caught hold of her skirt. She jerked it free, hearing it tear, and rushed on, reaching the narrow little hallway below the stairs just as a torch brightened the room. Pall gave a shriek of agony as she was seized and Mr. Bidulph indignantly demanded to know what was going on.

  Amber burst into the kitchen, panting so that she could scarcely breathe, and gave a scared start as she heard a voice. "Mrs. Channell? It's the host."

  She stopped still. "Oh, my God! Where can I go! Where can I hide? They'll be here next!" Her teeth were chattering and her very bones seemed to shake.

  "Quick! Get into this food-hutch! Give me your hand!"

  Amber reached out gropingly. He caught hold of her hand, threw up the top of a great oaken chest, and she climbed in. The lid had just shut down when Bess and the constables came through the hallway; the host turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  "There she goes!" yelled Bess. And through the air-holes bored in the chest Amber saw a flare of light and heard the rush of their feet as they went by, Bess swearing when she knocked her ankle against a stool.

  Amber waited only until the last one was gone and then she flung back the lid and got out, picked up her skirts, and ran after them. Still on the trail of the host they had rounded the corner into the courtyard, and since the kitchen formed a separate wing of the house it was dark when she got
outside. The confusion was greater than ever and she knew they had captured all three men for she heard Bess yelling: "Let him go, you damned fools! He's the ostler here! Get that woman!"

  Amber did not pause an instant but struck off in the other direction, toward the river, hoping only to get away where it was so dark she could not be seen. Reaching the bank she plunged down it. She was unable to see at all, for the moon had disappeared and the sky was black with storm-clouds, but she ran blindly ahead—like one in a dream who, no matter how hard the legs churn, cannot seem to make any progress. The sounds were growing fainter, but she dared not stop or look back.

  Her shoes were soaked through in a moment and the rocks on the streambed bruised the soles of her feet. Her wet skirts flopped and clung to her ankles; brambles scratched her face and bare arms and caught in her hair. A hard pain seared her left side, her legs felt wooden and her lungs were beginning to burn. But she ran on and on.

  It was quiet down there and after several minutes she could hear nothing at all from the inn, only the occasional plop of a frog into the water or the frightened scurrying of an animal. At last she could run no more and stopped, heaving, sagged helplessly against a tree.

  But as she began to get her breath she also began to think and to wonder how she would get back. Following the Bourne, she knew, would lead her down to the Thames a great way from Whitefriars. She must go back to the road and hope to find a hackney—or walk; it was only about two miles and a quarter. She climbed the bank and started off across the fields, but did not return at once to the road, for fear they would come along searching for her. She alternately ran and walked, constantly looking back. Whenever a coach or a man on horseback approached, she flung herself flat and waited, but for the most part the night was quiet and she met no one.

  Within a few minutes she had reached St. James's Park. She skirted the edge of it, and though here there were some late walkers, by keeping in the shadows and moving softly, she got through without molestation. Reaching the Strand she hurried along, holding onto her skirts to keep them from dragging in the street, clotted and littered as it was with animal dung and decaying vegetable refuse. She was afraid to be alone in the city, for she knew the menace of it and wished violently that a hackney would come along. And then all at once the banging clatter of a coach resounded through the night, lumbering heavily toward her as though in a great hurry to run her down and be on.