Mr Killigrew was sharpening one of his quills; he glanced up briefly and nodded me to a seat. His waist had increased this year and his fine complexion had become higher toned and a trifle blotchy. His thick fair hair was losing its colour and becoming an indeterminate shade of pale straw-brown.
“Well, boy, so you’re home again, by the mercy of Christ. Or by the mercy of King Philip. I thought you were dead. We all gave you up for dead. I’m graveUed at this honour done a son of mine.”
“It was not exactly honour, father. I spent the first three weeks in a Lisbon jail.”
“I call it honour not to be sent to the galleys but to be received at Court and well treated, to be later released and sent home in comfort. The Spanish respect the name of Killigrew more than I thought. D’you know who was released on our side by exchange?”
“No one was, father. That was an excuse to avoid the need to explain.”
“To explain what?”
“My coming home.”
He laid down his pen. “There is more to this than your coming home?”
“Yes, sir. I was charged with a message.”
“To whom? God’s face, what sort of a conspiracy is this?”
“A message to you, father.”
“What d’you mean, to me? Who could wish to send a message to me? n
“The Spanish Council of War. Andres Prada, Don Juan de Idiaquez, Estaban de Ibarra and others.”
“Well, well, I never thought to hear a cub of mine so pat with Spanish names! You’re telling me they released you in order to carry a message to me?”
“I was required to learn the message by heart and to repeat it. Then I was required to take an oath on the Bible that I would repeat it to you only and to no other. This I swore.”
Mr Killigrew unfastened a button of his jerkin and began to scratch inside; his heavy lids came down once or twice as if the light were too strong for him. All the dogs sighed together.
“And this message? You have written it down?”
“No, sir. It was a condition that it should not be.” I moistened my lips. “I am required to to deliver to my father, John Killigrew Esq., of Arwenack House, Governor of Pendennis Castle, the following message from the Junta de Noche, supreme War Council of his Imperial Majesty Philip the Second. Render up to Spain, at a time to be later assigned, the Castle of Pendennis, the river mouth and bay and all defences under your charge. Raise no arms, assemble no musters, give all aid to the landing forces as and when required to do so. For reward, on success of the mission, œ10,000 in gold, a knighthood, and a grant of the lands and properties of Godolphin, Erisey and Trelowarren, Epys and Trefusis.”
I stopped speaking. Mr Killigrew still had his belt knife in his hand, and his thumb was absently testing the sharpness of it. He got up and walked to the window. His thick figure was silhouetted against the diamond panes, with the rain trickling crossways down them.
“Brother of Christ,” he said, “that I should be so insulted I “
I did not speak, but let out a slow breath.
“Sometimes I think I’ve slips low in the respect of my friends. I did not know I was esteemed so low by my enemies! ” He laughed lightly. “For three and a half centuries the Killigrews have served England and her Kings as soldiers, as diplomats, as poets, as courtiers. We fought for the House of Lancaster and have never wavered for the Tudors except when Mary took to her papist ways, which served her right, shrew that she was. I and my father and my grandfather have beggared ourselves in the service of her sister. And we’re for her reformed church, every one of us not a backslider in five litters. Yet a halfdozen powdered strutting grandees from Castile suppose they can buy me and my fidelity as if I was a strumpet set up for sale to the highest bidder! No wonder they treated you well, boy! Did you tell them I was in debt?”
“No, father. They already knew.”
“Ah, their system’s got its spies. How did you consent to bring this pretty message? Did you think I should be interested? “
“Oh, no! But I wished to come home!”
He turned at last from the window. “Well, it was a way of coming. It was a way of coming! A knighthood, indeed! That would not be outside my deserts … They know their geography, too, it seems … Godolphin, Erisey and Trelowarren, Enys and Trefusis. And how much money? œ10,000? They knew their finances. But they did not know their man. That was their failing, boy, they did not know John Killigrew of Arwenack! “
“No, father.”
“Ralegh shall hear of this: we’ll laugh over it together! And Cecil. It will show how high my position and responsibility is rated by Spain.” He hesitated a moment, sat again in his chair, which creaked a welcome to the familiar weight. “No, well, we’ll think of that … In the meantime breathe no word of this outside.”
“I am sworn not to.”
“For see, Maugan, I have malicious enemies whose tongues given taste of this offer, might wag to bad effect. So have a guard on yourself.” He laughed again, again lightly, but the timbre was metallic. “It is as well if Godolphin does not hear of it or he might have some fear for his estates. And Hannibal Vyvyan …”
I said: “There is one more thing I was charged-to do. It was to give you this.”
“What have you there an amulet?”
“No, it is a ring with a seal on it of the Spanish royal arms. I was told to give it to you and to ask you to return it with your reply. This will prove that it comes from you.”
“So they expect an answer? And who’s to carry it?”
“That they would not say. I was afraid for my life they would wish me to carry it back, in which case I should have been no better off for the journey. But they did not. They would send a messenger when the time comes.”
“When the time comes … From that I’d gather they mean no attempt on England this year. Or perhaps it is a trap to lure us to sleep as in ‘88 when the news was spread deliberate that they had given up the attempt, just as they set out.”
“It will come,” I said. “They are all set on it. It is the one thought in their minds.”
“Ah. As Ralegh said. Unless they can be stopped. The forward party at Court presses for a preventive raid on the Spanish ports such as Drake performed seven years ago. But whether it will come to fruit I don’t know. Cecil plays for time and peace. Essex breathes fire and would fight the world. Ralegh brings up his new-born son and plants trees at Sherborne. We shall see.”
“Yes, sir.”
“A knighthood, indeed,” said my father. “Godolphin and Trelowarren, Enys and Trefusis …”
Now that the message was out I felt immensely lighter and relieved. And the relief, though in part because the message was safely delivered, had also to do with its reception. I would not have admitted it then in so many words, for to be a traitor is unthinkable. So one did not think of it. All one thought of was the many men in financial straits or torn by conflicts of conscience who would not have flung such an offer contemptuously away. And although Mr Killigrew never suffered with his conscience, there was no question but that he was in straits. More servants had gone since Christmas and meals were the poorer by half.
Of course, having been myself in straits often since, I can see now that his economies were half-hearted and without method. He had the true attitude of the aristocrat towards money: he was never really able to learn to see his wants as governed by his means; it was always his means which had to be adapted to his wants. He would buy an expensive horse or a jewel that took his fancy or dice with anyone who called. Only the best wines passed his lips. I soon discovered that he was involved in another complicated affair of the heart with a Mistress Margaret Jolly of Tregarden and spent much time and money in her pursuit. These were activities he made little effort to curb. Yet his smaller economies cut into the comfort of the house, and there is no doubt that he intended them to save more than they did.