We walked slowly round among the hammering masons as I gave an account of the meeting. So I knew them all now, Sir Anthony, dying for a lost faith with his white wispy hair haloing a fading brain; Thomas Arundell, narrow faced, blue eyed, faintly squinting, an artist and a passionate exile; Alice, to whom I had delivered his letter, thin and eroded and grown to a carved chair in which she overlooked her green lawns: now Henry, fat as a king, bearded like a footpad. I knew now of whom he reminded me: his nephew Thomas waiting to inherit from his ailing brother Jonathan in the tree-smothered house by the river.
Yet under or over these thoughts, distinct as a thread of crimson in a dull fabric, was awareness of Susanna Reskymer, of what she wore, of how she moved and breathed and spoke.
Mr Henry Arundell was a close friend of the Reskymers and had come on a similar mission to my own, to which Sue replied: “Oh, he is not well, but I don’t think his disease would be dangerous if I could persuade him to a greater ease and an increased rest. Today he is in St Ives on matters to do with this rebuilding. He would suffer no one to do it for him. I expect him home any moment. You’ll sup with us, Maugan?”
“Thank you.”
To my relief Mr Arundell would not wait; blowing breath and importance, he said he had business with the St Aubyns and must go; Philip and Susanna must visit him at an early date and spend the night. Mr Arundell rubbed his black beard and looked Sue over. Philip must appreciate his luck and take advantage of being alive …
When he had gone off with his two servants riding behind him a silence fell between us. I could hardly believe my good fortune at having her alone, yet I did not know what to do with it. Eleven months ago I had slept with her. We had parted in anger and not written since. That parting was a barrier I could not climb.
We walked back to the church, which was being slowly raised again.
“Where do you live now?”
“In the cottage which John Pieton rented he who was killed. It’s convenient to be near the rebuilding … You have been with Ralegh, Maugan?”
“Still am. I came back for a week only because my grandmother was sick. Then I heard Mr Reskymer also was ill…”
“He is more ill than he’ll acknowledge, but to his friends I keep up the presence as he wishes. It’s a bloodlessness which troubles him. But he has a rare inner strength, Maugan, arising from his faith, and I believe it will carry him a good way yet.”
Two men, broad shouldered, with the thick haunches of the Cornish, were lifting a huge stone into position at the foot of a pillar. We stopped to watch them. So far our words had been as formal as if Henry Arundell were still here.
“And you?” she said.
I spoke constrainedly of my life at Sherborne. “I go now with Ralegh on a naval commission which leaves this month.”
“I had heard rumours. Where are you bound?”
“That we don’t know. It’s a small armada with soldiers aboard.”
She was silent for some time. “How much are you committed to it, Maugan?”
“Committed? Oh, completely. Besides, I want to go.”
She knitted her brows. We walked slowly round towards the ruins of the vicarage. “I don’t like it, Maugan. There is bound to be danger. Think of Drake and Hawkins and so many others. It’s not just danger from combat, though that may be great; there is danger from fever and other disease.”
“Where there is danger there is usually hope of profit.”
She looked up, eyes green behind their lashes in the falling sun. “There could be profit nearer home. I was glad you came today. I wondered if you had met Henry Arundell before. You see …”
“The connection? No, I don’t.”
“… I wonder if Philip could help. It might well be arranged.”
They had not yet begun to rebuild the Reskymers’ house, but the kitchens were being used, and horses were standing in the stables. A servant ran out to ask Sue about supper, and she answered composedly, mistress of the house and the situation. Her circumstances were changing her, giving her greater poise and assurance.
She said: “Henry Arundell’s steward died last month. He is looking for a new one and seeking someone well learned who can take over much of the management of his estate. He says it is difficult to find the right man. I know you are very young for such a position, but it might be possible that he would take you.”
I suppose I should have been happy that she was concerned for my safety, but with the perverseness of the rejected lover I thought the proposition smacked of condescension. “This is not a time when I could apply to him.”
“It would be the only time, while he needs one. Philip was at Cambridge with him, and with his persuasion the position might be got. It would be a big move for you, with a prospect of advancement.”
“An advancement from being at Ralegh’s side?”
“From what you tell me it’s only as a writer that you’re employed. Henry Arundell is a bachelor and getting up in years. He’s looking for someone young and energetic and reliable. One way or another, you could make your fortune there.”
“You’re still anxious I should make my fortune?”
“You know the reasons.”
“Tell me them.”
“Perhaps you think I’ve forfeited the right to be interested in your life, to wish to advance it.”
“… Never that. But I think the advancement must be along my own route.”
She bent to rub some grass off her shoe. “Henry Arundell also has close connections with the Howards. They are relatives, of course, and of great influence in and around the court different from Ralegh, who many think will never return to influence and power.”
I did not speak and we moved on through the coppice to the cottage.
She said: “As it happens my father was at one time in the employ of a Howard at least, it was the same family though a Devonshire branch. This was before he was married. He often used to talk about it to say what a powerful family they were and what connections they had.”
All the brambles had been neatly cleared.
She said: “I have a strange feeling about this naval voyage, Maugan, a premonition. I wish you would not go, but stay here in your own country.”
“And near you,” I said harshly.
The wind blew a flicker of hair over her eyes as she straightened up. She blinked and seemed to shiver as she turned away.
“My marriage cannot go on for ever, Maugan, that’s now clear.”
I stood beside her, already part wishing I had never come.
“Sue, when your marriage ends, then you must think it all over again. Until it does you laid down for yourself prohibitions that I asked you to break and you would not.”
“Yes, but it need not prevent our being within distance … Truthall is not so far from here “
“It is too near yet. Besides I cannot and wouldn’t leave Ralegh for any Arundell or any Howard. I don’t always admire him, but being in his company is living in another air. I can make it no plainer than that …”
“Oh, you have made it very plain! “
“Yes, but don’t mistake me. You are the wife of Philip Reskymer. If at any time you become the widow of Philip Reskymer, then that’s a new situation.” I touched her shoulder. “Until then I go my own way, and immediately my own way leads me on this voyage.”
“Which I say you should not take! “
“Which I shall take. I may come out of it with some prize.”
“Maugan, you could find a greater prize here.”
“There’s only one greater and that’s out of my reach. When it’s not, give me first news.”
“You’re dead to all all reason.”
“Reason was never a complete answer, Sue. It never can be, between us.”