“Welcome, Mistress Tolworthy,” he said. “We are delighted that you should come.”
“And that she has brought her friend, Mistress Harriet Main,” added his mother.
He bowed. “I shall be eternally grateful that you allowed me to come,” said Harriet.
“You are a little rash, I can see,” he said, and I noticed that one eyebrow lifted higher than the other just as his mouth did when he smiled. “If I were you I should reserve a little of that gratitude for a while. Wait until you get to know us.”
Everyone laughed.
“Oh, Edwin,” said Lady Eversleigh, “what a tease you are! He always has been. He says the most outrageous things.”
“You should banish me from polite society, Mama,” said Edwin.
“Oh, my dear, how dull it would be if we did. Let us go into dinner and all get to know each other.”
The hall was rather like the one at Congrève. There was a dais and on this the table had been set because it was such a small party. Only we did not sit in the traditional way facing the main hall, but round the table as would have been done in a small room.
Lady Eversleigh sat at one end of the table with Lucas on her right and Harriet on her left. Edwin was at the other end with me on his right and Charlotte on his left. Sir Charles Condey was between me and Harriet.
“It would be so much more convenient if we had a small dining room,” said Lady Eversleigh. “But we have become accustomed to makeshift in the last years.”
“Never mind,” said Edwin, “we are soon going to be at home.”
“Do you really think so?” I asked.
He touched my hand which was lying on the table—only briefly but I felt a thrill of pleasure in the contact. “Certain of it,” he said smiling at me.
“Why are you so certain?”
“The signs and portents. Cromwell has kept his iron grip on the nation because he is a man of iron. Richard, his son, fortunately for England, has none of his father’s qualities. He has inherited the Protectorate because he is his father’s son. Oliver took it with his own strength. There’s a world of difference.”
“I wonder what is happening at our home,” said Lady Eversleigh. “We had such good servants … so loyal. They didn’t want these Puritan ideas. I wonder if they have been able to keep the place going.” She turned to Lucas. “Isn’t it wonderful to contemplate going home?”
Lucas said that it was, but that he could remember nothing of his home, although he recalled a little of his grandparents’ place in Cornwall.
“We escaped there,” I added. “My mother made the long journey across the country with Lucas and me. Our home, Far Flamstead, not far from London, had been attacked by the enemy but not completely destroyed.”
“A sad story and too often repeated,” said Charles Condey.
Harriet said: “I can remember so well my escape from England. We had warning that the enemy were approaching. My father had already been killed at Naseby and we knew the cause was lost. My mother and I and a few faithful servants hid in the woods while they ravaged our home. I shall never forget the sight of our home in flames.”
“My dear!” said Lady Eversleigh.
Everyone was looking at Harriet now but she would not meet my eye.
How beautifully she modulated her voice! She was acting a part and she was a superb actress.
“All those treasures which one has preserved through one’s childhood … the dolls … I had puppet dolls which I made perform for me. They were real to me. I fancied I could hear their screams as the flames consumed them. I was very young, of course …”
Silence at the table. How beautiful she was. And never more so than when she was acting a part.
“I remember waking cold, with the dawn just showing in the sky and the smell of acrid smoke in the air. It was quiet. The Roundheads had destroyed our home, changed our lives and gone on.”
“By God,” said Edwin, “when we get back they shall pay for what they did.”
Charlotte put in quietly: “There was violence and cruelty on both sides. When peace comes it will be best to forget this dreadful time.”
Charles Condey agreed with her. “If only we can go back to the old gracious life, we’ll forget this.”
“There has been nearly ten years of it,” said Edwin.
“It will be a new start,” Charlotte said. Charles Condey looked at her and smiled and I realized they were lovers.
Harriet was determined to maintain the centre of attention.
“We went back to the house … our beautiful gracious home which I had known all my life. But there was little left of it. I can remember searching frantically for my puppets. They were gone. All I found was a piece of charred ribbon … cherry coloured, which I had put on the dress of one of them. I treasure it to this day.”
Oh, Harriet, I thought angrily, how can you! And before me too, who knows that you are lying.
I did meet her gaze then. It challenged me. All right then, betray me. Tell them that I am the bastard of a strolling player and a village girl, that my mother was the mistress of the Squire, and the Roundheads never came near the place where we lived on his bounty. Tell them.
She knew I would not. But I would speak to her when we were alone.
Edwin leaned towards her. “What happened then?”
“Obviously we could not stay in the woods. We walked to the nearest village. We had a few jewels which we had taken with us to the fields. We sold these and lived on the proceeds for a while. In one village we fell in with some strolling players. They were having a bad time and performed in secret, for the Puritans were getting a big hold on the country at that time and, as you know, they were against playacting. The theatres were soon closed but there were still a few players on the road. So we joined them, my mother and I, and do you know for a short time I discovered that I had a talent for acting?”
“That does not surprise me,” I said, and she smiled at me again, daring me to expose her.
“I made some puppets. I did my little performance with them and then they let me act with them. I took small parts at first and then bigger ones. But things were getting worse. Although the villagers were pleased to see us, we never knew when one of them would be an informer. It became too dangerous so we came to France. My mother was drowned on the way, for we were wrecked. I was saved and went to the home of some friends of mine. I stayed with them for a while.”
“How very interesting,” said Lady Eversleigh. “Who were they?”
Harriet hesitated only for a fraction of a second. She dared not say the d’Ambervilles—if indeed her story concerning them was true. How could one be sure with such an actress?
“The de la Boudons,” she said. “You may know them.”
Lady Eversleigh shook her head. How could she know a family which existed only in Harriet’s imagination.
“Later,” continued Harriet, “I went to Arabella and I have been with her some time.”
“We must all band together in these times,” said Lady Eversleigh. “And how glad I am that you came!”
“It was so kind of you to let me. Arabella and I are such fast friends and I know that she did not like the idea of leaving me behind … and nor did I.”
“You are very welcome,” said Lady Eversleigh. “I am sure you will help to enliven the company.”
“Harriet always does. Ever since the strolling players came.” This was Lucas. I had forgotten that he would be wondering about her story. So it seemed had she.
She parried that thrust with the utmost ease. “Oh, yes, what a time that was. I was with the de la Boudons when these strolling players came to them. They played for us and I told them about my being with the players and they let me take part. Apparently they were quite pleased with me, and as one of their leading players had deserted them, they asked me if I would help them.” She paused then went on: “I will be honest …”