“‘When the cat lies on his brain/That do be a sign of rain!’ And my bones are telling me a story today. Mark my words it’ll be raining cats and dogs before the day’s out.”
Emily Philpots said there was thunder about, too, because she always felt down in the dumps with thunder, and Jasper murmured: “Armageddon, that’s what it’ll be … and not before it’s due.”
“You going off riding again, Mistress Priscilla.” That was Sally, reminding me that she had once been my nurse.
“It’s good exercise, Sally.”
“I reckon you’d do better staying in today.”
I wished they wouldn’t watch me so closely. Was it my fancy or did they watch me more intently than they had? Had Ellen mentioned the denuded larder to Jasper? If he were on the trail we should be betrayed.
So I rode out uneasily with the basket of food attached to my saddle and I wondered how long it would be before Leigh returned. We missed him. We needed his leadership when we were engaged in a dangerous exercise, as this undoubtedly was.
I came out to the lonely stretch of beach. To my relief there was no one in sight. I tied up the horse where he could take shelter under an overhanging rock.
I went into the cave. For a moment I could not see Jocelyn. The lantern we had taken to him was alight. Then I saw him. He was lying down fast asleep. He looked so young and handsome, like a Greek hero. He was even more handsome without his periwig, which now lay on the shingle beside him. His cropped fair hair curled about his head and he looked quite defenceless. I trembled for him. What if someone had strayed into the cave and found him asleep!
I hesitated to awaken him for fear of startling him, so I tiptoed to the mouth of the cave and there I called his name softly. He sat up and smiled at me. Then he sprang to his feet.
“It’s Priscilla. I was dreaming of you. I dreamed you came in and looked at me.”
“I did. I was afraid because your lantern was alight and I thought someone might see it.”
“Is there anyone about?”
“No one.”
“I haven’t seen anyone here since you brought me to the place.”
“There, might be people in the summer. But you will be well away by then. I’ve brought you a partridge and a piece of sucking pig.”
“It sounds delicious.”
“I think you could come out into the open. I’ll keep watch. There’s no one about for miles. It’s stopped raining now but it’ll start again soon, I’m sure. Come, let’s make the most of the fresh air while we can.”
I laid out the food. I had brought some ale, too, which he drank eagerly.
He smiled at me and said: “Do you know, last night I was thinking that I was glad this happened. It brought me to you.”
“You have had to pay rather a high price for the introduction,” I said.
He took my hand then and kissed it. “It has been the most important thing in my life,” he said.
“You’re alone too much,” I replied. “It makes you think these things. I have hopes that Leigh will have some solution when he comes back.”
“We shall meet again when this is over … you and I. I am sure of that.”
“Oh, I expect so. Edwin says that opinion is turning against Titus Oates and when it does that will be the end of all this. We shall go back to normal again. Our families will meet now and then. I daresay my mother will invite you to stay with us.”
“I shall make every effort to bring that about. I have met you in extraordinary circumstances. I should like to do so … in a ballroom, say. Do you often go to Court?”
“Not yet. I daresay I shall some time. They think I’m rather too young at the moment.”
“You don’t seem to be to me.”
“Do I not? How old do I seem?”
“Seventeen. It’s the best of all ages. I know because I was seventeen two years ago.”
I was delighted to be told I looked older than my years. People of my age always are, I supposed. One is always eager to throw off one’s youth when one has it and it is only when it is beyond recall that one wants it back.
“Perhaps,” he went on, “seventeen was the age I wanted you to be.”
“Why should my age be any concern of yours?”
“Because I wanted you to be nearer to me.”
“Listen,” I said, “I can hear something.”
We were silent, straining our ears. Yes, there were voices from some way off being carried to us on the southwesterly wind.
“Let’s get inside the cave,” I said. “Collect everything and take it in. We don’t know who this can be.”
Hastily we gathered up the remains of the picnic. We went into the cave and listened. Jocelyn had become rather tense; so had I. I was imagining Jasper’s face. I could hear him as he betrayed us. “They be up to something. Food gone from the pantry, so my wife tells me. They’re hiding something … they’re hiding someone. It’s someone whose been up to sin, you can be sure of that. There’s something more sinful than usual in the air.”
Jasper could always be sure of sin. It was there all round him and he was the only one he knew who had not been contaminated by it.
The voices were undoubtedly coming nearer; I looked at Jocelyn and felt sick with anxiety.
If Leigh were here …
But Leigh was not here and I could not think what he would tell us to do but remain quietly where we were.
In the distance I heard the crunch of boots on shingle. It was followed by the bark of a dog … more than one dog.
We were seated side by side on the hard rock floor of the cave and suddenly Jocelyn reached for my hand. He kissed it and went on holding it.
I whispered: “It’s someone coming along the beach. They’re coming this way.”
“With dogs,” he said.
“Jocelyn, do you think …”
He nodded. “We have been betrayed. Oh, Priscilla, this will be the end … for me … for us …”
“It might be people out for a stroll.”
Out for a stroll! I thought. On a winter’s day with heavy clouds louring! Out for a stroll on the beach with dogs! The nearest house was a mile away. Leigh had mentioned that when he had said what a good hiding place it was.
I whispered: “Come farther into the cave.” We crept into the recess and took everything there was with us.
The rock overhung and we could crawl in even farther if we were on our hands and knees. We did so and lay down, very close, trying to hide ourselves. Jocelyn put his arms about me and we lay as one in that small space under the overhanging rock.
I could hear our hearts beating. The footsteps were coming nearer. The dogs kept barking.
Jocelyn’s face was very close to mine, his lips against my cheek.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t be in this …”
“Hush,” I warned.
“Bruno! Bruno!” It was a man’s voice. “What have you got, eh?”
The dogs barked. They were close now.
I felt sick with fear for Jocelyn. I believed in that moment that I was never going to be happy again. They would drag him away. They would kill him as they had killed his father.
Nearer, nearer they came. They were very close now.
Jocelyn said: “I must say it. It’s my last chance. I love you.”
I put my hand over his mouth.
There was a shadow in the mouth of the cave. It was one of the dogs. He had entered it and he came immediately to us.
I heard someone calclass="underline" “Bruno!”
The dog stood over us.
I thought of our dogs at home and I said very quietly: “Good Bruno.”
He barked and then turned and ran out of the cave.
I heard someone laugh. “Bosun. Come here, Bosun. You too, Bruno.”