“Killed a man.”
I stared at him in horror.
“You will understand when I tell you. You will not betray me, I know.”
“Why did you come here?”
“I thought Dolly would help me. There was no one in the house so I got in through an open window on the first floor. I was hiding until she came.”
“She is staying at Enderby.”
“Where are the servants?”
“They are there, too. They only come now and then to see that the place is all right.”
“What does it mean?”
“Aunt Sophie is looking after her until the baby comes.”
“The baby?”
“Your baby,” I said, watching him closely.
He stared at me incredulously. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Dolly is going to have your baby. She wants it very much and so do Aunt Sophie and Jeanne, and my mother says it is not such a bad thing.”
He was silent, running his fingers through his thick dark hair. Then he murmured: “Dolly!”
I said: “You say you have killed someone.”
“I want you to understand. But first… Dolly? Is she all right?”
“She is with my Aunt Sophie.”
“And she told you that?”
“That it was your baby, yes.”
“Oh … my God,” he said quietly. “What a mess.”
“She wants it. She’s happy about it. She’ll be all right. They’ll look after her and the baby, and my mother says she has never been so happy in her life. Tell me what you have done.”
A loud clap of thunder seemed to shake the house.
“No one will come here in this storm,” he said. “Sit down here and let us talk.”
I sat beside him on the stairs.
“You must decide whether you will go straight back to your father and tell him I am hiding here … or whether you will say nothing and help me.”
“I want to hear all about it. I don’t think I would tell my father. I think I should want to help you.”
He laughed suddenly and he was like the merry man I had known before he went away. I was happy to sit close to him.
He said: “First Dolly. It happened you know, suddenly … These things sometimes do. You won’t understand.”
“I think I do.”
He took my chin in his hands and looked into my face. “I believe you are very wise,” he said. “From the moment we met I wished you were a little older … not much … just a little.”
“Why?”
“Then I could have talked to you … You would have understood.”
“I can understand now.”
He smiled and kissed me lightly on the cheek. “I must tell you what happened. We were encamped in a forest near Nottingham. The local squire had a nephew staying with him. I killed the nephew.”
“Why?”
“Because I caught him assaulting one of the gypsy girls. He would have raped her. He thought the gypsy girls were fair game. Leah is fourteen. I know her father. He adores his daughter. He is a good man. You may be surprised but morals are very strict among the gypsies. Leah is a beautiful girl. The squire’s nephew had marked her out no doubt and he just lay in wait to catch her alone. What he did not know was that I was not far off. I heard Leah scream. I hurried to her. He had torn her blouse off her shoulders and had flung her to the ground. I just went for him. I caught him and we rolled over and over on the grass. I was mad with rage against him and all of those people who call themselves nobility and think that gives them a right to take any girl they fancy providing she is not one of their own class. When I had finished with him nothing could have saved him. I took Leah back to the camp. Her father wanted us to move on and we all saw that that was the best thing possible. But we were too late. The law caught up with us. I was arrested on a charge of murder.”
“But it was not an ordinary murder. You did it to save Leah. They would have to take that into consideration.”
“Do you think they would? The squire is a man of great influence in the neighbourhood. It was his nephew who was killed.”
“But it is against the law to commit rape.”
“Does that apply to squires and gypsy girls?”
“To all, surely,” I said. “The real criminal is that squire’s nephew.”
“Do you think you could get a court to believe that?”
“There will be Leah to give evidence.”
“That would carry no weight. No. I could see it was the hangman’s noose for me.” He touched his neck wryly as though he could feel the rope about it. “I have a strong desire to go on living.”
“What happened?”
“Before they took me away, Penfold, Leah’s father, swore the gypsies would never allow me to be hanged. They knew where I was in jail and they had a horse waiting nearby in case I could make my escape. They were aware that if I came up for trial it would be over for me. My chance came … a drunken guard, a little bribery … and I was out and there was the horse waiting for me … and I was away. I want to get out of the country. I’ll never be safe here. I was making my way to the coast. I came this way because I thought Dolly would help me. But I found the house empty …”
I was silent, then I said: “You will be safe here for tonight. Tomorrow the servants will come. How will you get out of England? There is a boat in the old boathouse. I’ve seen it fairly recently, but you would never get across the Channel in it, and how could you go to France?”
“I would attempt it.”
“The French will be watching the coasts. You know we are at war with them.”
“I’d have to take the risk.”
“If you could get to Belgium … but that is a longer crossing.”
“First it would be for me to get the boat.”
“The boat is there. You’d have to row yourself…”
“The case is desperate. I’ll try anything rather than fall into the hands of those who will condemn me before the trial starts.” He took my hands and looked steadily at me. “You will not betray me, little Jessica?”
“I never would,” I cried with fervour. “I’d always help you.”
He kissed me tenderly.
“You are a wonderful girl,” he said. “I never knew a girl like you before.”
He had a certain effect on me. I forgot Dolly and how he had seduced her. I forgot that he had killed a man. Soldiers killed in battles. The enemy, they called them, although they had no personal quarrel. This man had killed another who would have harmed a young girl. He was protecting the innocent against the wicked. He had been right to use whatever methods were necessary to save the girl. I was on his side. I had a feeling that no matter what he had done I should have been.
“You should be out of this house before the morning,” I said.
He nodded. “After dark, I shall go down to the shore and find that boathouse. Perhaps I could take the boat along the coast and find a ship going somewhere …”
“You should go round to Ramsgate or Harwich. There you might get to Holland. Do you have any money?”
“Tenfold brought me money with the horse.”
“It would have been better if you had made for the east coast.”
“I could not choose my way. I was being hunted.”
“If you went abroad, it would mean you would never come back.”
“These things are forgotten with the years. Tell me, when will the baby come?”
“Very soon now.”
“And Dolly, how is she?”
“Very happy. She wants the baby desperately. I think if you came back, she would be perfectly happy.”
“What a neat little ending that would be to a midnight frolic round a bonfire.”
“Is that what it was to you?”
He was silent. Then he said: “Please don’t think too badly of me. You were there, weren’t you. Do you remember?”
“Yes, I do remember.”