скачать книгу бесплатно
Tabitha nodded a welcome as she seized hold of Elizabeth. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mistress Clifton.’
‘Thank you for your help,’ said Rebecca hastily, taking in the other woman’s appearance. She was not in the least like how she would have expected a mistress of Phillip’s to look. Beneath a man’s cap, she wore her fair hair frizzed on her forehead and about her ears. She had a fresh complexion and was clad in a garment that appeared to be a man’s shirt. The draw strings at its neck were unfastened to reveal a generous expanse of cleavage. Suddenly there came a baby’s cry from the wagon’s interior and Tabitha jerked her head in that direction. ‘There Edward goes again, but as soon as we get moving he’ll quieten down and won’t be any bother.’
‘You have a child?’ blurted out Rebecca. Was it possible that Phillip had fathered a son?
‘Aye, has Master Phillip not explained our situation?’
‘No, I haven’t, Tabitha,’ said Phillip, glancing at Rebecca. ‘I didn’t see any need for anyone else to know what is your private business.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Tabitha. ‘But Mistress Clifton might like babies and will wish to see him, and the children will certainly want to play with my manikins.’
‘What manikins?’ asked Elizabeth, clinging on to Tabitha’s shoulder, her eyes alight.
‘You’ll see soon enough,’ said Tabitha kindly. ‘Now, what about your little brother?’
Rebecca was aware of Phillip’s eyes on her. His mention of private business had made her feel the outsider she was, but that did not make it any easier for her to accept. She glanced at the woman’s hands and saw that she wore no ring. The child must be Tabitha’s bastard, but was it Phillip’s? How could Tabitha smile so easily in such a situation and how did she cope with a baby and the travelling life? She allowed Phillip to take James and lift him up, so enabling Tabitha to seize hold of him and hoist him into the wagon.
‘Can’t I go in the wagon, too?’ asked Margaret wistfully.
‘If you don’t mind being squashed, then you’re welcome,’ said Tabitha, beaming down at her. ‘Here’s Jack and Ned now. We’ll soon be on our way.’
Margaret stood on the rim of the wheel and was helped up into the wagon. Rebecca turned to her horse, but before she could hoist herself up on to its back Phillip had seized her by the waist and lifted her off her feet and dumped her on the saddle. She was caught unawares, so that she slipped sideways. She jumped as he placed a hand beneath her bottom and pushed her back into the saddle. She had to bite back the rebuke that hovered on the tip of her tongue, hating the thought of his being intimate with the other woman. She did not know how she managed to smile so sweetly when Phillip introduced her to the two other members of the troupe.
They had returned with loaves of bread and something savoury smelling in a napkin. One was the youth who had passed round the hat last evening and was called Jack and he looked a little wan. The other appeared to be slightly older than Phillip and was named Ned. They nodded in way of greeting. Then Ned handed up the food to Tabitha before going to the horse’s head, whilst Jack had a low-voiced conversation with Phillip before helping Frederick up into the wagon. Phillip mounted the other horse and gave the signal to walk on. As the other two men were on foot, they kept the horses reined in.
For a while Phillip and Rebecca had not spoken. She was pondering on the duplicity of men, when he said abruptly, ‘No doubt you have noticed that Tabitha does not wear a wedding ring, even though she has a child.’
‘You do not have to explain. You made it quite clear that it was no business of mine.’ Rebecca’s voice was cool and she did not look at him.
‘Even so, I do not wish you to draw the wrong conclusion. It isn’t at all what you might think.’
Rebecca’s hand tightened on the reins. ‘I deem it a shameful situation for a young unmarried woman with a baby to have no proper home to raise that child. You mentioned the troupe having no winter quarters. Could you not ask your brother, Christopher, to take her and the child into his household when the weather worsens?’
‘I would if the father did not object to it,’ said Phillip.
His words took her unawares and she spoke without thinking. ‘Aren’t you the father?’
He shot her a glance and snapped, ‘You really shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Ned is Edward’s father, not me.’
She felt her cheeks burning. ‘I do beg your pardon.’
‘At least I know what you think of my morals,’ said Phillip in a hard voice.
Her colour deepened. ‘I admit I was wrong to judge you. Your private life really is none of my business.’
‘No, it is not.’ He felt deeply hurt that she should think ill of him. What had he ever done that she should think so badly of him? Surely that one passionate kiss he had pressed upon her earlier was not the cause? Suddenly he remembered what she had said last even about seeing him at court surrounded by ladies. Perhaps she thought he had set one or even two of them up as his flirts as well! If only she knew how he never knew what to say to them when he was just simply Pip Hurst, playwright, and not Phillip Hurst, actor. Suddenly he noticed that her hands trembled on the reins and instantly knew he had to take the sting out of their exchange and searched for the right words. He cleared his throat. ‘Yet I suppose by my offering to help you, I have invited you into my world and left myself open to your judgement. You do seem to care about Tabitha and her baby, but I am presented with a dilemma.’
‘Are you wondering how to bring pressure to bear on Ned to marry her and provide them with a home?’
Phillip shook his head as if in despair. ‘You’re doing it again. Jumping to conclusions. Tabitha and Ned married once the child was on its way, but he cannot afford to buy her a wedding ring. Its lack matters to them both. I offered him the money to buy her one, but met with a refusal.’
‘I see,’ said Rebecca, feeling mortified. ‘Again I beg your pardon for reading the situation wrongly. I wish I could help.’
‘As it stands, all the money he makes goes on living expenses and putting a little by for winter. Soon he’s going to have to decide whether, with a wife and baby, he can continue the life of a travelling player. Yet I know it will break his heart to give up acting. I wonder…’ He hesitated.
‘What do you wonder?’ asked Rebecca.
‘Whether your sister-in-law has room for a serving maid and if she would hire Tabitha and be prepared to accept the baby as well? Just for a short time whilst I sort lodgings out for the winter?’ His blue eyes met hers.
Rebecca thought that here was a way for her to make amends for misjudging him. ‘I am certainly willing to put the idea to Jane. At the moment she is not the easiest person to live with, but, as she is with child, allowances must be made. Have you spoken to Ned about it?’
‘I have only just thought of it.’ Phillip’s brow knitted. ‘It’s possible he will refuse to allow it, even if your sister-in-law agreed. Let us hope we make a decent sum this evening. Now the nights are drawing in, there won’t be many more performances, unless some lord asks for the troupe especially. It is different for me. Not only do I have my writing, but I can always return to shipbuilding. I am not short of ways to make money.’
‘You are fortunate in your brothers,’ she said earnestly. ‘And this year it has been a good year?’
‘For me, aye. If it were not that I was worried for Nicholas’s safety, I could almost be happy.’ He paused before adding, ‘If I receive news of him when next I visit the shipyard, then I will find a way of letting you know.’
She thanked him, thinking that Phillip still seemed to be of a mind that she cared for his brother. She should never have agreed that she had been in love with him when they were younger.
They both fell silent.
An idea suddenly occurred to her, but it remained unspoken. Rather she wanted it to come as a surprise and she thought he might prevent her from acting in a way that he might consider foolish in the light of her own situation. In the meantime she must consider what to say to Jane, to persuade her to hire Tabitha and allow her to have her baby with her. Maybe she might also be willing to hire Ned, temporarily, to do all those tasks around the house and in the garden that were more suited to a man.
Chapter Three
‘Will you be in the audience this evening?’ asked Phillip, passing a sleeping James up to Rebecca. They had reached Oxford, the wagon coming to a halt on one of the vacant plots just inside the city walls, close to the North Gate, the other side of which was St Giles Street.
‘I shouldn’t think so, although I would like to watch another of your performances. I assume you’ll still be here on the morrow if you’re visiting the property in which the Raventons are interested?’ she said, carefully settling the boy into the crook of her arm.
‘Aye, but I won’t be putting on another play. I must make for Greenwich soon.’ He noted her softened expression as she gazed down at the slumbering child and wondered how she felt about not having a child of her own when she had the task of caring for her nephew. For the first time ever, he wondered what it would be like to have a son.
Rebecca glanced at him and the expression in his eyes caused her to feel slightly breathless. ‘What is it? Is there something else you wished to say to me?’
‘Will you mention Tabitha’s situation to your sister-in-law?’
‘Aye. I am certain I can persuade her to meet her,’ said Rebecca, an idea occurring to her which she decided to keep to herself.
‘Thank you.’ He suddenly appeared to feel awkward. ‘I don’t have your direction and I will need it if I am to visit you with news of Nicholas.’
‘Of course, your brother,’ she said, her voice subdued, ‘I do hope you have good tidings of him soon.’ She gave Phillip directions to the Caldwells’ house and added, ‘I must have a word with Tabitha before I go. If I don’t see you again, I pray that you have a safe journey and I thank you again for your escort.’
‘It was my pleasure,’ he said, placing a hand over hers and pressing it gently, before turning away and going to speak to Frederick.
For a moment she stared after him with an odd little ache inside her and then she called over to Tabitha, who was speaking to the girls. She hastened over to her. ‘Is there aught else you wish me to do for you, Mistress Clifton?’ she asked eagerly.
Rebecca smiled and removed Giles’s wedding ring and held it out to Tabitha. ‘I no longer have need of this and I would like you to have it.’
The other woman stared at the silver ring with a mixture of emotions warring on her pretty features. ‘I can’t take it. It’s far too precious!’
‘Please, do have it!’ urged Rebecca. ‘I only wish it were gold.’
Tabitha reached out and gingerly took the ring. ‘I don’t know what Ned will say but I confess I’m hoping it will fit.’
‘You can always wrap some thread round the back of the ring if it is too big,’ said Rebecca, ‘and that will make it a better fit.’
But Tabitha did not need to take such a precaution as the ring fitted securely enough not to slip from her finger. ‘I do thank you, Mistress Clifton!’ she said, beaming up at her. ‘It’s truly generous of you. As I’ve said, I don’t know what Ned’ll say as he’s a proud man, but this ring is staying put until he can buy me one himself,’ she said firmly, ‘then I will return it to you.’
Rebecca smiled down at her, delighted by her reaction. ‘I pray that all goes well with the performance this evening.’ She delayed no longer, but called to the girls and told the horse to walk on. Margaret asked if she and Elizabeth could run on ahead and Rebecca gave her permission. Despite it being a fine evening, she doubted that Phillip and his troupe would get the size of audience that they had in Witney. Oxford had lost some of its status. In the past it had thrived as a manufacturing and market town, as well as playing an important role in government. Then the spinners and weavers had migrated to the countryside as more colleges of learning had been founded, increasing at least the town’s reputation as a place of scholarship. The latest colleges were Brasenose and Corpus Christi, founded in the last fifteen years.
Rebecca kept the horse to a walk along Broad Street and past Balliol College before turning into a street near the opening to Lincoln College and thence into High Street, where the university church of St Mary the Virgin was situated. She thought of Simon and the alterations he was to oversee inside the building before too long. Thinking of him, she pondered on what Phillip had told her about her father’s so-called ghost and of the kiss he had pressed upon her at Draymore Manor. She was obviously more desperate than she would have believed for that physical contact that she had missed since Giles’s death. The remembrance of that kiss sent a pleasurable warmth through her and also a yearning to be held in Phillip’s arms again and for them to take up where they had left off and go much further.
She sighed. How could she contemplate such activity when she had believed him capable of having more than one mistress? She might have misjudged him, but she had seen with her own eyes how attractive he was to the women of Henry’s court. She felt a stab of jealousy and knew she must not obsess about him. She glanced about her, thinking she might catch sight of Jane amongst those who had come into town for the fair. In two months she would be confined to the house, preparing herself for the birth of her child, but there was no sign of her now.
Eventually Rebecca caught up with the girls, a short distance from their home. The house was constructed of the yellowish stone of the Cotswolds and had been designed and built by Simon and his team of labourers. The front garden would soon be a mass of those purple daisies named for that leader of angels called Michael, whose feast day was at the end of September.
Rebecca called down to Margaret to take James. The boy woke as she passed him to her niece and instantly he struggled to get down. The front door opened as Rebecca dismounted and Jane made an appearance. Despite being six months’ pregnant, she lifted her son up into her arms and smothered his face in kisses, demanding to know how it was that they had arrived home earlier than she expected.
‘We came home in a covered wagon, Mama,’ said Margaret smugly.
‘And Tabitha allowed us to play with her manikins,’ said Elizabeth, dancing around her stepmother. ‘They had jointed wooden arms and legs that I could move.’
Jane glanced at Rebecca. ‘What is this all about? Where is Simon?’
‘He is still at Minster Draymore,’ replied Rebecca. ‘And you should not be lifting James. He is far too heavy for you in your condition.’ She reached out and took the boy from her sister-in-law and set him down. ‘Besides, it will be good for him to stretch his legs.’
Jane gazed at her from lively brown eyes. ‘I assume my husband has his reasons for packing you all off so soon and in a wagon.’
Rebecca pulled a face. ‘We proved to be a distraction and he is determined to complete his task there before winter sets in. As for the aforementioned wagon, that belongs to Master Hurst and his troupe.’
‘Master Hurst?’ enquired Jane.
‘The girls will tell you about him whilst I see to the horse.’
Jane fixed her with a hard stare. ‘I would rather hear it from you!’
Rebecca lifted a hand in acknowledgement as she led the animal away to the stable to the rear of the house. After she had unsaddled the horse, despite her aching back, she made certain there was fresh straw, water and hay for the animal before returning to the house. There she found Jane and the children sitting in front of a blazing fire in the kitchen, eating thick slices of bread and butter.
‘Where’s Maud?’ asked Rebecca, helping herself from the loaf on the table. ‘Is she as unreliable as ever when I’m not here to chase after her?’
‘At home with her mother,’ replied Jane, glancing up. ‘I hope you are not going to scold me in place of Simon. I really do not have need of her whilst I only have myself to care for. It has only been four days. I don’t know why he insists on hiring her when she does as little as she can and has a habit of vanishing just when I do need her.’
‘You know why,’ said Rebecca softly. ‘He doesn’t like you being alone in the house.’
Jane rolled her eyes. ‘He fusses too much. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now tell me, is the Master Hurst you spoke of the same person who wrote the book from which you read to me a while ago?’
Rebecca shook her head. ‘No, that is Master Nicholas Hurst; this is his younger brother, Phillip. He will be appearing in a play here, in Oxford, this evening.’
Jane pulled a face. ‘A player!’
‘I know what that look means,’ said Rebecca, spreading butter on bread. ‘And you are mistaken. He is utterly respectable,’ she said blandly. ‘He and his troupe. Is there any ham?’
‘No, I ate the last of it at midday,’ murmured Jane, frowning as she watched her. ‘Where is your wedding ring?’
Rebecca had given no thought to what to tell Jane about giving away that precious piece of jewellery and knew that she had to be careful how she answered because Jane had dearly loved her brother, Giles, and she had it fixed in her mind that Rebecca had felt the same and would never want another man. ‘What would you do, Jane, if you met a young married woman with a child whose husband could not afford to buy her a wedding ring?’
Jane fixed her with a stare. ‘You haven’t!’
‘I thought it was what Giles would want me to do. He so wanted a child, as did I, but we were not as fortunate as you,’ said Rebecca, her voice uneven.
Jane’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I prayed earnestly that God would grant you the gift of a child, but it was not to be. Yet my brother loved all children and would want what was best for them.’
‘I so agree,’ said Rebecca. ‘How well you knew your brother’s generous spirit.’
‘So who is this woman you have gifted his ring to?’
‘Her name is Tabitha and I would like you to meet her,’ said Rebecca. ‘She is married to Ned, one of the travelling players.’
‘A travelling player’s wife!’
‘I know exactly what you think about travelling players. I felt the same when Phillip Hurst first told me that was his dream. I thought he was quite mad wanting to write and act when he could earn a good living shipbuilding in his father’s yard. But now I have seen him disguised and acting out several parts, I admit I was wrong. I can assure you, Jane, his troupe is well worth watching.’ She bit into the bread and butter, chewed and swallowed. ‘Phillip has also performed before the king.’
Jane sighed. ‘I am not sure Giles would have approved of his ring being worn by a player’s wife. Did Simon know Master Hurst was a player and not a shipwright?’
Rebecca did not immediately reply, but took a larger bite out of the bread and chewed in a manner that suggested that she was thinking deeply about the question. In a way she was vexed that Jane should still refer to the ring as belonging to Giles when it was hers to do with as she wished. Yet she knew how difficult her sister-in-law had found it, accepting the loss of her beloved brother. ‘She is a mother just like you, Jane. Is that not more important? Phillip spoke to Simon and so it is likely that he mentioned his way of life whilst I was taking care of the children. They appeared quite easy in each other’s company.’ She dropped her voice. ‘So much so that your husband told Phillip that he had seen a ghost. Of my father, would you believe?’ Her throat felt suddenly tight, remembering her father’s bouts of anger when he would tell her to get out of his sight.
The children glanced up at her. ‘Papa didn’t mentioned a ghost to us,’ said Elizabeth, her eyes widening.
‘You weren’t supposed to hear, Big Ears!’ said Rebecca, having forgotten the children were there. ‘I deem your father is working too hard and his mind played tricks on him.’
Jane looked worried. ‘I’m sure you’re right. He won’t listen when I tell him that he should be taking life more easily now. I suppose having a young family makes him feel he must work as though he was in the first flush of youth. Still, it’s very odd that it should be at Minster Draymore that he sees a ghost of your father. I remember your brother telling me that your father was born there.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Anyway, we’ve digressed. Your wedding ring—’
‘You say Father was born there?’ interrupted Rebecca. ‘Davy never mentioned that to me. I wonder what else he hasn’t told me,’ she added crossly.
‘I think you would like Master Hurst, Mama,’ interrupted Margaret as she licked butter from her fingers. ‘He has a face like one of the statues that Papa sculptured and placed in the garden.’
Jane said sternly, ‘Are you saying he looks like a Greek god? I’ll never understand why your father should wish to sculpture such images. Anyway, you obviously believe I am impressed by outer appearances. Let me tell you both that too many young ladies have been misled by handsome men, believing they are as good on the inside as they are on the outside. I hope you are listening to this, too, Rebecca!’
Rebecca cut herself another slice of bread. ‘I’d have trouble not listening, Jane. But don’t you consider it a mistake to judge a man purely by his appearance? Anyway, you have yet to meet him. Why don’t you go and see him in the play this evening?’ she suggested as if this was a sudden thought.
‘Certainly not!’ said Jane, shaking her head.
‘Mama, you should go,’ said Margaret, resting an arm on her stepmother’s chair. ‘He was kind to us and so were the rest of the troupe, especially Tabitha. They don’t have much money and you could give them some for their performance.’
Jane looked surprised. ‘So you like this Tabitha?’
‘She takes care of the troupe, washing, cooking, sewing,’ said Rebecca, glad that her niece by marriage had brought up the subject. ‘But now that winter will soon be here, a wagon is hardly the best place for a baby; besides, there will be less work for the troupe. I was wondering…’ She paused and bit her lip.
Jane stared at her. ‘You wondered whether I would hire her in place of Maud?’
