Page 120 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
‘Unfortunately we weren’t wrong – poor Anne!’ I said. ‘And that poor child, too! It seems there were monsters even then.’
‘Yes – and now we know why the local gentry weren’t so keen to visit Mossby, or have their daughters become friendly with Lydia,’ Carey said grimly.
Dorcas tells me the servants, overhearing some of what went forward, now speak of what they have kept secret since our arrival: that my husband has a fancy for very young girls and no cottager’s child has been safe from him …
Lydia told me that, though fearful of being believed, she had meant to reveal to me what was happening on the morning when I had told her I was with child. I remembered then how she had asked me so strangely if I was happy in my marriage.
Love makes us blind, it seems … but no longer, and now I began to scheme to send her safely away. I had no other course than to write begging my uncle that she might make a visit to him for the air of Lancashire did not agree with her and also, she was missing the company of her sweet cousins.
But I knew I must stay at Mossby and await events. My feelings of anguish over the possibility of my husband’s being injured or killed in battle had now turned to an earnest desire that he should perish, God forgive me – and him.
‘And he was, wasn’t he?’ I said, as Carey paused. ‘If all she had to confess was that she hoped he died, then that seems very natural to me!’
News came at length that there had been a great battle at Aughton Moor which had gone badly for the King’s side. I gave instructions that food and drink be given to any fleeing from the battlefield who might make their way hence, even though I heard rumours of bands of Parliamentarians in search of such fugitives. I was still firmly for the King’s cause … though that would not prevent me using my uncle’s high position with Cromwell to protect my household, if necessary.
I bethought me to show the way to open the hiding place in the Great Hall and the secret stairs in my bedchamber, to both Lydia and Dorcas, so they could succour or assist to escape any persons sheltered there, should I be indisposed. Lydia shuddered when I warned them to take care turning the carved boss to the right, not the left, or it would cause whoever stood on the topmost step to plunge to their deaths in the cellar below, but Dorcas was hardier.
There had been no word or sign from Phillip, but a gentleman of his acquaintance sent me word that he had seen my husbandstruck down during the battle at Aughton Moor, he thought mortally.
After a few more days, I dared to hope that it might be so …
‘Good,’ I said, as we reached the end of the first page and delicately turned the yellowed sheet over.
‘I feel there’s a bit more to come, somehow, Shrimp …’
‘Well, it can’t be any worse than what we’ve already read … can it?’
‘We’ll soon find out. And I can’t say I’m feeling exactly happy about having Revell blood running in my veins at this moment,’ he admitted. ‘But on we go.’
One evening, when I had retired to my bed early, feeling most unwell, I woke suddenly to find my husband standing over me in the act of shutting the secret cavity behind the bedhead, from which he had taken the bag of jewels. Beyond him, the panelling near the fireplace gaped open, showing how he had gained entrance.
He warned me not to cry out – and indeed, I was silent with horror to find him thus alive. He looked gaunt and wild, with one arm tucked into his coat and explained that he had been laid up in a hayloft, with a wounded shoulder and a raging fever, unable to get back before now. He feared there was a troop of Roundheads hard on his heels …
Then he sneered at my silence and ordered me to get up and fetch him some food and drink, telling me he would take the bag of jewels and had a passage arranged on a ship if he could get to Liverpool before dawn.
Just then, the sound of loud hammering at the door of the Great Hall silenced him.
Lydia came in hurriedly, saying, ‘Mother, there are men at the door demanding entrance though I have told them—’
At this moment she saw my husband and a look of horror appeared on her face. ‘I had hoped you were dead!’ she told him.
‘Ah, my loving daughter,’ he said with sarcasm.
There was a further clamour below and I heard Dorcas calling as she approached that the Parliamentarians were in the house and I must come at once.
Phillip was across the room and stepping back into the cavity by the fireplace, even as she entered. She stared at the unwelcome apparition, but he ignored her, solely addressing me.
‘You’ll have to close up the panel, Anne. I can’t manage it from this side with one hand. Then get down and get rid of them – and none of you need think of betraying me, or you will be sorry for it,’ he added.
He gave Lydia a leer. ‘You can come down and bring me food and clothes, when the coast is clear.’
I suppose he thought I was the only one with the secret of how to close the panelling, but as I reached up and pressed the top of the third section of linenfold carving, I heard hasty footsteps come up behind me and a hand reached over my shoulder and twisted the boss above it sharply to the left.
There was a dreadful cry – and then, as the panel shut … nothing.
I turned and looked at Dorcas, aghast, but then pulled myself together and told her to see to Lydia, who was now faint with horror, and make sure there was no trace that Phillip had ever been there, should the Parliamentarians search.
Then I put on a heavy robe and went downstairs …
