Филиппа Карр: Daughters of England

For my father knew. Something in my manner had told him that Kirkwell was here, and where should he be but in the Devil's Tower?

I loved Kirkwell. I should have married him when he asked me. If I had been his wife, I should never have allowed him to leave me and go into battle. He would have listened to me. I should have made him do so.

I did not know how long it was before I heard the sound of voices below. I ran to the window and saw my father coming towards the house with the King's men.

Kirkwell was not with them.

I saw the men leave, and I dashed down to meet my father.

He looked at me with a rather sardonic smile.

"Well?" he said.

I stared at him.

"They did not find him."

Relief flooded over me. It was obvious, of course.

"He is still safe ... temporarily ... in the Devil's Tower."

"You knew?"

He nodded. "And you knew I knew. You thought I would betray him, did you not?"

I was silent.

"It would have been a solution."

"What are you going to do now?"

"He can't stay there. That's clear. It is not safe. Not completely so."

"But ..."

"Titus Gates and his minions were not so dangerous. These men are going to get Kirkwell Carew if they can."

"You did not tell them?"

"Well, perhaps it was foolish of me. It would have settled matters, would it not?"

"Then why ... ?"

He thought for a moment. "Weak, wasn't it? I thought, if I told them he was there, you would never forgive me."

Again he was smiling that sardonic smile.

"That was one reason. The main one. The other ... well, he's not a bad young fellow, and Jeffreys is a devil."

I was crying weakly. I think it was happiness, if one could possibly be happy with so much danger all around. But he had done this for me although it did not help his plans. I suddenly felt that he was my father indeed.

I moved towards him and he put his arms round me.

I clung to him.

I said: "You love me ... and I will always love you."

I think I babbled something else. He himself was a little incoherent.

Then he put me from him and said in a cool voice: "Now listen. We must be practical. He can't stay there. Those men are determined to find him. They are tired of country yokels. They want some of more standing. Those are the ones Jeffreys enjoys tormenting most. They may be coming back here. I kept them off the Devil's Tower. Knowing the land as well as I do, I could keep them away from it. I might not be so fortunate again. They might question people and hear something of the Tower. Their suspicions would be aroused and they would wonder why I did not show it to them. So, you see, I have myself to think of. We must act quickly."

"You mean you will help us?"

"And myself. Am I not involved now? We'll get him away. He will have to leave the country. I can get him to France. He shall go tonight."

"You mean you will do this ... ?"

"It is necessary, daughter. I must do it for you ... for him ... and for myself."

I went to the Devil's Tower. Kirkwell rushed to me and embraced me, as he always did.

He had no idea then of the great danger he had been in.

"Kirkwell," I said, "I have to talk to you. This is very important. The King's men are looking for you. They have been here today. My father knows you are here. He has held them off. But he says that you are not safe here any longer and you must leave. He is arranging it. He is going to get you to France, where you will have to stay until it is safe for you to return to England."

Kirkwell was staring at me.

"Your father ... But he would be on the side of the King."

"We have to forget all that, Kirkwell. You are his neighbor, whom he has known all your life. How could he let you fall into the hands of that cruel judge? He is right, Kirkwell. You must get out. He says these men may come back, and if they found you, on my father's land, he too would be in danger."

"He's right," said Kirkwell. "I must go."

"He is arranging it all. You will get to the coast, where he will have a boat waiting to take you to France. Oh, Kirk, it is terrible that you must go away, but it is for the best. It is the only thing that can be done."

He put his arms about me, and held me close to him.

"Not to see you, Kate. Though every time you come I am afraid for you. But not to see you ..."

"You will be safe. It will be settled in time. You will be back. This terror cannot go on."

"I will be marked, though, as the King's enemy."

"That will surely be forgotten."

"You say they have come here, looking for me?"

"That was what my father said."

"It is noble of him to help ... But of course there may be some risk to him if it were known that I was given shelter on his land."

"Kirk, you have to go. It is the only way."

"And leave you ..."

I nodded. "It will not be long, I am sure."

"And when I come back?"

"I shall be waiting for you."

"And those doubts?"

"They are not there any more."

"So, it has taken this?"

"Yes, it has. Oh, I was foolish. I don't think I had grown up. Perhaps it takes a tragedy like this to make us understand ourselves. I have lost Luke. I know what it means now to have someone you love taken from you. If I lost you too, well. Kirk, I believe I should never be happy again."

"So," he said sadly, "there is something good in this. And now I am hearing it when I have to leave you."

"Let us look to the future," I said.

"Because the present is too sad to contemplate."

"Kirk, Kirk," I said. "You are coming back. Then we are going to be married. We shall be happy then, I know it, Kirk."

"You do mean this? You do believe it?"

"I must. I could never be happy if it were not so."

For a few moments we were silent and I knew that he was pushing aside everything that stood in our way—just as I was. We were letting our dream of future happiness envelop us and were forcing ourselves to believe in it. It was the only way to help us through the days ahead.

That night, as soon as darkness descended, my father, with Kirk and James, rode to the coast.

I waited for their return, which was not until the next morning.

My father told me then that all had gone according to plan. Kirkwell had got away safely to France.

My father had given him letters to friends of his and what he would need until he could fend for himself.

He would be safe there until the Monmouth rebellion was forgotten and therefore his part in it would be of no more interest.

Two days later the King's men came to the house again. They then searched the grounds and discovered the Devil's Tower, but it was of no significance. Kirkwell was safe across the sea.

The weeks passed into months. Winter came, and then it was summer. All that time I hoped for news of Kirkwell, but none came.

I was with Christobel almost every day. Frequently we talked of Kirkwell and he was always in our thoughts.

Life was uneasy in England, as Kirkwell had known it would be under Catholic James, who was showing clearly now his determination to take the country back to Rome, while the majority of the people were determined not to go.

Christobel's baby was the main source of delight to us all at that time. Christobel could not be entirely unhappy, however anxious she was about her brother, while she had her little son. And, of course, James was excessively proud of the boy.

Life at Rosslyn Manor had changed a good deal. My father was closer to me than he had ever been before, but he still persisted in his eagerness for me to marry Sebastian and so bring about the complete fulfillment of his plans.

I could never forget that it was his actions which had saved Kirkwell's life and that he had done that for me, although, if he had done nothing, no one could have blamed him. If he had not acted as he had, for me, and Kirkwell had fallen into the hands of the King's men, death would surely have been his fate, and in those circumstances I should surely be more likely to turn to Sebastian.