Read Online Queen & Country by Shirley McKay - Free Book Online

close support, the burden of his charge would have crippled him completely, and become too hard to bear. He had in his keeping his elder grown son, with the young girl and ward he was soon to marry, and his youngest girl too, the bright baby daughter he had nicknamed his ‘jewel’. He could not imagine what his life would be without them. Perhaps because of this, perhaps because he was uncertain what was right to do, he acted on his conscience. ‘Take the letter to him. One of the soldiers will show you the way. We will look after your horse.’ Sir Amias returned to Hew the letter and his purse. Since Hew’s own were futless , he replaced his shoes. The dagger, he kept back.
    Hew was taken to a place a mile or two from Chartley, to a farmhouse requisitioned from a Catholic lord. Soldiers had been quartered there; the great and ancient hall was cluttered with their gear, and several of them cleaned their weapons with its tablecloths. Others played at dice, and swilled down draughts of beer from blackened metal cups. Thomas Phelippes was not there among them. A young man in a blue wool coat answered to his name, and claimed to be his servant. Hew had not seen him before.
    â€˜You are not Tom Cassie.’
    â€˜No.’ The boy had a bland, foolish face, placidly inscrutable. That he was Phelippes’ agent Hew was willing to believe; he had been trained to give nothing away.
    â€˜I have a message for your master.’
    â€˜I will pass it on to him. He is not free, at present.’
    Hew was aware of Paulet’s soldiers, listening in. Neither he nor Phelippes’ servant wished to give them anything to hear. ‘I would prefer to deliver it myself.’
    â€˜Then, sir, you must wait, for he is occupied.’
    â€˜Is he here, is this house?’ Hew persisted. The boy did not confirm this, nor deny it. ‘If you will wait in the kitchen, I will let him know that you are here. The maid will give you food.’
    It was less of a request than a command. The soldiers who stood by allowed no other course. Hew had ridden in the rough for many miles and hours, with no dinner but the bread he had wrapped up in a cloth, and the liquor in a flask he had brought from Grantham. He was chilled from his visit to the castle keep, and his limbs had stiffened to a leaden weariness. The prospect of a supper at the kitchen fire now seemed an enticing one. He followed at the heels of the bland, blue-coated boy, coming to a kitchen down a flight of stairs, where a single serving girl stood clearing dirty plates, polishing the pewter with a grimy cloth. The boy in the blue coat conferred with her quietly. Hew saw her nodding, weary in response.
    The kitchen was large, and had once been, Hew thought, the wellspring and heartbeat of a country home. From the rafters hung sharp metal hooks, where he supposed had hung bacon and hams; long rows of shelves held stone crocks and jars designed to be filled with pickles and fruits. A small sprig of rosemary, puckered and grey, was all that remained of a banquet of herbs. The kitchen girl said, ‘There is bread and cheese. The soldiers have had all the rest. There is plenty of beer, since the brewer came yesterday. But it will cost you to drink. The beer here is very expensive.’
    He felt for his purse. ‘Why is that?’
    â€˜I cannot say. Perhaps it is because the brewer comes from Burton.’ The girl was very young, no more than a child. It was not stupidity, nor the serving man’s impassiveness, that dulled her curiosity, it was the exhaustion of her service to those men. Hew asked her if she worked there on her own.
    â€˜There is a cook, but he has gone home.’
    â€˜I can help you clean the plates.’
    â€˜Do not be daft.’
    She brought him a loaf of dry ravelled bread. He took out his purse, and bought himself a friend. ‘Did you know,’ she said, ‘you have no buttons on your coat?’ In answer, he