Elizabethan Lover

1-2

It was not going to be easy, he thought – and then the door at the end of the Great Chamber opened and a girl came in. At his first glance at her Rodney caught his breath. Surely this was the woman he had dreamed of all his life, the woman who would wait for him in that legendary house and estate which was to be his when he was rich.

Sir Harry bustled across the floor.

“Oh, here you are, Phillida, my dear!” he said, “and here is Master Rodney Hawkhurst, whom we have been expecting.

There was something in the way Sir Harry led his daughter forward, in the expression on his face, and the way his eyes were suddenly crafty and calculating, which told Rodney that Sir Harry already knew what proposition was to be put before him. His god-father must have hinted at it, Rodney thought, in his letter of introduction.

But now, as he looked at Phillida, everything that he had come for, everything that he had planned, seemed for a moment unimportant. She was lovely – lovelier than he had ever imagined or anticipated that she might be. Very fair, with a creamy white skin, her hair beneath a cap of pearls lay like liquid gold against her head. She was tall for a woman, but her body was slim and delicately curved beneath a close-bodiced gown of satin, yellow flowered. The sleeves were drawn close to the wrists and a lace wisp of a ruffle lifted above her shoulders to frame the round column of her neck.

Her eyes were the translucent blue of a thrush’s egg, the nose between them was very straight, her lips drooping a little as if she were shy or afraid.

Rodney took her hand with an eagerness he was unable to repress and then felt rebuked because her fingers were cold and stiff in his, giving him no response and seeming rather to rebuff his impetuosity. Yet nothing mattered from that moment save that he could look at her.

He felt that his eyes must tell her all that his lips dare not say. That he wanted to take her into his arms, to feel the soft loveliness of her close against him, to find her mouth and hold her captive with his passion.

He was aware of a fire rising within himself at the thought of it. His veins were tingling and he knew the thrill of being the hunter with his prey in sight.

“I love you,” his eyes told her. “I love you. You are mine. You shall not escape me.”

But aloud he spoke conventionally even while there was a depth and a resonance in his voice that had not been there before.

Phillida said very little, uttering only monosyllables with downcast eyes while Sir Harry talked and Lady Gillingham strove to attract his attention.

How long they sat in the Great Chamber with its ornamental plasterwork ceiling and tall mantelpiece of mixed marble Rodney did not know. His thoughts and concentration were bemused by Phillida’s beauty, and when finally Sir Harry drew him aside into another room where they could talk undisturbed, he asked first, not for the gold for which he had come from London, but for Phillida’s hand in marriage.

“I thought it was for another reason you honoured my house with a visit,” Sir Harry boomed, his eyes twinkling.

“That is true, sir. My god-father will, I think, have given you some idea why I sought an introduction to you.”

“There is a ship you wish to buy, I believe.”

“Yes, sir. Sir Francis has advanced me two thousand pounds towards it. I can put up two thousand of my own money, and I need another two.”

“And your aim?”

“To do as I did with Sir Francis Drake on our voyage round the world – bring home the treasure of Spain for the glory of England and the discomfiture of our enemies.”

“You hope to find another San Felipe!” Sir Harry smiled.

“The cargo was valued at one hundred and fourteen thousand pounds sterling, sir”

“And you aim to be as successful?”

“If I am a quarter as successful, sir, the shareholders in my ship will not complain.”

“God’s life, no! You think you have enough experience for command?”

“I am sure of it, sir. For two years I served in the Queen’s ships. I bought myself free to sail with Drake on the Golden Hind. I was with him last year when he captured the San Felipe. Now I crave to be on my own. I wish to make a fortune – and to make it quickly”

“Surely there is plenty of time? You are a young man”

Rodney hesitated for a moment and then spoke the truth.

“I have a feeling, sir, that things will not be as easy in the future as they are now. If the King of Spain sends an Armada against us, we shall be at war, and war is never conducive to great profits or indeed to the finding of a large treasure trove.”

“Yes, I see your point,” Sir Harry said, “but do they really believe at Whitehall that the Armada will come?”

“From what I have heard, sir, there is no doubt at all that the Spaniards are planning an invasion of this country. Every seaman is convinced that sooner or later an attack will be made.”

“Why, truly, you may be right,” Sir Harry said. “Yet, personally, I am optimistic enough to hope that the Queen’s diplomacy will be able to prevent it, even at the last moment.”

Rodney did not answer. He was among those who thought that Elizabeth’s desperate searchings for peace were completely useless. Spain intended war and the best thing England could do was to realise this and be ready to meet her.

“If I give you this money,” Sir Harry said, “ and, mind you, I have not made up my mind yet whether I shall or not, how soon could you put to sea?”

“In under a month, sir. The ship I wish to buy belongs to some London merchants. They will sell it for five thousand pounds, and I require the other thousand for provisions and weapons.”

“I see.” Sir Harry scratched his chin. “You spoke of marriage. Was it your intention to be married before you sail?”

“No, sir,” Rodney answered. “I intend to return from this voyage rich. With my share of the treasure I shall buy an estate and it is then I need a wife to share it with me.”

“By St. George! You are a very determined young man. You seem to have made up your mind exactly how your life shall be planned. Suppose you are killed?”

“In which case, sir, I would rather not leave a widow.”

Sir Harry chuckled.

“That is what I have always thought myself – that I would rather not leave a widow, so instead I have been a widower twice. Phillida is the child of my first marriage. Her mother died a year after she was born, begetting another child. She was a lovely creature, but perhaps too young when I married her to know the duties of a wife. She was but sixteen when Phillida was born.

“Indeed, sir?”

“I married again the following year. I am not a man to live alone, and that I gather is your feeling, too?”

“I think a man needs to be married after he has seen the world and sown his wild oats.”

Sir Harry laughed – a great, rich laugh that seemed to echo round the room.

“By King Hal, I’ll wager your wild oats were sown thickly! What were the women like in the Azores and in the Indies? Were they pretty? One day you must tell me about them.”

Sir Harry rose from his chair, moving his bulky form with difficulty.

“I will agree to your request, Master Hawkhurst. I will lend you two thousand pounds to buy your ship and provision her, and I’ll take a third of your prize money.”

“How can I thank you, sir? ... and, my other request?”

“You speak of Phillida? There I can also give you a favourable answer. You may be betrothed to her, my boy. Your god-father has been my friend for many years – we were boys together – and I have the greatest respect for him. He speaks highly of you and that, combined with my own instinct where you are concerned, is enough. You shall be betrothed and Phillida will await your return as anxiously as I shall do.”

“I thank you, sir.” Rodney smiled, and there was a lightness and gladness in his heart such as he had never known before.

Phillida was his, that fair, golden beauty would belong to him. She was like a lily, he thought, a lily whose soft gentleness he could protect from the roughness and coarseness of the world.

Yet he would not be able to protect her from himself. He was afire for her, and his breath came quickly as he imagined making her his own. He would be kind to her – but, God’s mercy, how he would love her!

It was her beauty that he worshipped – beauty for which he had been starved for so long. But he would make Phillida’s cold, pale perfection glow with a new loveliness. Beneath his hands and in his arms she would come alive. Her lips would be warm and her eyes heavy with passion.

He would teach her to love him, to thrill to him, to desire him, Phillida! Phillida! He felt crazed with the need of her.

Sir Harry’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“There is time before supper for you to come and inspect my horses,” Sir Harry said. “I have a mare which I consider the finest mount in the whole of Hertfordshire. Would you like to see her?”

“I would indeed, sir.”

Sir Harry led the way from the house into the sunshine outside. As they walked through the gardens towards the stables, Rodney was aware that someone was watching him from the bushes. He turned his head quickly and saw a small face which was hastily withdrawn, and he thought in that fleeting second he recognised the red-haired girl he had kissed in the drive.

He considered asking Sir Harry who she was, and then decided against it. There might be some rule against the children on the estate playing in the pleasure grounds, in which case he might get the girl into trouble.

For the moment he could feel again her lips, soft beneath his, and the springing youth of her slim immaturity. It had been like holding a fluttering bird within his arms. She had been still for an instant and then she had fought herself free and fled.

Strange that the memory of her kiss should linger on his lips. He had kissed so many women, but this had been different – the lips of a maid, unawakened,, as yet, to love. He could swear that this was the first kiss she had ever known. There had been a freshness about it that he had never known before.

He had a sudden urge to see the young woman again, to find out if he were mistaken and she was just a merry wanton. No – he was sure of one thing – she was pure, and still a virgin. He could feel the quiver of her mouth, bear the quick intake of her breath, smell the fragrance of lilac – the perfume of spring.

Sir Harry was talking about his horses, his voice booming out monotonously so that there was no need for Rodney to answer him or even to follow what he was saying. As they reached the end of the path, he glanced back, but there was no one in sight and he wondered to himself if the girl with the red hair was still watching him.

Actually, she was waiting till the two men reached the end of the path and then, as they disappeared in the direction of the stables, she turned to the boy lying on the smooth grass of the bowling green which lay hidden behind the lilac bushes.

“They have gone now,” she said. “Do you think I can get into the house without being seen?”

“You had best be careful. If m’lady Catherine sees you looking like that, there’ll be the devil to pay.”

The boy spoke languidly, his eyes closed against the sun, his head supported on his crossed arms, while the girl stood hesitating.

It was obvious that they were brother and sister; they had the same red hair, the same fine bones and clear-cut features; but there the resemblance ended, for what was lovely and feminine in the girl was weak and effeminate in the boy.