Part 7 (1/2)

”But . . .” said Mariotta.

”I wonder,” said Lady Culter, recognizing defeat, ”if it could be Dean Adam back from Cambuskenneth? He went last Monday, and I suppose- Or a wandering Observant? Oh well, he did her no harm-I think her screams were annoyance when Elspet lost her head and tried to get her into the boat and back..

”They found no one?.

”No one. Lady Christian herself had been walking there, and heard no one at all in the gardens..

”Can I,” said the Queen's Most n.o.ble Majesty, with urgency, ”say it now?.

”What . . . I suppose so,” said Maman, her brow still furrowed. ”Eh bien,” said Mary smoothly. She recited.

”Hurbie purple hath a red girdleA stone in his belly,A stake through his a.r.s.eAnd yet hurbie purple is never the worse.

”What is it, what is it, what is it?” roared the Queen.

There was a shaken silence.

Then Lady Culter, in a voice preternaturally grave, said (rather unkindly), ”I think-it's a hawthornberry, is it not, cherie?.

Her Majesty's face fell.

* * SChristian laughed outright. ”How absurd . . . 'Comment le saluroye, quant point ne le congnois?' Of course I recognized who it was. Credit me with ears, at least..

There was a moment more of the kind of constraint she remembered from their last interview in the cave, then the man beside her gave a mock sigh. ”Forgive my obtruseness. My voice again? Crying the coronoch on high. I'm sorry about the uproar. I didn't expect company, but even so, all would have gone well if that blasted girl hadn't s.n.a.t.c.hed the child so suddenly. Magnificent lungs for her age..

They sat in the short gra.s.s in the middle of the maze a previous Earl of Menteith had designed on the north sh.o.r.e of the lake. Dusty box hedges with an unused air shut off any view of the water: from the rear a folly in marble overhung them.

It was warm and still, as it had been at Boghall, where, as her prisoner and her patient, he had played the lute and sung to her of frogs. Christian bugged her knees. ”But how did the child find you?.

He answered ruefully, ”I fell asleep. Considerably more than doth the nightingale. And the next thing I knew she was sitting on my chest..

”What did you say?” said Christian, fascinated.

”She said, 'M. l'abhe' (you'll have gathered I'm dressed like a magpie)-'M. l'abb4 you 'ave greatly insufficient of tonsure.' And I said, 'Madame la reine d'Ecosse, you are greatly in excess of tonnage.' After which exchange of pleasantries .

”She got off?.

”Not at all. She bounced like a cannon ball and said that DEDO-..

”Her pony.~~”-That Daydo had long yellow teeth; and did I know-.

”That,” said Christian in chorus, ”you can tell a person's age from their teeth. That's a favourite one..

”Oh. Well, as you say. So she opened her mouth, and I p.r.o.nounced her seven years of age, and she admitted to five. (What is she- four?) Then I opened my mouth-.

”What was it, a pebble?.

”-I opened my mouth and received inside it a small fish, still resisting delivery to its Maker. After that-.

”But what did you do? With the fish?.

”I pretended to eat it,” he said simply. ”Then we played a game or two, and sang a bit, and discussed a number of subjects. Then the nursemaid, or whoever she was, arrived, and whipped off the child, crowing like the c.o.c.ks of Cramond. And you know the echo, to boot..

”I wish I'd been there,” said Christian. ”Had you been waiting long? I'd walked to the far end of the garden..

”Not very long. But I have been, and am, all a-quiver like goose gra.s.s. My dear lady, you mustn't toss the secret of the Queen's hiding place at the feet of a complete stranger. It's not in the rules. Quite apart from perjuring yourself on my behalf just now.”She said regretfully, ”I make some terrible mistakes. But then I'm a very hasty person. You see, they wouldn't let me bring Sym, and I'd no one to send, even if Tom Erskine had found out by Tuesday- which he hadn't. Then old Adam Peebles had to go to Inchkenneth, and I asked him to give a message to Sym so that he could go to the cave and tell you to come today. I had to make the message so garbled . . . and it was a gamble whether Tom would even have reached us by now . . . but he has, so everything has turned out well. Did you have much trouble coming? And getting the robes?.

He brushed the questions aside. ”It wasn't difficult-it should have been more so: the guard is wretched. I came by the hill path, and I had your pa.s.sword. There again . . . I don't mind being a lame duck, but the pond you've put me into has a kingdom in it, my dear. By all means let's play guessing games. 'Will you hide me, Yes, par foi! Shall I be found out? Not through me!'-and all the rest of it; but not with your life, or the child's: and think what happened to Eve, at that .

”Good G.o.d,” he said, coming to a stop. ”I appear to be giving you a miserable nagging for risking your life and reputation for me. Look to me as Wat did to the worm, and relieve my conscience.

She made no attempt either to answer or to argue with him. ”Is your head quite better?.

To her relief, he accepted the change of subject. ”Quite healed, thanks to you. I fall asleep sometimes rather a lot-as demonstrated-that's all.” He hesitated; then said, ”How do you get bark?.

She showed him a whistle at her girdle. ”I blow from the sh.o.r.e, and a boat comes. Then Lady Culter or Mariotta will meet me.” She smiled. ”We're a crowded household..

He said, ”The Culters. Of course. Who else-Buccleuch?.

She shook her head. ”In Stirling. Tom Erskine had to tell him that-” She stopped.

”What?.

She said, ”Oh, well. It's common gossip now. His oldest boy Will has joined forces with-.

”-The G.o.d of the Flies, the Lord of the Dunghill-I know,” he said. ”How did he take it?.

”Buccleuch? Terribly shocked, and grieved, and remorseful, I think. He felt he's driven him off in a fit of temper..

”I expect he should have thought of that in the first place,” he said with unexpected asperity, and she heard him get to his feet. ”My dear lady, they'll wonder what's become of you. Did Erskine really tell you about Crouch?.

She told him, rising with the help of his arm in its coa.r.s.e monk's robe. ”Crouch is Sir George Douglas's prisoner..

”Douglas has him!” There was a thoughtful silence.

”Does that help?” she said tentatively.

”Yes, of course it helps. Very much.” He appeared to be in a difficulty. ”Yes . . . I have been postponing . . . Lady Christian, whtm we last met you were unthinkably kind and generous-for no kind of thanks that I remember making. I swore to myself not to involve you further. Then when I got your message I was irresponsible enough to come here after all. But at least you shan't be in the dark. You shall hear-now-who I am, and if you want to call the guard, I shan't try to escape this time..

”No!” she exclaimed. ”I don't want to know!.

There was, for the first time, a weary distaste in his voice. ”But you require to know-you must see that. This secret-the Queen's hiding place-.

”Have you betrayed it? Will you betray it?.