Part 31 (1/2)

”I'd prefer to take a nice, quiet journey to Edinburgh and stand my trial. Think how deliciously prolonged it would all be..

The fiat grey eyes were unmoved. ”You'll fight,” said Richard with-out emotion, and Jerked his head. Preceded by Lymond and the rest of his men, he left the room.

Kate saw them go, her brown face stiff with trouble, and then turned back into her bedroom. For a moment she watched the kneeling man, and then bending over him, touched his shoulder. ”Mr. Erskine. Please come away..

For a moment nothing happened. Then he raised a face curiously blurred, as if the subcutaneous fat had melted and recongealed in his grief. He said thickly, ”It's all right. . . . How did it happen?.

She pulled a chair toward him and he sat, while she told her story. At the end there was a pause, and then he said with difficulty, ”I wondered . . . I couldn't quite understand why she did it..

Kate said with care, ”She would help anybody, I think: wasn't that so? And then-you've all condemned him pretty thoroughly as a blackguard, haven't you?.

”What else is he?.

”Well,” said Kate. ”I'm not one of the simple kind who spend a jolly time romping on Olympus with the object of becoming a little, leering star at the end. I never met the girl before today: I don't know what their past relations have been. But I can say that he spoke of your Lady Christian with nothing but respect. By her desire I was with them both till she died, and I should be ashamed to think of guilt or offence in anything they said. And more than that. It was you I was to tell of her regrets, and to you I was to give her love..

He got up slowly, a man not incapable of a moment of insight. But he said only, ”Thank you. I'm glad you were with her,” and walked out, without looking back.

Kate smoothed the crumpled sheet~ with gentle fingers, and spoke aloud. ”He was very nearly good enough for you, that one,” she said; and drawing the yellow curtains, shut out the sun.

* * *Since he was quite a young man, Gideon Somerville had grown used to the role of bystander. Other men-less intelligent, shallower men-plunged into a tidal race of action, conflict, argument and sinewy bravado. But within Gideon something shrank from pressing his intangible opinions, his doubt-ridden intellect and humane heart on the destinies of others as helpless as himself. He knew the ache of indecision too well.

Today, brought to disturbing acquaintance with new minds, he weighed them up, watching with his, clear eyes, and tacitly stepped aside. There was no tangle here that he or any stranger could undo. Flaw Valleys was no prison. His staff could break out if he incited them: he could send a man to Hexham for help if he tried; but he had no wish to try. He asked quietly that his wife shouldn't be asked to be present; he made sure that Philippa wasn't left unwatched or frightened; and he brought to Lord Culter a pair of matched rapiers and two daggers.

As the weapons arrived, Tom Erskine came into the hail and took charge.

The fact that he did so sobered them all. In a year he had become used to command: his father, after all, was within the most intimate circle of the Court; his grandfather was Archibald, second Duke of Argyll; his grandmother and his sister had borne sons to two kings. He came now into the room, collected everyone's attention and said quietly, ”Richard: this is a warning. This man is a prisoner of the Crown and has to answer to the Crown for his crimes. To do what you mean to do demands strong cause. Do you have it?.

”You ask me that? Yes. Of course I have..

”To kill this man in a private house for a private quarrel in foreign territory may lead you to be charged with his murder. Could you refute that?.

”Yes,” said Richard. ”As you very well know. At this moment he's carrying papers that'd mean the end of us as a nation and very likely the death of the Queen if they reached Hexham..

Lymond, who had been staring out of one of the tall windows and drumming with his finger tips on the shutter, came to life and spun around. ”That isn't true!.

Erskine kicked something at his feet. ”Is that your baggage roll?.

”Yes..

”And this, which was in it, is your letter?.

Without speaking, Lymond accepted the papers Erskine held out- papers which, as Erskine and Culter both knew, gave in detail the plans for the Queen's escape to France.

He took a long time over the pages, his eyes staying a moment. unseeing at the foot; then he returned them. ”Well?” said Erskine.

”The man with me: Acheson. Have you questioned him about these?” asked Lymond. ”He's locked up belowstairs..

”Yes,” said Erskine. ”We've seen him. He was carrying two lettersfrom George Douglas about the safety of his sons. That's all he's got, and that's all he knows about..

”I see,” said Lymond slowly. ”The obvious answer, of course. The cla.s.sic escape from this kind of situation, as you know, is for each party to blame the other. In which case, I a.s.sume for safety's sake that you'll take him back home with you? I should strongly advise you not to let him out of your sight..

”He put the papers in your baggage?” said Richard helpfully.

”Something like that. But let's put it at its lowest. He knows the contents of the papers. So for G.o.d's sake don't admit him to your social circle just because you're happy he's given you a hold over me..

”And has he?” asked Erskine-and misinterpreting the ensuing pause added, ”Well?.

”Well enough for everybody's purpose,” said Lymond without pa.s.sion. ”One crime more or less isn't going to deter Richard now..

It was treated as an admission; there was a murmur of abuse and contempt, irresistibly, and someone spat. Erskine turned his back on the younger man and addressed Richard again. ”That being so, you have a public reason for bringing this man to trial here and now. You also have private reasons?.

”Yes..

”What are they?.

Richard was silent, his jaw doggedly set.

”State them,” said Erskine sharply. ”If this is to be trial by combat, the defendant has a right to hear your complaint..

Lord Culter said, speaking very fast in a low voice, ”He has degraded our family name . . . committed theft and arson and attacked a guest beneath my roof. He has, tried to take my life repeatedly..

Lymond made a sudden movement, apparently involuntarily, and the gesture restored Richard's voice. He said quite clearly, ”He has dishonoured my wife and killed my only son..

n.o.body spoke. Between man and man the sunlight hesitated, sparkling, and sank to the floor with the languis.h.i.+ng dust. Gideon bit his lip. ”What have you to reply?” asked Erskine.

Lymond's voice was undramatic and his face unreadable. ”Your choice is between executing me here or in Edinburgh. I will not fight..

Erskine had begun to say, ”Do you admit, then . . .” when Richard interrupted. ”Wait a moment. Let us all have it clear. If one ofus fails to fight, it means he admits he has no honour to defend?.

”That is the usual interpretation..

”In other words, that he admits the truth of the charges against him. Do you freely admit to treason, brother? To murder and rape? Fratricide as near as may be?.

”I admit none of it..

”Yet you won't fight. You admit your-connection with my wile?.

”No!.

”And yet you won't fight. You admit that you deceived that girl upstairs into becoming your blind and complaisant mistress, and then killed her when you tired of it?.

Erskine's voice clashed hars.h.i.+y with Lymond's. The Master's prevailed through sheer bite. ”You uncivilized maniac: that's a d.a.m.nable lever to use..

”If you won't defend your story, we must a.s.sume it's true..

”You can a.s.sume,” said Lymond, stirred at last into straight speaking, ”that I'm trying to prevent you from getting your b.l.o.o.d.y throat cut; that's all..

”You imagine,” said Richard, his voice rocketing between prayerful hope and excitement, ”that you could fight me and survive?.

”I could see you drop dead this minute from paralysis of the brain cells and burst into uninhibited applause. I had nothing to do with Christian Stewart's death, nor did I touch her when she was alive. I'll defend that, d.a.m.n you, against anybody. Set up your tin-foil trial and try and prove otherwise if you can..