As the Sparks Fly Upward (15 page)

Then Colin cried out hoarsely and pulled her toward the bed. She laughed, and Colin Winslow lost himself in a desire such as he had never known. Once a thought came to him:
This is wrong!
But he quickly put away the thought.

Ten days had passed since Heather had come to his room, and Colin was besotted with lust. He had made love to Heather exactly
five times. Over and over he relived each time. At night he would lie in his bed, unable to think clearly, for he was beside himself with love. He thought,
I love her, and I know she loves me!

Late one Thursday evening, after the family had gone to bed, Colin slipped quietly down the corridor to Heather's room. He tapped on the door, and when it opened Heather smiled and whispered, “Well, it's my lover.”

He slipped inside and shut the door. She came to him willingly, but he said quickly, “Heather, I have to tell you that I love you.”

“Why, we've had a good time, Colin, and I think a great deal of you.”

Colin shook his head. “No, it's more than that. I love you. You are the only woman I've ever known. I want us to be married.”

“Why, Colin—!” Heather blinked with surprise. She tried to think how to say the truth without hurting his feelings. “That can never be, Colin.”

“Why not? We love each other.”

“Colin! You are so
innocent
! You don't love me.”

“Yes, I do!”

“No, Colin, you love
love.
I remember what that was like when I had my first man. I'm your first woman and you are filled with delight, but we could never marry. Surely you see that.”

“Why not?” Colin replied quickly.

Heather shook her head. “For one thing, I could never be the wife of a doctor, and you would never be happy with me. I'm spoiled, Colin, and am accustomed to expensive ways. Anyway, my father would never permit it. I have to marry for material reasons. I have to marry a man who has a title and land.”

She saw that he was stricken, and at that moment, she felt very sorry for him. It had been a game with her, but he looked as if she had driven a knife into his heart. She put her hand on his
cheek and said with compassion, “I'm so sorry, Colin! I didn't mean for this to happen.”

Then the truth came to young Colin Winslow. “You used me!” He was stunned and tried to deny the thought, but couldn't. He heard her say, “We'll always remember our time together, but you need to find a young woman of your own class. She'll be wonderful, I'm sure.”

Colin didn't hear the rest of what she had to say. Blindly, he left the room and went back to his own. He stood there trembling, knowing that he could never forget her words. The sweetness that he had felt for her turned to bitterness, and he knew that he would never trust another woman as he had trusted her.

10

June 10, 1581

“S
omething is wrong with that boy!” Phineas mumbled under his breath, probing into the interior chest cavity of a corpse. It was not as fresh as he would have liked. He and Colin had stolen it the night before, and for a moment Phineas looked disturbed. “Why can't a man have a nice, fresh corpse to work on once in a while?” he muttered. Almost viciously, he opened the corpse up wider; then his mind went back to his assistant.
Something must have happened to him. His mind is not on his work
.

As always, Teague was infuriated that there was a problem he could not solve instantly. He stared down at the corpse with his piercing hazel eyes. He reached up now and pulled at his wild silver hair. He looked for a moment like a man who was trying to lift himself off the floor by his hair. Finally he muttered, “The boy has to come out of it sometime! He has too good a mind to spoil.”

For a time Phineas forgot himself, as he always did when he was dissecting a corpse. It was a matter he could never resolve, this miraculous thing called the human body. He remembered a line of poetry he had read once that simply said, “What a piece of work is man!” Phineas hated poetry, but he loved that line.

He had spent his life examining the mechanics that make up the wondrous creature that is man. He was not a believer in God, and this troubled him at times. He was faced with a dilemma: he well knew this miraculous fragment of flesh, bones, blood, and nerves, all functioning in a way that was marvelous indeed. How could this be? Could this be by an accident? Somehow, Phineas managed to not think very hard about that. Once, Colin had asked him, “Dr. Teague, if you found a clock with all its intricate workings would you say, ‘My, this is miraculous, how this clock just came to be without a maker!'?”

Snorting viciously, Teague pulled at the corpse and pushed aside the errant thoughts. He well understood that if there was a clock, there
had
to be a clock maker. And if there was a man with all his intricate parts that were so marvelous in order, there
had
to be a man maker! For most of his sixty-seven years he had struggled with this problem. One of the reasons he was fascinated by Colin Winslow was the faith of the young man. He knew that Colin himself did not claim to be a Christian; nevertheless, he was adamant about defending the Scriptures and the concept of a God who made the world and everything in it.

Suddenly, a door opened and closed, and relieved to put away the theological thinking he frequently fell into, Phineas turned to see Colin, who had the most downcast expression he had ever seen on his face.

“What's the matter with you, boy? You've been glum ever since you returned from Withington.”

“Nothing's wrong with me.”

“Nothing? You think I don't know anything about human nature? You think I can't see when a man has been hit right between the eyes? Come now, tell me what's bothering you!”

“I tell you it's nothing. Now, leave me alone!”

Phineas stared at him. “Well, that is the harshest thing you have ever said to your dear friend. A dear friend who is me.”

Colin chewed on his lower lip, and Phineas saw that his words had hit hard.

“I'm sorry, Dr. Teague. It's is just that things are not going very well for me lately.”

Phineas positioned himself so he was able to look into Colin's eyes. A yellow beam of sunlight made a golden shaft as it came through one of the high windows and illuminated the young man's features. “If I ever saw misery on a man, it's on you.” Suddenly a thought came to him and he said abruptly, “When a man is as down as you are, it can only be a woman. Is that it?”

“No!” Colin said harshly.

Phineas cocked his head to the side and stared at Colin. “Why so great and furious a
no
? If what I said was not so, a simple negative would have done. It
is
a woman.”

Colin stared at Phineas and his voice had a sharp edge to it. “Are we going to work on this body or not?”

“Since you won't talk, we'll have to.” Phineas hesitated, then put his hand on his young friend's shoulder. It was a physical expression of affection Teague rarely used, and Colin looked at him, surprised. “I'm sorry, my boy. I don't mean to pry into your problems. When a man has trouble, whether it is a woman, or money, or sickness, he doesn't need someone trying to arm his way into his misery. So whatever it is, I pray that you will get over it.”

Colin suddenly smiled. It was a wry smile, but his eyes did brighten just the same. “You
pray
it will go away? I thought you didn't believe in prayer.”

Phineas scowled and jerked his hand back. “There you are! I try to show a little consideration, and you say something as unkind as that. Of course I don't believe in prayer! It was just a figure of speech. Come now, let's get to this body. It's rank enough as it is, and it'll be worse by the time we get through with it!”

The members of the local chapter of the Royal College of Physicians were all equally uncomfortable. There were five of them,
and they all had their eyes fixed on the head of the college, Dr. Regis Perry. No one spoke, and Perry grew irritated. “What's the matter with you men?” he angrily demanded. “I'm not asking you to do anything that doesn't need to be done. You know that Teague and Winslow have hurt us all.”

Dr. Rowlins spoke up rather timidly. “But Dr. Perry, there is nothing that we can do about it. Dr. Teague is a world-renowned physician.”

“I don't care about that! You all know how he has spoken of us. He makes no secret of the fact that he thinks we're all worthless as physicians.”

Dr. Ralph Johnson spoke up. He was a heavyset man with dark brown eyes and a cruel mouth. “I agree with Dr. Perry. Something has to be done about those two.”

“What can we do?” Rowlins asked.

“We can strike their names off the list of our membership,” Perry said and grinned wickedly. His colleagues knew Colin had been operating under Teague's license.

“That would be acceptable to me,” Rowlins grunted. “Every one of us should sign our names to that.”

The meeting did not continue long. Perry was a bull-like man in appearance and was the same in his ways. He was accustomed to having his own way, and now, with Johnson supporting him, he was able to get the support of the other members.

“All right then, it's settled. I will draft the letter and get it off to Teague at once.”

Rowlins suddenly reconsidered, then shook his head. “You can get rid of Colin Winslow, but you'd better not try it with Teague. He has the support of some very powerful men.”

“I believe that is so,” Dr. Thompson said. He rarely spoke at the meetings, but he sounded determined now. “We will lay ourselves into real trouble if we attack Teague.”

“Well, so be it. We will eliminate Winslow. I wouldn't be surprised,
” Perry said with a cruel smile, “if Teague did not resign in protest. And that would be fine with me!”

Adam Winslow seemed to bring some sort of light with him when he joined groups or entered rooms. He had a mysterious quality that some people possess to attract all eyes. There could be fifty men in a room, but when Adam entered all eyes turned to him. Part of that force was due to his strong body and good looks. He was two inches over six feet, with golden hair and unusual hazel eyes that seemed to burn when he got angry. There was an energy in him that blazed, and other men seemed to pale in comparison.

“Well, Brother,” Adam said with enthusiasm as he clapped Colin on the shoulder, “I'm glad to see you again.”

“It's good to see you, Adam. When did you get in?”

“Two days ago. It was a good voyage, too. We took three prizes.” As Sir Francis Drake's most trusted lieutenant, Adam would get his fair share of the booty. “Tell me, what have you been doing with yourself? Still determined to be a grubby doctor, I suppose.”

“Actually, I don't think that's going to happen.”

Adam blinked with surprise. He had never agreed with Colin's decision to become a physician; he would have preferred him to become a sailor like him. But he of all men knew that Colin had not the talent nor the frame nor the inclination to become a fighter.

“What do you mean? Have you decided on another profession?”

“Not really, Adam. It's been decided for me.”

“Decided for you? Who did the deciding?”

“The Royal College of Physicians. They are the authority. A man has to be certified by them before he begins to practice medicine. I got a letter from them that said I have been dropped from their roll and cannot serve as a physician.”

Adam growled, “Who do they think they are? They can't do this to my brother!”

“I'm afraid they can. I can never practice without a certificate.”

Adam stared at Colin and had a rare moment of insight. He suddenly realized he had overshadowed Colin in every way. He was the oldest son and would inherit the title. He had made a fortune with his voyages with Sir Francis Drake and was rapidly rising as one of the stars of the Seahawks. He had a large ego, but at the same time he had a warm heart for his family. He saw that he had not shown any real consideration to this younger brother of his and said firmly, “Something will have to be done.”

“Nothing can be done. They are the final authority on this.”

Adam Winslow stood silently for a moment. He was a man of action rather than a man of thought. This situation displeased him, and he felt a glow of anger. “We will see about this!” he said grimly, then reached across and hugged Colin. With a determined grin he said, “Don't give up, Brother. If this is what you want, I will see that you get it.”

Colin suddenly smiled. He felt the weight of his brother's arm and the strength of his muscular body, and he saw the light of battle in his brother's eyes. These were qualities that he could never have, but he was moved that at least Adam was sympathetic. “I don't think there is anything you can do, but I appreciate your willingness to try.”

The Queen's Counsel was comprised of only men. Elizabeth sat at the head and the men she trusted to decide the fate of the British Empire sat around the long table. At Elizabeth's side, as always, was William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and everyone realized that Elizabeth would take no action against his advice. Across from him at Elizabeth's left was Sir Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. He was the handsomest man in the room and the one
many thought Elizabeth would choose as her husband. That had never happened. Cecil had once whispered to Walsingham, “She will never marry.” When Walsingham had objected that it was entirely possible, Cecil said flatly, “No, she will never share her throne with a man. She is now ruler of England, and she will die ruler of England, without a man's help.”