Here Comes a Candle (32 page)

“
Oh.
”
In her preoccupation with immediate discomfort, she had forgotten the greater threat.
“
What shall we
do,
Charles?
”

“
Stay here of course. As the man says, who knows what we might not find in Washington?
”
His tone underlined the words.
“
No. We
’
re all tired out. We
’
ll manage here somehow for tonight; then tomorrow Silas can drive me into town to
see what goes on.
”

“
Not me,
”
said Silas cheerfully.
“
I contracted to bring you here. Right? Well, I
’
ve brought you. If you
’
ll put me up for the night, I
’
ll say thank you kindly, but tomorrow I start for home. By the back roads like we came. I
’
m not losing my good horses to the redcoats. Nor having them commandeered by the militia down there,
”
he gestured with his whip in the direction where Washington must lie.
“
No sir.
”
He finished.
“
No, ma
’
am.
”
And meant it. Manningham argued and Arabella tried to cajole in vain. He ended the affair by stamping off to see if the stables were
“
fit for my horses to spend the night
.
”

Arabella turned on
M
anningham
:
“
Well, of all the ill-managed—
”

“
You
’
re a fine one to talk.
”
He was as angry as she.
“
Who didn
’
t trouble, if you please, to write and say we were coming. I suppose you were ashamed—
”
They were at it hammer and tongs, all the irritations of the journey
bubbling to the surface. Kate looked into the coach. Blessedly, Sarah was fast asleep. She moved away along the front of the house, looking for a means of entry.

She found it around at the back, where the stable yard was bounded by the
mi
serable hovels that constituted the slaves
’
quarters. Someone, it appeared, had been before her. A window at the back of the house had been smashed and now hung drunkenly open on its hinges. Peering in out of the bright sunshine, she could see a large, untidy kitchen showing all the signs of having been hastily left. There was even half a loaf of bread and what might be a pitcher of milk on the table. She hurried back around the house and found the other two arguing more bitterly than ever.
“
We can get in at the back,
”
she interrupted them unceremoniously.
“
If we are to spend the night here, had we not better get to work?
”

“
You
’
re right, of course.
”
Manningham turned to her with obvious relief.
“
How do we get in?
”

“
I
’
ll show you, if Mrs. Penrose will stay with Sarah. I don
’
t want her to wake up all alone.
”

“
I?
”
Arabella bridled at the suggestion.
“
I thank you, no. I
’
ll not be landed with one of her tantrums.
”

Kate shrugged.
“
You
’
re probably right. Anyway
”
—to M
anningham
—
“
you
’
ll have no trouble in finding your way. There
’
s a broken window around in the stable yard, leading straight into the kitchen. By the look of things, we
’
re lucky. I don
’
t know what happened, but I don
’
t think there
’
s been much looting. Oh!
”
Sarah had waked. She climbed back into the coach as Manningham and Arabella disappeared around the side of the house, still arguing.

Silas returned just as she had got Sarah settled in a cool patch of shadow on the front porch.
“I’
ve got the horses fixed up,
”
he announced,
“
and found myself quarters in the coachman
’
s house. Plenty to eat and a good bed. Tell Captain Manningham I
’
ll see him in the morning, before I go.
”

“
Of course, Silas.
”
At least it avoided the scene Arabella would inevitably have made if she found she had to eat with Silas. But—he was her friend, she thought, and
certainly Sarah
’
s. Should she let
hi
m go like this? And yet, what could he do for them? Nothing. She held out her hand.
“
Go
o
d-by, Silas. And thanks for everything.
”

“
You
’
ll be all right? You and the child?
”
What must he think about their strange party?

“
I think so.
”
After all, Jonathan would certainly be in Washington by how with the money.

“
Good. I
’
ll say good-by then.
”
He turned away, all too evidently relieved to have made his offer of help and been let off.

So much for that. The big door swung open behind her, revealing Manningham.
“
Welcome to Liberty Hall,
”
he said.

The house was smaller than its imposing facade had led Kate to expect. Arabella had already found the best bedroom and had shut herself in there.
“
A crisis of the nerves, she says.
”
Manningham led Kate and Sarah down the corridor that ran from front to back of the house on the second story.
“
I thought you and the
child
could sleep in here.
”

“
Admirable.
”
It was obviously a room belonging to two little girls, with narrow beds side by side and everywhere the signs of rapid packing.
“
We shall do splendidly here, shan
’
t we, Sarah? But right now, I
think
food, don
’
t you? I
’
m ravenous, and I
’
m sure Sarah is, too.
”

“
Yes.
”
He turned to lead the way downstairs
a
gain
.
“
I shall be in there,
”
he pointed to the second bedroom at the front of the house.
“
If you should need me.
”

“
I shan
’
t.
”
It came out more firmly than she had intended, and she hastened to qualify it.
“
Give us a proper bed, and we
’
re set to sleep for fourteen hours, aren
’
t we, Sarah?
”

On closer examination, the kitchen showed signs of rapid, disorganized looting.
“
Something must have panicked them, I think,
”
Kate decided after her rapid, competent inspection.
“
Lucky for us. There
’
s plenty of everything we shall need for a day or so.
”
She was busy tidying up as she spoke.
“
I wonder about livestock.
”
The milk in the pitcher was sour.
“
Surely they must have their own. Would the slaves have taken them?
”

“
I
’
ll go and look.
”
Manningham returned in a few moments to report that he had found hens and a cow in a shed at the far end of the stables.
“
The cow
’
s in a bad way. Do you think she needs milking?
”

“
I
’
m sure she does.
”
Kate laughed and sighed and rolled up her sleeves.
“
Pass me that bucket, would you?
”

F
IFTEEN

Sarah thought it a great game to help look for eggs in the poultry yard, and Kate smiled and followed her and thought once again how wonderfully better she was. Had she really left her tantrums and her terror of Arabella behind at Penrose?

It seemed almost a miracle, she thought later, slicing ham from the cold underground larder and expertly frying eggs on the fire she had contrived to kindle in the huge kitchen range. Under these strange conditions, Sarah was being good as gold, trotting to and fro setting places at the big kitchen table.
“
You are a help to me, honey.
”
Kate bent impulsively to kiss her and heard, for the second time, a tiny threadlike whisper:
“
Kate.
”

Her eyes were suddenly painful with tears. Whatever happened, she vowed to herself, breaking another egg, Sarah was not going to be hurt. She would do anything, risk anything to protect her, to safeguard this extraordinary improvement. Anything? Her mind flashed back to Manningham upstairs:
“
I shall be in there ... if you need me.
”
Yes, if necessary, anything.

As a great concession, Silas agreed to drive Manningham part of the way into Washington next morning:
“
I
’
m turning back before we enter the town itself—such as it is,
”
he stipulated.
“
I
’
m not taking any chances with my horses. But no doubt you
’
ll be able to get a hackney carriage once you
’
re nearer in. If things aren
’
t too bad.
”
They had seen no one since they arrived at the house and felt as isolated as if they were on the moon.

“
But we would have heard the sounds of a battle,
”
said Manningham.
“
I expect no difficulty. I
’
m sure I will find that the English are safe back on their ships by now—or, at the very worst, turned toward Baltimore. What in the world would they want with a ghost town like Washington?
”

“
I hope you
’
re right.
”
Kate was deli
gh
ted to see him go. Arabella had stayed in bed this morning, complaining of palpitations, so she and Sarah had the house to themselves. It was a happy day. They began by tidying and cleaning the big kitchen, and then,
“
Washday now,
”
said Kate. After a brief moral struggle she had appropriated clean clothes for herself and Sarah from the bedroom closets, and now they set to sociably to heat up water in the big copper and wash out everything they had worn on the journey. Insensibly, with occupation, some of the burden of anxiety that had weighed on her ever since the beginning of this strange venture eased away, and she found herself singing as she worked. Surely Manningham would find a letter from Jonathan waiting for
him
at the address he had given in Washington? He would return to say the nightmare was over. Perhaps by this
evening
she and Sarah would be safe with Jonathan in a Washington hotel. Safe—with Jonathan? What would that mean? What would he and she have to say to each other after all that had happened? The question caught like a sob in her throat, and Sarah, who had been singing and scrubbing beside her looked up anxiously. How terrifyingly quick the child was to catch one
’
s every mood.
“
It
’
s all right, poppet,
”
she smiled reassuringly.
“
I was just thinking
...”
Tone was always more effective with Sarah than words.
“
Now
I’ll
show you how the wringer works.
”
Sarah was quick to learn, and they were soon out in the sun-drenched garden, hanging their washing on the line that stood ready among neglected co
rn
in the vegetable patch.

When they had finished, Kate turned to look at the straggling plants of co
rn
.
“
Look, Sarah, here
’
s an ear that
’
s ready, and here
’
s another. Let
’
s shuck them out here, shall we, and I
’
ll cook them for our dinner. There
’
s plenty of butter in the larder, and ham to go with them.
”
Her hands were busy as she spoke, peeling the green outer leaves away from the golden spike of co
rn
, and Sarah picked up another ear to imitate her. Was it really as simple as this, Kate wondered? Was all that Sarah needed real things to do?

She sat back on her heels, idle for a moment, watching Sarah
’
s little hands working absorbedly at their task, and made herself face the future. So far, on this fantastic journey, the present had been problem enough. But now, with every chance that they might see Jonathan tonight, she must make herself look ahead, must face the fact that after what had happened between them she could not, for any consideration—no, not even for Sarah—live at Penrose with
him
again.