The Painter's Apprentice (11 page)

‘Nothing would please me more!’

‘Very good. Your mother may care to accompany you to see the medicinal herbs we grow.’

Beth felt excitement bubbling up inside her. ‘Oh Father, do please say that we may go!’

William smiled. ‘How could I refuse?’

Anne was very quiet that afternoon, spending a great deal of time staring into the flickering flames of the little parlour
fire.

Beth, fretting at the inactivity, mourned time wasted when she could be painting.

‘I’m not good company, am I?’ said Anne. ‘Merryfields has given me an opportunity to step outside the difficulties of my own
life for a while but it is time for me to return to my duties.’

‘Will your husband be waiting for you?’

Anne smiled. ‘I hope that I have some good news for him. I may be carrying another child. It’s a little early to be sure but
I am holding my breath as each day passes.’

Beth’s heart swelled with joy and fear for her friend. ‘I shall pray for you.’ After so many stillbirths and miscarriages,
she hoped desperately that Anne would be able to carry this child to term.

After dinner the following day, Clarence Smith came to shake the Bishop by the hand. ‘Still being troubled by the damned papists?’
he asked.

Henry Compton’s lips twitched. ‘Fair to middling.’

‘Shame I’m too involved here with affairs of state to return to Whitehall, but I’ll leave it in your capable hands to deal
with the problem element, as you see fit. Never forget that the Church of England is the one true faith!’

‘I assure you, sire, that I will do all in my power to make sure it remains so.’

The Bishop bowed and backed away from Clarence’s presence. His eyes were dancing with mirth as he glanced at William.

Anne turned to Beth. ‘I will take a final look in the room where we have spent such happy times together.’

In the little parlour, Anne closed the door firmly against Forsyth. ‘I shall miss this retreat and you, too, my dear friend.
Your kindness and common sense have done much to lift me out of my despair.’

‘I hope so much that you will find your life less difficult now. And especially that what you most wish for comes to pass.’

A radiant smile illuminated Anne’s sallow face. ‘I live in hope that it is God’s will.’ She twisted one of her rings off her
finger and held it out. ‘I want you to have this.’

Beth gasped and took a step back. ‘It’s far too valuable for me to accept!’

‘What you have done for me is beyond price. Besides, it matches your lovely blue eyes. Please, wear it for me?’

Hesitantly, Beth took the ring. Moved by Anne’s sentiment, Beth found herself blinking away tears. ‘Then I shall be honoured.’
She slid the ring on to her finger. It was a little loose but the sapphires blazed with icy fire.

‘You see, I knew it would suit you! Oh, and I have asked Edith to leave you some of my gowns. I have too many and I’m sure
you will make use of them.’ Anne sighed as she gave a last glance around the little parlour.

In the hall Anne’s maid held out a fur-lined cloak, which she wrapped tenderly about her mistress’s shoulders.

At the landing stage Anne said her goodbyes, thanking William and Susannah, but when she came to Beth she kissed her cheek
and whispered in her ear, ‘I will always carry a little of Merryfields in my heart.’

The Bishop handed her into the barge where her maid set a hot brick by her feet and a blanket over her knees.

Beth blinked hard, already feeling the loss of her new friend and sadly aware that she would never meet her again.

The boatman cast off and the barge slid away.

Anne raised a hand in farewell then turned her face towards the city.

William received word from Noah that Kit’s passage had been booked for the following week and retreated to his study, barely
to be seen except at mealtimes. Susannah hardly spoke at all and set to work preparing salves and cough mixtures for Kit to
take with him.

On hearing that Kit was to leave Merryfields, Johannes cajoled all the guests and the family into sitting for him; he made
lightning sketches of them all, binding them into a portfolio for Kit to take with him.

‘Now he will never forget us,’ said Johannes, reducing Beth to tears.

Noah arrived a week later.

Beth’s heart sank into her shoes, dreading the following day when he would take Kit away.

‘I’ll return to Merryfields after Kit has set sail,’ said Noah, as they went into the great hall for their dinner. ‘Your father
has invited me to stay here while I’m working on the renovations at Richmond Palace.’

‘
Must
you work on the nursery for the King’s expected papist heir?’ She heard the sharp tone in her voice and her earlier reservations
about him returned.

‘Beth, this is a marvellous opportunity for me to gain experience in an important project with Sir Christopher Wren.’

‘Still, I shouldn’t talk about it, if I were you. Papists aren’t much liked around here.’

Noah sighed. ‘My involvement has nothing to do with supporting Catholicism, which I abhor.’

‘Nevertheless, others may not understand that.’

Kit saved Beth from making any more pointed comments by monopolising Noah’s attention at the dinner table, cross-questioning
him about Virginia, the tobacco plantation, what he should take with him and conditions aboard ship. ‘And Phoebe has made
me an extra warm shirt since she says you never know what kind of winters there will be in Virginia,’ he said.

‘You can buy shirts in Jamestown, you know,’ said Noah. ‘You may be surprised how refined the colony is. Ladies dress in silk
and play the virginals, just as in London. Virginia certainly isn’t the primitive place it was for the first settlers.’

‘I’m not sure if that doesn’t make it less exciting,’ said Kit, looking disappointed.

‘Less exciting but a deal more comfortable, I assure you. Mind you, the Indians can still cause trouble.’

Beth pushed aside her mutton stew. All the talk of Virginia had made her lose her appetite.

During the afternoon the twins arrived.

‘We wanted to see Kit before he goes,’ said Samuel. ‘We’re going to accompany him to the docks tomorrow to see him off.’

‘Give him a send-off from the Old Country he’ll never forget,’ added Joshua with a wicked smile.

A momentary pang of jealousy that Noah and the twins would be on the quayside to wave goodbye to Kit made Beth purse her lips.
But Kit had begged his family not to be there because it would be too upsetting for them all.

‘You look as sick as a cat, Beth,’ said Joshua. ‘Missing Kit already?’

She nodded, unable to speak.

‘Tell you what,’ said Samuel, giving her a hug, ‘after he’s gone, why don’t you come up to Chelsea and stay with us for a
while? We’ll see a play or somesuch to cheer you up.’

Beth sighed. ‘I’m not sure how Lady Arabella would feel about that. She’s never liked me.’

‘Mother never likes anyone unless they can be useful to her,’ laughed Joshua. ‘But I can sweet talk her. And after all, we
spent half our childhood here at Merryfields.’

Later, Susannah sat by the fire with her embroidery on her knee but Beth saw that she had eyes only for Kit as he laughed
and joshed with the twins while they played a noisy game of cards.

William stirred the logs into a brisk blaze with the poker and then stared blindly into the flames, his head turned towards
the sound of Kit’s voice.

Beth sat with Cecily and John, ostensibly playing spillikins, but she, too, was drinking in every last moment of Kit’s presence,
engraving the curve of his cheek and the boyish lines of his lean figure on to her memory.

‘Beth!’ Cecily shook her arm. ‘You’re not paying attention!’

‘Sorry.’ Beth studied the pile of spillikins, but made her move too hastily and several rolled off the edge of the table.

‘Careless!’ crowed John.

Beth turned her attention back to Kit. He was laughing at something Noah had said, his hand of cards laid against his chest.
Then, almost as if he felt his sister’s gaze boring into him, he turned to look over his shoulder at her until their eyes
met across the room. His smile faltered and faded.

Her heart nearly breaking, Beth called out through a mist of tears, ‘Keep your eye on your cards, Kit, or you’ll let those
rascals beat you!’

For a long moment Kit held her gaze before returning to his game.

Beth swallowed and clenched her fists so that her nails bit into her palms, determined not to spoil this last evening with
a fit of weeping.

The clock on the chimney piece chimed.

William sighed. ‘It’s late. It’s time to say our prayers together for the last time.’

The morning of Kit’s departure dawned clear and bright.

Heavy-hearted, Beth dressed in a gown of fine green wool that Anne had given to her and came down the stairs with Orpheus
at her heels. Kit’s trunk was waiting in the hall; her stomach churned at the visible reminder of his coming departure. The
lid was open so she peeped inside.

Mama had presented him with a well-stocked apothecary box and the warm shirt lovingly sewn by Phoebe was carefully folded
beside it. His father’s gift of a specially bound book of Donne’s poetry rested on top. Johannes’s little folder of sketches
was in the pocket. Tucked inside was her own painting of a full-blown pink rose, her mother’s highly scented Apothecary’s
rose, which she hoped would remind him of the pure beauty of the garden at Merryfields in summer.

She slumped down on the bottom step with her head in her hands. A tear rolled off her chin and she rubbed at the dark stain
it made on her skirt. Orpheus whined and lifted his paw heavily on to her knee, gazing up at her with soulful brown eyes.
‘You’ll miss Kit, too, won’t you?’ she said, fondling his wiry head.

Orpheus pricked up his ears, his tail swishing across the stone floor.

Footsteps sprinted along the gallery and Kit and Noah raced each other down the stairs, two at a time.

Beth wiped her eyes. It would never do for one of Kit’s last memories to be of her sad face.

‘You’re up early!’ said Noah.

‘I couldn’t sleep.’

‘Nor I,’ confessed her brother with a wry smile.

‘This is harder than I could ever have imagined,’ he said, his expression utterly miserable. ‘I thought I wanted to leave
Merryfields but …’

‘Don’t go, then!’ Beth’s spirits soared. ‘It’s not too late!’

Kit’s chin quivered. ‘But, can’t you see? I
have
to find out about the world. I love you all so much but I’ll go mad if I remain confined here.’

Her last hope flickered and died.

‘If you really aren’t happy you can always return,’ said Noah.

‘Perhaps.’ Kit stared down at his hands. ‘But if I don’t make a success of it, what then? I must see this through but I’m
not sure I can bear to say my goodbyes.’ He drew a shuddering breath. ‘Perhaps I should just slip away?’

Noah gripped him by the arm. ‘You’re too much of a man to do that! Smile and say your goodbyes but don’t linger.’

Kit squared his shoulders. ‘You’re right, of course.’

Joseph appeared from the domestic quarters. ‘Emmanuel has the boat ready, Kit,’ he said. ‘And Samuel and Joshua are already
aboard.’

Kit nodded. He took a deep breath and made a visible effort to smile. ‘I’ll miss you. What fun we had as children, running
wild in the garden, eh?’

‘I’ll not forget it.’

‘And Joseph, isn’t it about time you made an honest woman of Sara? Perhaps I may hear news of your marriage before too long?’

Joseph shuffled his feet, a rosy flush staining his brown cheeks.

‘Mustn’t keep the tide waiting,’ said William, white-faced.

Servants and guests, many of whom had known Kit since he was a little boy, lined up along the landing stage, shivering in
the watery sunshine, to say goodbye.

Kit, with his parents and siblings behind him, made his way slowly past them, exchanging a few words with each one.

Clarence Smith touched him on the shoulder as if bestowing a knighthood. ‘Go out into the world and make us proud of you,
my boy.’

Peg tucked the remains of the beef pie, neatly wrapped in a clean cloth, into his pocket. ‘Can’t bear the thought of you going
hungry in a savage land,’ she said.

Noah, laughter in his eyes, whispered to Beth, ‘That pie will certainly be full of savage maggots by the time it reaches Virginia!’

Beth attempted a smile but then Cecily began to keen and faint and she had to support her while Susannah waved sal volatile
under her nose.

John, rather red in the face from the effort of not crying, hugged his brother. ‘Here,’ he said, holding out a small packet.
‘S-s-some of my favourite seeds for you. Grow an English garden for me in V-V-Virginia.’

‘I will,’ said Kit. ‘A little piece of Merryfields in the midst of the New World.’

Cecily collapsed against him, sobbing as if her heart would break, while Beth wondered how she contrived to weep and wail
to such an extent without her eyes turning bloodshot.

Then it was Beth’s turn and she hugged Kit tightly, breathing in the scent of his dark hair. Pictures of him as a newborn
with his eyes screwed shut against the light and then as a sturdy toddler clinging to her hand in the garden and of him laughing
self-consciously in his first long trousers flashed through her mind. Now she would never see him as his shoulders broadened
and he grew into a man. Tears prickled and burned at the back of her throat but she blinked them away and forced her quivering
lips to smile. ‘When I’m falling asleep
at night I’ll imagine you sitting beside me in the fork of the old plum tree,’ she whispered.

‘Just like when we were children and getting up to mischief.’ Kit smiled a crooked smile.

Slowly, Beth let go of his hand, curling her fingers over her palm to retain the warmth of her brother’s last touch.

At the end of the landing stage, Joshua jumped into the boat, rocking the boat so dangerously that Samuel had to clutch the
sides for fear of falling out.

Joshua hooted in derision and splashed a fistful of river at him, while Orpheus went into a paroxysm of barking, his tail
thrashing.

‘
Hurry up
, Kit, or there won’t be time to raise a tankard of ale to you in the Crown before you board!’

Unsmiling, William grasped his son by his upper arms and stared into his face as if fixing it in his memory. ‘I’m proud of
you, Kit, for being brave and honest enough to face up to me, like a man. Your mother and I will think of you every day and
live in expectation of your happiness and success.’ Then his face crumpled and he gathered Kit to his chest and buried his
face in his dark hair.

‘Kit!’ bellowed Joshua. ‘Come
on!
We’ll miss the tide.’

Susannah encircled her husband and her son in her arms, their heads touching.

Beth watched them, an unwelcome ache in her breast at not being included. Cecily clung to her arm, sobbing convulsively.

‘It’s time to go,’ said Susannah after a few moments. She kissed Kit’s cheek, smiled through her tears and released him. ‘Don’t
forget to write! We’ll all be waiting to hear about this wonderful new life of yours.’

Kit swallowed, his eyes very bright. ‘I will,’ he said. He climbed into the boat, accompanied by rousing cheers from the twins.

Cecily shrieked and buried her face in her mother’s neck, while Susannah, suddenly looking ten years older, never took her
eyes off Kit.

Beth, too, fixed her gaze on her brother as he perched himself on top of his trunk. She burned the picture he made into her
memory, taking in the blue-black shine of his hair in the pale sun and the faint shadow of stubble on his chin. She studied
the chiselled line of his jaw, his finely winged eyebrows and the set of his shoulders with as much care as if she were drawing
his portrait. Lost in thought, she jumped when Noah spoke to her.