The Painter's Apprentice (29 page)

When, at last, a fanfare of trumpets sounded in the distance, Cecily jumped up to peer at the milling crowd on the river bank
in front of Whitehall. The crowd parted and a few people cheered.

‘Look!’ Cecily cried. ‘It’s the King and Queen.’

Beth strained to see the distant figures, curious to see the King and Queen who were so disliked by the nation. Torch-bearers
illuminated the Queen, a dark-haired, slight figure in a blue gown, who rested her hand on the King’s forearm as they made
their way through the crowd.

‘Huzzah!’ shouted Joshua and Samuel, waving their hats in the air.

A family in a nearby boat turned to stare at them, muttering amongst themselves and Beth felt uneasy that they might imagine
her to be a papist.

The lamplit party, led by their Majesties and surrounded by courtiers, made its way slowly through the press of people and
on to the royal barge. The crowd remained mutinously silent.

‘Not exactly a rapturous welcome,’ Noah murmured.

The trumpets blew another fanfare and within moments the fireworks exploded in a dazzling display of colour and light against
the deep indigo of the night sky.

Beth stared open-mouthed as the three giant firework figures began to move, their limbs jerkily bending and stretching in
a strange dance while fountains of sparks coloured massicot yellow, rose madder and verdigris burst out of the huge effigies
with a great hissing and whistling.

Firecrackers burst across the water and women and children screamed in terrified delight. The acrid scent of gunpowder hung
in drifts over them all.

Joshua put his fingers to his lips and emitted a piercing whistle while Cecily shrieked and buried her head in Samuel’s shoulder.

Beth clasped her hands over her ears as a rocket detonated with an ear-splitting bang high above them in a shower of green
and white sparks. Noah was looking at her, his face serious in the warm, reflected glow of the fireworks.

‘Not frightened?’ he shouted over the noise.

She shook her head. ‘I’ve never seen such a spectacle! What a wonderful painting it would make.’

The remains of the firework figures were merrily ablaze. A final flurry of rockets screeched up into the blackness of the
sky to explode with the might of thunder, dissolving into a myriad of crimson falling stars like a deluge of rubies.

A momentary silence fell as they drifted down; Beth was speechless with the wonder of it. Then Cecily sneezed as their boat
was enveloped in a thick cloud of gunpowder smoke.

A round of cannon fire started, provoking a cheer from the barges moored near to the royal party.

‘That’ll be Sir George and Mama,’ said Joshua with a grin. ‘Mama is determined that the King will see she is a loyal supporter
in these difficult times.

No sooner had the cannon fire stopped than the church bells began to peal. One after the other they joined in until a crashing
cacophony of sound reverberated over the water. The clamour was deafening.

At last the bells ceased and the boats began to disperse.

‘Hey!’ One of the young men in the neighbouring boat stood up, rather unsteadily, and waved his bottle of wine at Cecily.
‘We’re going to the Old Bell for a lil’ drink. Why doan you all come with us? Make a party.’

‘Can we, Beth?’ Cecily’s voice was bubbling with excitement. ‘Please say yes!’

‘It’s not a good idea, Cecily.’

‘Listen to your sister,’ said Noah. The conduits are running with wine and there will be fights before the evening is out.’

‘
Please!
’

‘No, Cecily!’ said Beth, more sharply than she meant to. ‘Have you
no
sense?’

‘It won’t hurt to take a little walk in the city,’ said Joshua.

‘Then you shall go by yourselves.’ Noah spoke to the boatman, directing him to row as best he could to the river bank. ‘And
in the interests of your own safety, Joshua, I’d take care not to put it abroad that you support the Catholic persuasion.’

Joshua let out a snort of derision. ‘All right, Sobersides. We shall do better without you.’

‘We only converted because Sir George said we had to if we wanted a place at Court,’ protested Samuel. ‘The same as Lord Salisbury.’

‘But I
want
to come with you both!’ Cecily caught hold of Joshua’s sleeve.

Samuel took her hand and kissed it. ‘Perhaps Noah is right. Do go home, there’s a good girl.’

‘You want to be rid of me!’ Cecily pouted. ‘You want to go racketing off into the city, drinking and looking for girls.’

‘That is also perfectly correct,’ said Joshua, hardly able to contain his laughter.

The boat wasn’t able to reach the stairs since so many other boats were trying to do the same thing. Eventually Joshua and
Samuel
jumped on to the muddy shore with whoops of glee and ran off into the night.

‘I hope they’ll be all right,’ said Beth, worry creasing her brow. ‘Arabella will be sure to blame me if something happens
to them.’

‘You could hardly stop them, could you?’ Noah put his arms around them both but Cecily huffed and puffed and turned sulkily
away.

Joshua and Samuel returned at first light the following morning, waking the whole household as they hammered on the front
door. The scullery maid let them in and they stumbled into the hall, singing loud enough to wake the saints.

Beth, hearing the commotion, forgot any idea of trying to sleep any longer. Tiptoeing on to the landing, she peered over the
banisters.

Joshua had a bloody nose and Samuel’s breeches were singed and blackened with smoke.

‘Doan you wag your finger at me, Mama,’ said Joshua.

Yawning, Cecily leaned against Beth and looked over the banisters too.

Then the door to Sir George’s chamber was flung back and his footsteps clipped along the landing.

Beth and Cecily shrank back so that he wouldn’t see them.

‘There was a bonfire in the street,’ said Samuel to his mother, ‘with an effy …’ He looked puzzled for a moment and then his
face broke into a wide grin. ‘I have it now.’ He spoke slowly, concentrating on the words. ‘There was an
effigy
of the Pope burning on the fire.’

‘A pope burning!’ Lady Arabella’s eyes were wide with outrage. ‘They burnt an effigy of the
Pope?
But that’s
monstrous!
’

‘S’all rig’, Mama.’ Hiccoughing, Joshua clasped her to his bloodied coat and patted her head. ‘We pissed on the fire to put
it out.’

‘Made ’em all as mad as hornets.’ Samuel sank down on to the bottom step convulsed with giggles. ‘But we fought ’em off.’

Sir George thundered down the stairs, grasped hold of Joshua’s arm and dragged Samuel to his feet by his collar. ‘You should
both be utterly ashamed of yourselves, coming home in this condition!’

Beth began to feel concerned since his normally bland face had turned an alarming shade of magenta. His ire was all the more
disturbing since he rarely showed any emotion other than complacency.

‘After all your mother and I have done to position this family so well at Court and then you go out and bring disgrace upon
us!’ he shouted. ‘What if the King hears about you brawling and misbehaving in the street?’ Rage made him shake the twins
until their teeth chattered.

‘Sir George, I beg you …’ Lady Arabella pulled on his dressing gown sleeve but to no avail.

‘Ignorant curs!’ He banged the twins’ heads together and then dropped the young men, groaning, on to the hall floor. ‘Madam,’
he turned his fury upon Lady Arabella, ‘Have your sons taken to the stables at once. I’ll not have them in the house until
they recover their manners.’ He marched off upstairs again, slamming the bedchamber door so hard that Beth thought he might
bring the ceiling down.

‘Now look what you’ve done!’ shrieked Lady Arabella at the twins. ‘Ungrateful boys! How can you risk your places at Court
with such foolishness?’

‘But Mama,’ protested Samuel, ‘no one from Court was there.’

‘You never know who is watching,’ she snapped back. ‘Once you’ve sobered up you will come and prostrate yourselves in front
of Sir George.
Is that quite clear?
’

‘Yes, Mama,’ said Samuel, still rubbing at the bump on his head.

‘Oh dear! I think I’m …’ Joshua vomited copiously all over his mama’s Persian carpet.

Beth and Cecily judged it best to retreat to their bedchamber and quietly closed the door on Lady Arabella’s hysterical tirade.

At dinner time the conversation in the great hall was all of the trial and the possible outcome. As tempers frayed, fisticuffs
broke out between the baker’s boy and one of the gardener’s apprentices, setting the dogs to snarling and fighting amongst
themselves. Nicholas Tanner hauled the boys outside by their collars and returned grimfaced to his beef stew.

During the afternoon Beth worked on her painting again but her heart wasn’t in it. Noah had gone to Westminster with Bishop
Compton and George London to await news of the trial. Every time she heard anyone arrive in the courtyard below she leaped
up to peer out of the window but Noah, George and Bishop Compton didn’t come. Eventually, she walked down to the river to
wait on the landing stage. She squinted into the setting rays of the sun, dazzled by the reflections coming off the water
as she scanned the river for signs of Noah.

Still there was no sign of a boat bringing Noah, George and the Bishop. When darkness fell she returned to sit with Judith
in her room.

They listened to the church clock chiming the hours through the night. As the first streaks of dawn showed in the east, they
fell asleep curled up together on Judith’s bed.

Then a great shout down in the courtyard woke them.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Beth ran to the window. ‘It’s the Bishop!’

The whole household, full of excited chatter, turned out to follow Bishop Compton into the great hall.

Beth looked all around but couldn’t see Noah or George London.

Bishop Compton stepped up on to the dais and raised a hand for silence. ‘My friends!’ he called. He waited until the noise
died down and a sea of anxious, expectant faces turned towards him. He stood still, expressionless, until the last whisper
had faded away.

Beth held her breath.

Then the Bishop threw his fists into the air and shouted with all his might, ‘
Not Guilty!
’

An explosion of cheers and yells of delight resonated up to the highest beams. Nicholas Tanner caught hold of Beth’s waist
with his brawny great arms and whirled her around in a mad dance of delight. She saw Lizzie Skelton kissing the steward, who
didn’t seem to be objecting. And then she saw Noah and George.

Noah’s face was flushed with exhilaration. ‘Beth! I thought you’d have gone back to Chelsea last night,’ he said, raising
his voice over the general euphoria.

‘I waited for you’ she shouted back. ‘I had to know what happened.’

Beth found herself in his arms and he kissed her forehead. She turned her face up to his and met his eyes; slowly, he bent
his face towards hers. She quivered in blissful anticipation of his kiss but then three loud bangs sounded as the Bishop thumped
his fist on the table.

One by one the shrieks of glee died away until at last there was silence again.

Beth glanced at Noah as he let her go, frustrated that the longed-for kiss had been interrupted.

‘Ten hours,’ said the Bishop in sonorous tones. ‘Ten hours for sixty peers to testify for the bishops! Such a crowd has never
been seen before at the Court of the King’s Bench. His Majesty is left in no doubt that the public would not accept such a
charge.’

George London, standing beside Noah, cheered and waved his fist in the air.

‘The jury sat all night to decide that seven old men are not guilty of sedition.’ He thumped the table again. ‘It was a charge
which should never have been brought against them in the first place,’ he thundered.

The apprentices whooped and drummed their heels on the floor.

‘When the foreman of the jury, Sir Roger Langley, pronounced the seven “Not guilty”, Lord Halifax threw his hat in the air.’
Bishop Compton beamed at the assembly. ‘Ten
thousand
people roared their delight and the noise was so great that the roof of Westminster Hall nearly cracked.’

Another cheer burst from the household. The dogs began to bark again and there were cries of jubilation.

‘You should have heard it,’ Noah said into Beth’s ear. ‘It sent a shiver down my spine. The cheering of the crowd shook the
very air. It grew and grew until it spread the news over all of London. I don’t doubt it reached all quarters of the kingdom.
People were dancing in the street and lighting bonfires.’

Bishop Compton banged loudly on the table again. But,’ he said, ‘while this is a triumphant victory, the battle of Protestantism
against Popery may not yet be won.’ His expression grew sombre again. ‘Now we must wait to see how His Majesty the King responds
to this momentous event.’ He stepped down from the dais and strode from the hall, his cloak flying out behind him.

George London yawned widely. ‘We didn’t sleep at all last night while the jury was out,’ he said, ‘and I’m fit to drop.’

‘You must be tired, too,’ Beth said to Noah.

‘Tired but I’m not sure I can sleep. I can still hear the bells ringing and the cannons firing in my head. I wish you’d seen
the crowds, Beth.’ His eyes were fever-bright. ‘The King can be in no doubt now that his subjects will not have papist rule
in England.’ He took her arm. ‘Shall we walk outside?’

They went out through the quadrangle to find half a dozen richly dressed men galloping through the gates, spurs and swords
jingling. Stable lads ran to take the horses while the visitors clapped each other on the back and exchanged hearty greetings.

‘That’s the Earl of Shrewsbury,’ said Noah. ‘And Lord Lumley. They have an axe to grind with the King since he ousted them
all from the army and replaced them with papists.’

Bishop Compton came out to greet the guests and Beth and Noah watched while he ushered them inside.

Suddenly the quadrangle was quiet again.

They walked out through the archway by the porter’s lodge to the Dovehouse Court and stable yard. The stable lads hurried
to and fro carrying water for the visitors’ horses.

‘What’s happening, do you think?’ asked Beth as they walked on again.

‘I’m not sure,’ said Noah, ‘but on our return from Westminster the Bishop said that it was time to put an end to the King’s
foolishness.’

‘What did he mean by that?’

Noah shrugged.

They sat on a bench watching the doves flitting in and out of the dove house. Before long, soothed by the bird’s billing and
cooing, Noah fell asleep with his head on his chest.

Beth watched him as he slept and was overwhelmed with tenderness for him. Asleep, he looked curiously vulnerable. His auburn
curls fell over his shoulder and there were tiny freckles, so small that they looked as if she might have painted them on
his cheeks with her favourite squirrel-hair brush. She ached to take him in her arms
and tell him how she loved him. After a while, she felt drowsy too and, unable to resist, rested her head on Noah’s shoulder.
He sighed in his sleep and murmured her name. Then Beth dozed too.

Something tickled Beth’s nose. Still half asleep, she rubbed at her face.

‘A pretty sight!’ said a voice.

Beth opened her eyes to find Princess Anne smiling down at her. Blinking in the light, she scrambled to her feet.

‘Your Highness … I didn’t expect to see you.’

‘I thought not.’ Her eyes sparkled with laughter. ‘So there is an understanding between you and Noah? I think you well matched.’

‘Oh, no,’ stuttered Beth, ‘that is …’

‘Shall I wake him?’ asked the Princess. She held up the grass stalk with a seed head as soft as a silken tassel, which she
had used to tickle Beth’s nose.

‘He stayed awake all last night outside Westminster Hall, waiting for the jury to make a decision, Your Highness.’

‘Then I shall allow him to sleep. Shall we walk? It is the most excellent news, isn’t it?’

‘None better.’

‘The jury would not have kept Noah awake all night if it hadn’t been for the King’s brewer,’ said the Princess. ‘He was too
frightened to risk losing his contracts to the Crown to decide against the King.’ She smiled. ‘But the other jurors eventually
persuaded him to change his mind.’

‘The decision was a victory for the people.’

‘So it was.’ The Princess sighed. ‘But I fear that the King will still not see sense. This is the first time an English monarch
has lost such an important case in law and it will anger him.’ She bit her lip. ‘My father is monstrously stubborn when he’s
angry.’

‘He
is
the King and in the end the people must follow him, I suppose,’ said Beth.

‘But
must
they?’ The Princess stopped and turned Beth to face
her. ‘Even if it is against God’s wishes and against our faith? Should one misguided and stupidly obstinate man be allowed
to force a whole nation of people into suffering a religion they abhor?’

‘But nothing can be done if that is the King’s wish.’

‘I believe it can.’ The Princess’s face glowed with suppressed excitement. ‘My sister Mary and her husband, our cousin William
of Orange, must come to the throne.’

Beth stared at her, shocked. ‘But the King is still alive and, since the birth of the Prince of Wales, your sister is no longer
his heir.’

‘But she should be!’ Princess Anne’s mouth set in a determined line. ‘Only that way can the people be sure that the Church
of England will endure. Do you not see? If that changeling prince, for I
cannot
own him as my brother, if James Francis is ever allowed on the throne, England will return to papist rule for all time.’
She took a fierce grip on Beth’s arm. ‘Can you keep a secret?’ She shook her head. ‘Of course you can, you’ve already proved
that to me. Listen carefully, Beth. At this very moment, one Arthur Herbert is travelling to The Hague with an invitation
to the Prince of Orange.’

‘An invitation?’ Beth was bewildered.

‘An invitation from Bishop Compton, the Earls of Danby, Shrewsbury and Devonshire, Edward Russell, Henry Sidney and Lord Lumley,
all asking the Prince of Orange to land on our shores with sufficient troops to defend them and himself. He must move quickly
as, once the King has replaced all the officers in the army with papists, it will be too late.’

‘You’re talking about,’ Beth hesitated, ‘an invasion?’

‘An
invitation
to defend the Anglican faith against popery.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘The French have ceased trade with the Dutch. If Prince William combines his forces with those of England, they can form a
Protestant crusade against the Catholic power of the French
and
preserve the Anglican faith in both England and Holland.’

Shock made Beth silent. She stared at Princess Anne’s shining face. Beth swallowed. ‘But it’s treason.’

Princess Anne shook her head. ‘No, it’s revolution.’

Stunned, Beth still said nothing.

‘I must be patient now until I receive news from my sister,’ said the Princess. ‘We have corresponded secretly for some time,
despite His Majesty’s wishes. Prince William has made it known to me that he will do all in his power to defend our faith
and preserve my sister’s claim to the throne,
if
he can be assured that it is what the people of England want. The bishops’ trial is all the proof he needs. I fervently hope
to see my sister, and William, on these shores very soon.’

‘The King will send his army to meet them.’ Beth shook her head. ‘There will be bloodshed.’

‘The Prince of Orange has a large army. And as soon as he knows the people of England will no longer accept the King’s popery,
he’ll come and rescue us from this great threat.’

A turmoil of fear and hope mingled in Beth’s thoughts. ‘If it could only be done without great loss of life … without civil
war?’

‘I believe it can. And now I must return to talk with Bishop Compton. Do not look so afraid, my little friend. For the first
time in a long while I feel hope for the future. Hope for
all
our futures.’

‘I will pray that you are right.’

Watching her walk away, Beth relived the conversation, hardly able to believe that she had been made privy to such dangerous
knowledge. The Princess must have a great deal of faith in her.

Noah had gone from the bench in the Dovehouse Court when Beth returned to look for him. She was almost relieved as her mind
was still whirling with the Princess’s terrifying secret and she would have found it hard not to share it with him.

She retreated back to her studio where she spent the rest of the day staring at the walls. At last, she tidied away her paints
and set off for Chelsea.

Cecily was alone in the parlour, yawning as she played a game of Patience. Her eyes lit up when she saw Beth and she ran to
her and smothered her in kisses.

Gratified to receive such a welcome, Beth hugged her. ‘I’ve missed you, too.’

‘You can’t
imagine
what it’s been like here,’ confided Cecily. ‘Sir George has been in a terrible fret ever since he heard about the acquittal
of the bishops and Grandmama is tiresomely cross.’

‘It’s wonderful news that the bishops have been freed.’

‘Not in this household,’ said Cecily gloomily. ‘Sir George is still not speaking to the twins and Grandmama
dare
not let them back into the house until he says they can. They’ve gone off to lodge with Harry in the meanwhile. And now Grandmama
and Sir George are going out to supper and leaving me all alone.’

‘Then we shall have a cosy evening together, just the two of us,’ said Beth, almost laughing in relief at not having to face
Lady Arabella while her thoughts were elsewhere.