Authors: Edward Marston
Tags: #_rt_yes, #_MARKED, #tpl, #Mystery & Detective, #Historical, #Great Britain - History - Elizabeth; 1558-1603, #Mystery, #Theater, #Theatrical Companies, #Fiction
The Silent Woman (34 page)
A worthy merchant, I, Adventure’s heir,
Whose hopes hang much upon the wind of chance.
The sailor’s master and the soldier’s friend,
I open up new countries with brave heart.
Nor Scylla nor Charybdis do I fear,
Nor any living creature of the sea
Can sink my bark. It sails eternally
Beneath the flag of pride, its cannon armed
With truth, its hold with honesty, its crew
All loyal lads to high endeavour pledged.
I plant the earth with foreign fruits galore
And reap a harvest of degree and wealth
That makes me honoured throughout the world.
All this I venture on a single kiss
From you, my love. Bestow your bliss
Upon a merchant late of Calais’ shore
Who gives up everything to gain much more!
The ovation was thunderous as the company came out to take its bow. Lawrence Firethorn was at his most flamboyant and drank in the applause as if it were the finest wine. He had just declared his love to Richard Honeydew for the twentieth time in a month but the real and lasting object of his passion was clapping her hands in the upper gallery. Margery Firethorn had laboured hard and shrewdly to bring the travellers home, and she was learning the joys of mending a long absence. Seated beside her was Anne Hendrik, lifted as always by a performance from Westfield’s Men and finding deeper meanings in the play than other spectators. She knew how much of Barnstaple had been transposed to Calais. The company’s own St Nicholas was indeed the patron saint of merchants.
Nicholas Bracewell himself had seen his hometown set poignantly upon the stage, but he had viewed it from behind. To the audience, it was fresh, immediate and directly in front of them: to him, it was old, detached and receding into the past. He could hear his father without real pain. He could watch events from his own life without undue discomfort. The visit to Barnstaple had helped him to understand and to grow through many of the problems he encountered there.
When he peeped around the edge of the curtain, he saw Anne Hendrik among the sea of faces. She was wearing a distinctive hat that had been made by one of her employees. He felt no bitterness over their parting. Anne had turned down his proposal but her decision had to be respected. He was coming to see that it held advantages for both of them. She regained the independence on which she set such value, and he was joyously reunited with Westfield’s Men. Their separate worlds might touch – as they were doing now – but
they could never fully coalesce. In marrying Anne Hendrik, he would have been committing bigamy. Nicholas was already wedded to his profession.
As the pandemonium faded, Firethorn brought his company gambolling offstage and the tiring-house became a mass of excited bodies. The players changed quickly out of their costumes and adjourned to the taproom. Good-natured banter enlivened the air for hours and Marwood’s ale was consumed in vast quantities. Edmund Hoode was among the last to leave the inn. As he walked away from the Queen’s Head, he looped an arm around the shoulders of Nicholas Bracewell.
‘We are safely back in port now, Nick.’
‘And glad to be so.’
‘Those whom we left behind are now back in the company. Westfield’s Men are whole again. London has been left in no doubt about that.’
Hoode waited until they were well clear of the inn then he nudged his friend. He wanted a mystery to be at last unravelled.
‘What was it really that took you away from us?’
‘It is too long and twisting a tale, Edmund.’
‘I have all night to listen.’ He gave a quiet chuckle. ‘Come, Nick, you can tell me. We have no secrets from each other. You talked of your father and he sounded a merchant to his toes. But he was not the reason that you went to Barnstaple, was he?’
‘No, he was not. You read the signs aright.’
‘I smell romance here.’
‘It cannot be denied.’
‘You had a silent woman down in Devon.’
‘I blush to own it but you speak the truth.’
‘Who was she, man? Tell me but her name.’
Nicholas Bracewell smiled wryly. There had been a number of silent women involved. Susan Deakin had been a mute messenger who set him off on his journey. Lucy Whetcombe was speechless by nature. Mary Whetcombe was a silent woman who spoke out of his past, as did Margaret Hurrell. While he was away from her, Anne Hendrik had been a silent woman as well, and he had foolishly taken her silence to be a form of consent. Silence of another kind had helped to still the deafening ambition of Gideon Livermore, who had drowned himself in the River Taw, a name that meant ‘silent one’. Nicholas Bracewell had been surrounded by silence.
There was one more soundless female to add to the list.
‘Well, Nick,’ said Hoode. ‘Give me her name.’
‘
Mary
.’
‘A pretty name. Where did the lady reside?’
‘Upon the river.’
Hoode was puzzled. ‘You have a floating mistress?’
‘She lies at anchor.’
‘Did you board her then?’
‘Only to break another long-kept silence.’
‘What strange lady is this Mary?’
‘A ship,’ said Nicholas. ‘
She
was the real cause of my visit to Barnstaple. A merchant vessel of a hundred tons. I tell you, Edmund, she could drive a man insane with lust. My duty was to protect her honour. The
Mary
was my silent woman.’
E
DWARD
M
ARSTON
was born and brought up in South Wales. A full-time writer for over forty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and the theatre and is a former chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association. Prolific and highly successful, he is equally at home writing children’s books or literary criticism, plays or biographies.
T
HE
B
RACEWELL
M
YSTERIES
The Queen’s Head • The Merry Devils • The Trip to Jerusalem
The Nine Giants • The Mad Courtesan • The Silent Woman
T
HE
R
AILWAY
D
ETECTIVE SERIES
The Railway Detective • The Excursion Train
The Railway Viaduct • The Iron Horse
Murder on the Brighton Express • The Silver Locomotive Mystery
Railway to the Grave • Blood on the Line
The Stationmaster’s Farewell • Peril on the Royal Train
The Railway Detective Omnibus:
The Railway Detective, The Excursion Train, The Railway Viaduct
T
HE
C
APTAIN
R
AWSON SERIES
Soldier of Fortune • Drums of War • Fire and Sword
Under Siege • A Very Murdering Battle
T
HE
R
ESTORATION SERIES
The King’s Evil • The Amorous Nightingale • The Repentant Rake
The Frost Fair • The Parliament House • The Painted Lady
T
HE
H
OME
F
RONT
D
ETECTIVE SERIES
A Bespoke Murder • Instrument of Slaughter
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First published in Great Britain in 1994.
This ebook edition published by Allison & Busby in 2013.
Copyright © 1994 by E
DWARD
M
ARSTON
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1207–6
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The Silent Woman
, look out for more books in the Bracewell Mystery series …
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‘The past is brought to life with brilliant colours, combined with a perfect whodunit. Who needs more?’
The Guardian
‘Steeped in authentic Elizabethan detail, this delectably ribald series continues to serve up equal portions of humour and suspense’
Booklist
‘Edward Marston’s skilful plotting and impressive grasp of his period will keep the reader gripped’
Good Book Guide
