Winsor, Kathleen (45 page)

Amber
stared at her in amazement and then, before she could speak a word, the door
was thrown open and a blue-coated constable, carrying his staff of office,
pushed his head in at them. At this Amber gave an involuntary backward start.
But, remembering that a constable could mean nothing to her now, she quickly
recovered herself.

He
made her a half salute, evidently mistaking her for a lady of quality.
"Sorry to trouble you, mam, but that wench just stole a loaf of bread. I
arrest you," he shouted, "in the King's name!" And he lunged
across Amber toward the girl, who cowered far into one corner, skirts drawn
close about her. Even from where she sat, Amber could feel her tremble.

Suddenly
furious, all her memories of Newgate rising like a
tide, Amber
brought her fan down with a hearty smack on the constable's wrist. "What
are you about, sir? This girl is my serving-woman! Take your hands off
her!"

He
looked up at her in surprise. "Well, now, mam— I wouldn't care to be calling
a lady a liar-—but she just stole a loaf of bread from off that bulk over
there. I seen 'er myself."

He
leaned far in now, grabbing hold of the girl's ankle and dragging her toward
him. A curious restless crowd was beginning to gather outside in the street—and
as Amber gave him a kick in the chest with the toe of her shoe and a violent
shove that sent him staggering, a loud joyous laugh went up. He lurched back;
she leaned forward and slammed the door shut.

"Drive
on, Tempest!" she shouted, and the coach rolled off, leaving justice to
pick itself up from a swimming kennel of rain-washed filth.

For
a moment both women were silent, the girl staring at Amber with gratitude,
Amber breathing heavily from anger and the nervousness which the sight of a
constable still roused in her.

"Oh—mam!"
she cried at last. "How can I ever thank you? But for you, he'd have
carried me off to Newgate! Lord, I didn't see 'im till he made a grab for me,
and then I ran—I ran as fast as anything but the old fat pricklouse was right
on my heels! Oh,
thank
you, mam, a million times! It was mighty kind for
a great lady like yourself to care what happens to the likes of me. It wouldn't
've been any skin off your arse if I'd gone to Newgate—"

She
rattled along in a quick light musical voice, the expressions playing
vivaciously over her pretty face. She could have been no more than seventeen,
fresh and dainty with clear blue eyes, light lashes and brows, and a golden
sprinkle of freckles over her little scooped nose. Amber smiled at her, liking
her immediately.

"These
damned impertinent constables! The day's a loss to 'em that they don't throw a
half-a-dozen honest citizens into jail!"

The
girl lowered her lashes guiltily. "Well—to tell you truly, mam, I did
steal that loaf of bread. I've got it here." She tapped her cloak, beneath
which it was concealed. "But I couldn't help it, I swear I couldn't! I was
so hungry—"

"Then
go ahead and eat it."

Without
an instant's hesitation she took out the crusty split-topped loaf, broke a
piece off one end and crammed it into her mouth, chewing ravenously. Amber
looked at her in surprise.

"How
long since you've eaten?"

The
girl swallowed, took another great bite and answered with her mouth full.
"Two days, mam."

"Ye
Gods! Here, take this and buy yourself a dinner."

From
a little velvet bag inside her muff she emptied several shillings and dropped
them into the girl's lap. By now they had drawn up before the theatre and the
footman came to open the
door. Amber gathered her skirts and prepared to get out and the girl leaned
forward, staring through the glass windows with great interest.

"Lord,
mam, are you goin' to the play?"

"I'm
an actress."

"You
are!" She seemed both pleased and shocked that her benefactress should be
engaged in so exciting and disreputable a profession. But immediately she
jumped out on her own side and ran around to make her curtsy to Amber.
"Thank you, mam. You were mighty kind to me, and if ever I can do a good
thing for you, I wish you'd be pleased to call on me. I'll not forget, you may
be sure. Nan Britton's my name—serving-woman, though without a place just
now."

Amber
stopped, looking at her with interest. "You're a serving-woman? What
happened to your last place?"

The
girl lowered her eyes. "I was turned out, mam." Her voice dropped
almost to a whisper and she added, "The lady said I was debauchin' her
sons." But she looked up quickly then and added with great earnestness,
"But I wasn't mam! I vow and swear I wasn't! 'Twas just the other way
around!"

Amber
laughed. "Well, my son's not old enough to be debauched. I'm looking for a
woman myself, and if you want to wait in the coach after you've had your dinner
we'll talk about this later."

She
hired Nan Britton at four pounds a year and her clothes and lodging and food.
Within three or four days they were good friends—Amber felt that Nan was the
first real woman friend she had ever had—and Nan did her work quickly and well,
taking the same delight in polishing a pewter pitcher or arranging Amber's hair
that she did in riding to the 'Change or accompanying her and Rex on a visit to
the Spring Gardens.

She
was energetic, vivacious, and unfailingly good-natured, and as she became more
sure of her place and accustomed to it, these qualities remained. Nan and Amber
found much to discuss, exchanging the most unabashed feminine confidences, and
while Nan learned almost all that there was to know about her mistress (except
that she had been in Newgate and Whitefriars) Amber likewise heard the tale of
Nan's adventures as a girl-servant in a household where there were four
handsome boys. Her dismissal had come when one of them, deciding that he had
fallen in love with Mrs. Nan, announced to his horrified parents that he
intended to marry her.

When
Rex was not there Nan shared the bed, but otherwise she slept on the trundle.
As was customary, she was as much his personal servant as she was Amber's,
helped him in and out of his clothes, was not embarrassed to be in the room
when he was naked, and soon decided that Captain Morgan was the finest gentleman
she had ever known. He enlisted her on his side and she urged Amber again and
again to marry him.

"How
Captain Morgan loves you, mam!" she would say in the mornings, while she
brushed Amber's hair. "And he's the
handsomest person, and the most
genteel! I vow, he'd make any lady a mighty fine husband!"

But
Amber, who merely laughed at first and teased Nan with having fallen in love
with him herself, grew less and less interested in such advice. "Captain
Morgan's well enough, I suppose," she said finally. "But after all,
he's only an officer in the King's Guard."

"Well!"
cried Nan, offended at such disloyalty. "And who will you have, mam? The
King himself?"

Amber,
smiling at this sarcasm, gave a superior lift of her eyebrows. She was just
setting out for the theatre and now began pulling on her gloves. "I might
at that," she drawled and, when Nan gasped, repeated, "Yes, I might
at that." She strolled toward the door, leaving Nan staring pop-eyed after
her, but just with her hand on the knob she turned suddenly. "But don't
you dare breathe a word of this to Captain Morgan, d'ye hear me!"

After
all, it might be only gossip that King Charles had told Buckingham who had told
Berkeley who had told Kynaston who had told Amber that the King had a mind to
lay with her.

Amber
unlocked the door and started up the steps two at a time. She was eager to look
at herself in a mirror, for she was sure that she must be very much changed.
She had almost reached the top when the door to her apartments was flung open,
and Rex loomed there above her. The light was at his back and she could not see
the expression of his face, but knew by his voice that he was angry.

"Where
in hell have you been?" he demanded. "It's half after two!"

Amber
paused for one astonished moment, staring at him almost as if he were some
intruding stranger. And then, with, a haughty lift of her chin, she came on
toward him and would have gone by without a word, but he grabbed her wrist and
snatched her up close to him. His eyes had the dangerous glitter she had seen
before when his ready jealousy was aroused.

"Answer
me, you jilting little baggage! The plays at Whitehall are done by eleven!
Who've you been with since then!"

For
a long moment they stared at each other, and then at last Amber gave a pout and
winced. "You're hurting me, Rex," she whimpered.

His
face relaxed, and though he hesitated a moment he released her. But just as she
moved away a heavy bag dropped out of her muff and fell clanking to the floor;
by the sound it could only contain money. Both of them looked down at it, and
then as Amber raised her eyes she saw that his were narrowed and gleaming with
rage, and that the veins in his neck stood out.

"You
God damned whoring little bitch," he said softly.

And
then suddenly he grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her, harder
and harder, until her head snapped back and forth so fast she felt that the top
of it would come off.

"Who
was it?" he shouted. "Who've you been laying with! Tell me, or by
Jesus I'll break your neck!"

"Rex!"
she
cried imploringly. But the moment he let her go and she began to recover her
senses her own rage mounted to heedless violence. "I was with the
King!" she yelled at him.
"That's
where I was!" She began
massaging her neck, and ended with a mutter, "Now what've you got to
say!"

For
a long moment he stared at her, incredulous at first, and then slowly,
gradually, she saw the crumpling of his hopes and confidence. "You
weren't," he said at last. "I don't believe it."

Her
hands went up to arrange her hair where it had come loose, and she gave him a
cruel superior little smile. "Oh, don't you?"

But
he did and she knew it.

Then
without another word he turned, took his cloak and sword and hat from the chair
where he had left them, and started across the room. He gave her a last look of
contempt and disgust before he went out, but she met it with merely a cool lift
of the eyebrows. And as the door slammed behind him she gave a snap of her
fingers, swirled about quickly and ran into the bedroom to a mirror.

For
surely a woman who had been made love to by a king could not look like any
common mortal. She half expected a glow, a luminous shimmer to her skin and
hair, and was disappointed to see that she looked no different except that her
hair was tumbled and there were tired shadows beneath her eyes.

But
I'm not the same! she assured herself triumphantly. I'm somebody now! I've lain
with the King!

When
Nan tried to wake her the following morning she shooed her away, rolling over
onto her stomach, saying she'd sleep as long as she liked and they could do
without her at rehearsal. By the time she finally did wake up it was almost
noon and the rehearsal long since over. She yawned and stretched, sliding back
the heavy draperies which had made the bed so hot and sultry that she was wet
all over, and then suddenly she reached beneath the feather mattress and
brought out the bagful of coins, dumping them onto the pillow so that she could
count them again.

There
was fifty pounds. Only to think of it—fifty pounds as a gift for the greatest
honour a woman could have.

Before
going to the theatre she took the money to deposit with Shadrac Newbold, and
when she finally got there it was after two. As she had expected her appearance
in the tiring-room created a considerable sensation; all the women began to
babble and shriek at once. Beck ran to throw her arms about her.

"Amber!
We thought you weren't coming at all! Quick! Tell us about it—we're a-dying to
hear! What was it like?"

"How
much money did he give you?"

"What
did he say?"

"How
long were you there?"

"What
did he do?"

"Was
it different than it is with ordinary men?"

It
was the first time that King Charles had sent for a player and their feelings
were divided between personal jealousy and occupational pride. But curiosity
over-rode both.

Amber
was not reticent; she answered all their questions. She described the rooms of
Edward Progers where she had been received first, the appearance of the King in
his brocade dressing-robe, the new-born puppies which had slept beside their
mother on a velvet cushion near the fireplace. She told them that he had been
as kind and easy, as courteous as though she were a lady of the highest rank.
But she did not add that she had been so scared she thought she would faint,
and she hinted that he had given her at least a thousand pounds.

"When
are you going again?" Beck asked at last, as Scroggs began to help Amber
out of her clothes.

"Oh,"
she said casually, "sometime soon, I suppose. Maybe next week."