Page 134 of By the Sword

‘Master Thurloe, my daughter Tabitha.’

Remembering her manners, Tabitha curtsied politely. Jonathan smiled and held out his hand to her.

‘Come here, Tabitha. Master Thurloe is a very important man with some very good news. Has just told me that I do not have to go back to prison.’

A smile lit Tabitha’s face and she looked from her father to John Thurloe. ‘Thank you,’ she said and Thurloe cleared his throat. She looked back at her father. ‘May I tell Aunt Hen and Aunt Nell and Tom and Ann?’ she asked.

He nodded. ‘Take Oliver,’ he reminded her as she turned to flee.

Tabitha scooped up the dog in her arms and skipped from the room.

‘It seems you do not know as much about me as you thought you did, Master Thurloe,’ Jonathan said as he handed the Secretary of State the paper that would give his freedom.

Thurloe smiled and shook his head. ‘Apparently not. What will you do now you are a free man?’

Jonathan considered a moment. ‘I do not consider that is any business of yours, Thurloe. You will have more pressing matters of State to concern you than the fate of one spent Royalist.’

Thurloe narrowed his eyes. ‘On the contrary. I may have badly misjudged you once but my thought is that while domesticity may suit for a while,’– he shot a glance at Kate–‘it will begin to pall and you will yearn for the old days when you rode roughshod over the forces of Parliament. You were a master at the agent’s craft, my friend and you will miss those times.’

‘What is your meaning?’ Jonathan asked.

Thurloe stood and picked up his hat and gloves. ‘I am saying that leaving your politics aside, England could still use those talents. We have enemies other than Charles Stuart.’

Kate caught her breath.

Jonathan regarded Cromwell’s master of spies and rose to his feet. ‘I am weary of war and weary of the games that go with war. You’re a clever man and you will always find others prepared to take your gold but not I.’ His tone dripped ice and a lesser man than Thurloe would have quailed. ‘I’ll not forget or forgive how ill you dealt with me, John Thurloe. You have what you came for, please leave.’

Thurloe inclined his head. ‘It seems we must part on those terms. I will bid you a good day, Thornton.’ He turned to Kate and swept a bow. ‘Mistress Ashley. It seems we were mistaken in our judgment of you too. I wish you both happiness.’

They stood side by side without speaking until they heard the front door close and the wheels of Thurloe’s coach crunch on the gravel.

Kate let out an audible breath and Jonathan turned from her and walked over to the window. He stood staring out at the garden, his mouth set in a hard line.

‘You understand what it was I signed?’

‘You told me you could never swear the Solemn Oath and Covenant. To do so was a heavy undertaking.’ Kate said.

He turned and held out his arms. She ran to him and he caught her lifting her off her feet with a sudden strength she would have doubted he possessed ten minutes earlier.

‘I don’t care anymore, Kate,’ he said and the corners of his mouth lifted. ‘For you, my lovely lady and for my daughter, it is an undertaking I make willingly.’

He set her down and took her hands in his. His eyes glittered. ‘You may recall a promise you once made me. If it pleases you, now I am a free man, will you wed me?’

Kate took his face in her hands. ‘Oh yes, my dearest love, as soon as it can be arranged.’

He drew her into his arms and they kissed, as if for the first time. No longer with the urgent passion of secrecy but the long, slow promise of the new life they would build together.

THE END