Page 38 of The King’s Man (Guardians of the Crown #2)

K it’s hired horse had a mouth as hard as a rock and seemed in no hurry to reach the pretty village of Turnham Green, about an hour’s ride on a good horse from London.

If nothing else, the steady pace allowed Kit time to think and by the time he reached the village, he had remembered the name of the lawyer that Lucy said she had known.

Knott. An appropriate name , he thought, for the tangle he found himself in.

The name of the village rang in his memory as the site of the first confrontation of the war when the King marching on London had been turned back at Turnham Green.

Such a monumental day had left no echoes in the quiet streets, and after some judicious enquiry, he found the Knotts’ neat house a little way out of the village, set well back from the London road.

A timid maid answered his knock on the door. She asked his name and showed him into a tidy parlour. The plain, unadorned furniture glowed with many polishings, and a bowl of early spring flowers sat squarely in the centre of the table. Kit touched the fragile blooms.

A man entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

Kit’s eyes flicked over his unprepossessing appearance.

He stood barely middle height, his thin body concealed behind dark clothes and his straight, greying hair had been brushed over the top of his pate to conceal a receding hairline.

His pale face bore a downcast expression, which to judge from the lines was habitual.

‘Captain Lovell?’ he enquired.

Kit bowed. ‘Master Knott.’

‘What business brings you to my house?’

‘I am looking for a friend, a Mistress Thamsine Granville.’

The man’s thin lips trembled slightly. ‘I cannot help you, Captain Lovell.’

The door opened and a slight woman entered the room. Like her husband, she wore plain clothes, her greying hair covered by a neat, white cap.

‘Captain Lovell,’ she said, ‘my name is Jane Knott, I am Thamsine Granville’s sister.’

‘Thamsine’s sister? I had no idea … Your servant, ma’am.’ Kit bowed.

He scanned Jane Knott’s face for some resemblance to her sister and found none. A purple bruise marred the right side of her face and he cast the husband a quick glance, wondering if this man was capable of such violence against a woman.

As if conscious of his thoughts, Jane’s fingers touched the bruise and her eyes flickered. She turned to her husband.

‘Roger, I believe Captain Lovell is a friend of Thamsine’s. He is the only one who can help her.’

Her husband opened her mouth, but Jane put a hand on his arm.

‘Please, Roger. Thamsine needs our help.’ She turned to Kit. ‘Please sit, Captain Lovell.’

Kit removed his gloves and took the proffered chair at the table. The Knotts sat straight-backed on the hard chairs across from him as if he were interviewing them.

Kit held up a hand. ‘Mistress Knott, you must understand I know little of Thamsine’s history. I am trying to piece it together.’

Jane’s eyes widened. ‘But I thought you were friends?’

Thamsine had her reasons not to trust me, Kit thought bitterly.

‘We have an unusual relationship,’ he said. ‘More of a working relationship that I care not to go into here.’ Then, realising by the shocked looks on both the Knotts’ faces, he hastily added; ‘I assure you it was quite respectable.’ Whatever “respectable” meant. ‘Do you know where she is now?’

Jane’s lip trembled. ‘No.’ Her hand closed over her husband’s. ‘He took her away. Even Roger doesn’t know.’

She shot her husband a quick sideways glance and he nodded unhappily.

‘He?’ Kit prompted.

‘Ambrose Morton. Do you know him?’

‘I am acquainted with him,’ Kit said through stiff lips. ‘What business does he have with you?’

The couple shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny. He decided that what he saw were two people overwhelmed by events and beset with guilt.

Kit turned to Jane Knott. ‘Your face, Mistress Knott? Is that Morton’s handiwork?’

Jane’s fingers shook as they rose again to her bruised face and she nodded.

‘My wife showed more courage than I did, Captain Lovell,’ Knott said unhappily. ‘I have been a fool in so many ways.’

He clasped his wife’s hand and lifted it to his lips.

‘It would help,’ Kit said, ‘if I were to know the full story.’

‘I only know what Thamsine has told me,’ Jane said. ‘You must understand, the war separated us for too long.’

‘Tell me what you know, then,’ Kit said, with enormous patience.

Jane swallowed. ‘I am somewhat older than Thamsine and her brother. My mother died when I was eight and my father remarried. Thamsine was born when I was eleven and Edward two years later,’ Jane began.

‘Shortly before the war I married Roger.’ Jane looked at her husband and smiled.

‘At much the same time, Thamsine became enamoured of our neighbour, Ambrose Morton. He was past twenty and she was but sixteen. He wooed her with considerable charm and ardour and she begged my father for a betrothal, which he granted.’

‘What did Ambrose Morton want with Thamsine?’

‘Her dowry was generous enough, but what she stood to inherit from her mother’s estate was considerable,’ Knott said.

‘Her mother was the daughter of one of Elizabeth’s merchant venturers.

He amassed a fortune in his lifetime and, under the terms of his will, it passed to his daughter Elizabeth, Thamsine’s mother, and then directly to her children.

Edward and Thamsine were to share it. After Edward’s death at Worcester, of course, it all passed to Thamsine. ’

‘The Morton family has been less fortunate,’ Jane continued. ‘They are a Catholic family. Ambrose’s mother, Isabelle, was a spendthrift, and what little was left of their fortunes she squandered.’

Kit sighed as it all became clear. ‘So, Thamsine’s fortune, enhanced by her brother’s death, was very attractive. But Mistress Knott, you said they were betrothed before the war? That is twelve years ago.’

‘You must understand,’ Jane said hurriedly, ‘that the war divided us. Roger sided with Parliament … ’ She cast her husband a quick, sideways glance, ‘… my father for the King. I did not see Thamsine from early 1642 until late last year, when she came to us seeking help, which … ’ She paused, her eyes unhappy, ‘ … we were not able to give.’

Kit narrowed his eyes but let the comment pass.

‘So, what had happened between Thamsine and Morton?’ he said.

‘She told me she broke the betrothal in 1646 after coming across Morton in the act of … ’ Jane swallowed, ‘ … congress with a maid. She did not believe it was consensual.’

Kit stared at her. He felt neither shock nor surprise. Morton enjoyed taking women by force. He had intimated as much in one of their conversations.

‘And after that?’ Kit moved on.

Jane shrugged. ‘Morton went to the Continent. My father, stupid besotted fool, married Isabelle Morton, and Ambrose came home. After Edward’s death, Ambrose and his mother persuaded my father that Thamsine was not capable of inheriting such a vast estate in her own right.

My father changed his will, making Ambrose her guardian and at the same time executing a deed of betrothal between Thamsine and Morton.

He bound her to that monster for life. After our father died early last year, Thamsine did what she could to delay the wedding but Morton grew impatient.

One night he tried to force her … ’ Jane took a deep breath. ‘She was only saved by Annie.’

‘Annie?’

‘Ambrose has an imbecile sister, of whom he is very fond.’

That surprised Kit. He could not imagine Morton being fond of anything or anyone.

‘Annie gave Thamsine Ambrose’s pistol and she shot him. She thought she had killed him so she ran to us here in London for sanctuary. Only, we failed her.’

Jane looked at her husband, who looked away. She continued, ‘It transpired that Morton had only been grazed by the pistol ball. He came here looking for her but Thamsine saw him and managed to escape.’

‘We … he spent the last four months scouring the streets of London, looking for her,’ Roger Knott concluded.

Kit looked from one to another. Knott looked away. There was more to this story. He addressed the man directly.

‘I’m sorry, Master Knott, but I don’t understand your role in this. Surely as Thamsine’s closest relative, you should have protected her. What power of persuasion does Morton use on you?’

Knott’s tongue circled his thin lips.

‘Tell him.’ Jane’s voice was soft but beneath her gentle demeanour, Kit sensed an iron will. Jane Knott knew her husband well.

‘Blackmail, Captain Lovell.’ Knott turned to his wife and clasped her hands in his. ‘I have told Jane all and she has forgiven me.’

Blackmail? What in God’s name had this inoffensive little man done to warrant blackmail?

Knott continued, ‘An indiscretion. Some letters, involving a lady of the town.’

‘Her name?’ Kit enquired.

Knott shook his head. ‘It is no concern of yours.’

‘Lucy Talbot,’ Jane Knott said.

Kit had already known the answer before Jane spoke. Lucy. It all came back to Lucy.

Knott turned to look at Kit, his eyes wide with fear. ‘Captain Lovell, you must understand my position. I hold a post with the government. If word were to get out – the scandal would ruin me.’

Kit looked at the man with distaste and tried to picture him with Lucy. It gave him no pleasure to know he had ploughed a furrow already seeded by this pathetic model of manhood.

‘So, what has become of Thamsine?’

‘Morton,’ Knott said, ‘with the connivance of Mistress Talbot, apprehended her and brought her here. I hoped to be able to persuade her to the sense of the marriage without recourse for further violence, but … ’

‘You failed?’

‘She continued to refuse him. Obstinate girl!’ Knott said.

‘He threatened my children.’ Jane’s eyes glinted with tears and Knott covered his face with his hands.

Kit leaned forward. ‘Where is Thamsine now?’

Knott lowered his hands and he and his wife exchanged glances.

‘I don’t know,’ Knott said. ‘I really don’t know. He came for her three days ago and took her away.’

Jane’s face twisted. ‘You may be too late, but please, Captain Lovell, you are her only hope.’

‘Where has he taken her?’

Jane’s face dissolved. ‘He said he was taking her to Hell.’

Kit felt a cold hand claw at his guts.

‘He said within a few days she would be begging him for marriage. I am so scared for her.’ Jane swallowed and rose to her feet, her hands clasped in front of her. ‘As you love her, Captain, you will find her. Find her and keep her safe.’