Prue Phillipson - Hordens of Horden Hall by Vengeance Thwarted

Author:Vengeance Thwarted
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780956790149
Publisher: Knox Robinson Publishing
Published: 2011-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Christmas 1641

Nathaniel, overwhelmed by the sights and smells and above all the noise of London, could hardly believe the change when the Branfords’s liveried footman admitted Edward and himself into a spacious hallway and closed the heavy door behind them. There was sudden quiet, order, cleanliness and polish. Straight ahead was a gleaming oak staircase, intricately carved and with finials of heraldic beasts staring down their leonine noses at him. He found his travelling cloak silently removed and Edward ushering him towards the stairs, a little shyly as if Nat’s speechlessness made him unsure of the impression his home was making on his visitor.

They walked up past several huge portraits of Elizabethan Branfords to the first landing, from which several panelled doors led off.

“They’ve given you this one, Nat, next to mine. I hope it’ll do.”

Nat saw furniture such as he had never seen before, an ornamented hanging cupboard in which his short cloak, one spare doublet, two pairs of breeches and three very plain linen shirts would look miserably insignificant, and an inlaid chest of drawers which he couldn’t possibly fill with his few stockings, collars and cuffs, but it was the bed that dominated the room. It was at least eight feet high to the canopy and almost as long, every inch of its four posts and top carved with flowers and scrolls. The curtains were of crimson velvet ending in tassels of gold cord and the coverlet was of white silk with a gold and crimson embroidered border. He fought down an urge to echo Ben Hutton’s levelling philosophy. ‘We should be all the same, no high, no low, no rich, no poor.’

“It’s magnificent, Edward,” was all he murmured.

“Oh well, I’m pleased. But I apologise for the lack of welcome. You’ll meet the family at supper, except Henry of course, who is in the army. Father is at the Lords and I suppose my mother and sisters are visiting a neighbour. They weren’t sure when we would arrive, but for once we made good time on the road from Cambridge. We don’t stand on ceremony very much. I hope you don’t mind.”

Nat didn’t mind at all but the mention of sisters filled him with apprehension. Young ladies were a total mystery to him. He had heard Edward speak of an older sister who had been married to a cavalry officer, killed in the very battle of Newburn on Tyne that he had avoided. She might be out of mourning, but still very subdued. Hot and embarrassed at his own guilt, he would scarcely be able to look at her. The other sister was Edward’s twin, so would be coming up to her seventeenth birthday, a terrifying age. Nat had never spoken of Daniel to anyone at the University. How could he fend off inquiries as to his fate? But knowing Edward was also a twin had further endeared him to him. Meeting a charming female Edward would be another matter altogether. He expected to be horribly tongue-tied.

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