The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters
Author:Minette Walters [Minette Walters]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2021-09-02T00:00:00+00:00
Richard received them with an absence of fuss, as if filthy, dishevelled people appeared at his door every day. He greeted Jayne and William as old friends, and took Johnâs hand warmly, expressing pleasure to meet him. Certain they were in need of food, he took them to his dining room and instructed his cook to bring whatever meats, cheeses, butters and breads she had in her pantry. The result was a veritable feast compared with the thin, tasteless broths that had been their diet for weeks, though Jayne enjoyed the beaker of cool, fresh milk the most. Cows were a luxury that a town under siege could not afford.
News of the Royalist retreat had reached Bridport ahead of them, but Richard was keen to hear every detail of what had caused Prince Maurice to break camp. Between them, John and William did their best to enlighten him, describing the Royalistsâ inability to breach Lymeâs defences and the rumoured approach of Essexâs Parliamentary army, but he found their explanations wanting and turned to Jayne instead. âTo what do you attribute the princeâs departure, my dear?â
âThe same as you, I imagine,â she answered thoughtfully. âSickness. Two deserters spoke of camp fever and infection, citing a figure in excess of two thousand deaths, and itâs inconceivable that so many died in the fighting when John tells me Lyme lost only one hundred and twenty. I havenât forgotten your lessons on war, Richard. The greatest killer is not the sword or the cannon, but the squalid conditions in which men live.â
âAnd William tells me you introduced such a strong regime of cleanliness in the hospital that it was copied by other physicians in the town.â
Jayne eyed him suspiciously. âI must be losing my hearing,â she murmured. âI could have sworn he spoke only of the garrisonâs brave defence of the ramparts.â
Richard chuckled. âHe told me four weeks ago. Heâs been most assiduous in keeping me informed of your welfare and achievements, and I in turn have done the same for your parents. Youâve won a lot of praise for your efforts, Jayne, and while Sir Henry continues to maintain his support for the King, heâs immensely proud of what youâve accomplished.â
Perhaps unreasonably, Jayne felt a surge of impatience with Richard and William. She had wanted to tell her father the story in her own way, not have it controlled and translated by others. âHow could you know what I was doing four weeks ago?â she asked William.
âI visited Lyme three times before I came in on Lord Warwickâs ship.â
âBy what means?â
âAt night in a rowboat from Charmouth. Lord Warwick employs me to give and acquire information and wouldnât tolerate me for long if I failed in my duty to him.â
âI never saw you there.â
Humour gleamed in his eyes. âYou did the night you treated the soldiers outside the gaol. I would have spoken to you if I hadnât feared the prisoners would report our meeting to Prince Maurice. I made my visits in darkness and left before dawn to avoid my boat being spotted.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Mystery | Thrillers & Suspense |
Writing |
Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex(4177)
Never by Ken Follett(2841)
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman(2273)
Machine Learning at Scale with H2O by Gregory Keys | David Whiting(2185)
Fairy Tale by Stephen King(2035)
Win by Harlan Coben(2025)
Will by Will Smith(1989)
Reminders of Him: A Novel by Colleen Hoover(1843)
The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly(1550)
The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom(1513)
Ellery Queen - 1965 - The Fourth Side of the Triangle by Ellery Queen(1499)
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner(1443)
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole(1422)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr(1414)
Undercover Threat by Sharon Dunn(1397)
The Searcher by Tana French;(1318)
The Becoming by Nora Roberts(1306)
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry(1288)
A Short History of War by Jeremy Black(1287)