“Mo-ther!”
Amber got up and went to her, little Bruce staying close at her side as though to protect her. “Sweetheart, you must let Harmon dress you. There’s nothing to cry about. Look—I’m not.” She widened her eyes at Susanna but the rims were red and her lids swollen. Susanna flung her arms about her and howled louder than ever. At last Amber gave her an impatient little shake. “Susanna!” Susanna’s head jerked back and she looked at Amber in astonishment, her pink mouth open. “Stop this bellow-weathering! No one’s going to hurt you! Get into your clothes, now. You’re going for a ride.”
“Don’t want to go for a ride! It’s dark!”
Amber turned away. “Never mind! You’re going anyway. Get into your clothes or I’ll spank you!”
She left Susanna and crossed the nursery to where Lady Almsbury was busy with her own four children; she was kneeling beside her six-year-old son, tying his lace cravat for him. “Emily—I’m not going with you.”
Lady Almsbury looked up at her in astonishment and then got to her feet. “You’re not going! Oh, Amber, but you must! What if the Dutch or the French get here!”
“They’re not here now and I’m not going into the country where I wouldn’t be able to hear from Bruce no matter what happens. If he gets hurt he’ll need me.”
“But he told you to go.”
“I don’t care if he did. I’m not going. But I want Bruce and Susanna to go—will you take them with you? And Nan, too?”
“Of course I will, my dear. But I do think it’s dangerous for you to stay. He wanted you to go—they had often discussed it and made the plans in case of an attack—”
“I’ll be safe enough here. If they come I’ll go to Whitehall. They won’t dare attack the Palace. I’ll take care of your things here—let me have the key to the strong-room and I’ll move the valuables down there.”
At that moment Nan came running into the room. “My God, I’ve looked everywhere for you! Come, quick, and get into your clothes! They’re all but upon us—I heard the guns!” Her gown was twisted, her hair not combed and she wore no stockings; she grabbed Amber’s hand and started to pull her away.
The two women walked out into the crowded noisy confused hall-way, and Amber had almost to shout to make herself heard. “I’m not going, Nan. But you can if you want to—I just asked—”
Nan gasped. As far as she was concerned the French army was disembarking at that moment and the Dutch navy lay anchored in the Pool. “Oh, mam! You can’t! You can’t stay here! They’ll put everyone they see to the sword! They’ll rip up your belly and gouge out your eyes and—”
“Holy Mother of God! Isn’t this the most horrifying thing that ever happened?” It was Lady Stanhope, now dressed—though obviously with much haste—followed by two women servants loaded down with bulging sacks and boxes. “I’m leaving for Ridgeway this instant! I knew I should never have left the country! This terrible city—something always happening to it! Where’s Gerry?”
“I don’t know. Go ahead, Nan—Lady Almsbury’s leaving in a few minutes.” She turned back to her mother-in-law. “I haven’t seen him lately.”
“You haven’t seen him! But my God! Where is he then? He told me he spent every night with you!” Suddenly her eyes grew bright and hard and she narrowed them to give Amber a close shrewd look. “And by the way—wasn’t Lord Carlton coming out of your apartments just now?”
Amber turned impatiently away and started down the hall toward her own rooms. “What if he was?”
Lady Stanhope took a few moments to recover from that and then she came after Amber, panting at her heels, jabbering in her ear. “Do you mean to tell me, you brazen creature, that his Lordship was alone with you in there—at an hour when no honest woman should be alone with any man but her husband? Do you mean to tell me you’ve cuckolded my Gerry? Answer me, huswife!” She grabbed Amber by the arm and jerked her around.
Amber stopped perfectly still for just an instant and then suddenly she whirled and faced Lucilla. “Take your hands off me, you overgrown jade! Yes, I was with Lord Carlton and I don’t give a damn who knows it! You’d have been with him yourself if he’d given you so much as a sideways glance! Go find your blasted Gerry now and leave me alone—”
“Why! you impertinent strumpet! Wait until Gerry hears about this! Wait until I tell him what you—”
But Amber had walked away so swiftly that she left her bewildered and sputtering in the middle of the hall. For a moment the Dowager Baroness hesitated, as though she could not decide whether it was more important to follow her daughter-in-law and give her the tongue-lashing she deserved, or to set out for the country and save herself. “Well—I’ll take a course with her later!” She glared after Amber’s hurrying figure, muttered, “Slut!” and then summoning her two women rushed off down the stairs.
Amber, with a cloak thrown over her dressing-gown, went down into the courtyard to see them off. Both Emily and Nan begged her again to come with them but she refused, insisting that she would be perfectly safe there. She was, in fact, no longer afraid—for the excitement of the drums, of horses pounding by along the streets, screams and cries and churchbells ringing, had roused a reckless energy in her.
The children were together in one coach, with two of their nurses, and even Susanna was beginning to think that it was a frolic of some kind. Amber kissed both of them. “Take care of your sister, Bruce. Don’t let her be frightened or lonely.” Susanna began to cry again when she found that her mother was not going along, and she was standing on the seat with her hands plastered to the window when the great carriage rolled out of the yard. Amber waved them goodbye and went back into the house; she had a great deal to do.
She did not sleep at all the rest of the night, but stayed up to oversee the removal of the Earl’s valuables down into the strong-room. His gold and silver plate, the pewter service which Charles I had presented to his father when the old Earl had melted down his plate to make a war contribution, their jewellery and her own, all went into the stone crypt in the cellar. When that was done she got dressed, swallowed a cup of hot chocolate, and set out before six for Shadrac Newbold’s house in Lombard Street where he and many other goldsmiths had removed since the Fire.
It was a long ride from the Strand through the ruined City. Scaffolding was everywhere but many houses had been completed; a few streets, solidly rebuilt, stood perfectly empty. There were cellars still smoking and the smell of dew-wet charcoal was strong in the air. A soil had formed upon the ashes and it was covered with a small, bright-yellow flower, London rocket, which showed cheerily through the gruel-thick fog that hung almost to the ground.
Amber, tired and worried, sat gloomily in the rocking coach. She felt sick at her stomach and her head spun wearily. As they approached Newbold’s house she saw a queue of coaches and of men and women which reached around the corner into Abchurch Lane. Exasperated, she leaned forward and rapped her fan against the wall of the coach, shouting at John Waterman.
“Drive down St. Nicholas Lane and stop!”
There she got out and with Big John and two footmen, walked through a little alley which led to the back entrance of his house. It was fenced in and they found the gate guarded by two sentries with crossed muskets.
“My Lady Danforth to see your master,” said one of the footmen.
“I’m very sorry, your Ladyship. We have orders to admit no one at all by this gate.”