For King or Commonwealth by Richard Woodman Page A

then left the room, crossed the landing and, without knocking, entered Mainwaring’s chamber.
    The room was close and stank of the old man’s breath. ‘Sir Henry,’ Faulkner said in a low voice, shaking the old man so that he started awake and sat bolt upright in bed.
    â€˜What the devil! Is that you, Kit?’
    â€˜Be quiet. I would talk with you. You mean to defect by carrying yourself into the Thames in the
Phoenix
, with me and my people as an earnest of your good faith and reformation,’ Faulkner hissed, his voice low but strident with passion.
    â€˜Yes, but you do not—’
    â€˜Do not, I beg you, tell me that I do not understand. On the contrary, I understand you all too well and I am reluctant to be hanged as a pirate on the evidence of another such.’
    â€˜You think I would do that?’ Mainwaring’s tone was outraged. ‘After all I have done for you, you think that I would thus throw you away?’
    â€˜What else?’
    â€˜You, among the finest of sea officers, would be of great value to the Commonwealth. You think that you have risen far, to a trumpery knighthood . . .’
    â€˜I think nothing of my knighthood.’
    â€˜Ah, but Kate does.’
    â€˜Ah, yes, Kate. And what use is my knighthood to Kate? I cannot marry her; the King said as much. He received her out of his own desire because her curtsey afforded him a good view of her bubs. And what of Kate? Where does she come into this complex intrigue of yours? Shall she bob her hair and sign on as my boy? Perhaps you would have me turn pretended sodomite like the great Buckingham himself that I might smuggle her in as my bawd in breeches?’
    â€˜Don’t be a fool, Kit! D’you think that I have not thought of her? Why, I am as fond of her as of you – fonder perhaps, if only because she has better manners. She shall remain here; we have, thanks to you and Providence, sufficient money to maintain her. Then, when we have made our compositions, we shall fetch her over.’
    â€˜Does she know anything of all this?’
    â€˜No, of course not.’
    Faulkner fell silent for a few moments and Mainwaring left him to his thoughts. Then he said, shaking his head in the darkness, ‘No, it will not do.’
    â€˜Think about it, Kit. The King’s cause is doomed. I did not think that they would cut His Late Majesty’s head off but having done it there is no turning back. England will not die like even the young Charles will do sooner or later, as we all must. England is a rock, her people stolid. They are reaping the advantages of their new order. See how the Dutch have prospered since they threw off the yoke of Papist Spain. Why, one can scarce believe it: the riches of Madrid in every burgher’s chamber. Likewise England will do well, believe me.’
    â€˜You are no necromancer; you can see the future no more than any other man,’ Faulkner said, adding sarcastically, ‘You only believe you can, thanks to your earlier composition with King James.’
    â€˜That is as untrue as it is unkind, Kit,’ Mainwaring responded.
    â€˜Be that as it may, it shall not fall out as you wish.’ Faulkner drew away and without heeding any more of the old man’s argument he withdrew.
    Back in his own room he gently shook Katherine. She woke confused from a deep sleep. ‘Hush, my love, but I must be away tonight. I would have you remain quiet here. Expect me back in ten days, if God wills it, and I will yet make you a duchess.’
    â€˜But . . . Why the sudden departure?’
    He put his finger to her lips and she grasped his wrist tightly. ‘I am in dispute with Sir Henry,’ he whispered, ‘the details of which need not concern you but are of importance to us both in the long run. If I am to obey the King, I must move with great speed. If I am successful then much may flow in consequence.’
    â€˜If not?’ she