The Loves of Charles II Read Online Free PDF

followed the man down the staircase. When they were on the lower landing, a door opened, and there stood the elegant man who had made such a commotion earlier that night.
    “By God’s body!” he cried. “Cannot a gentleman be allowed to sleep? Comings and goings the whole night through! What is happening now, man?”
    “Your pardon, your honor. It’s the soldiers. They’ve just come in. That’s how it is these days, sir. There’s nothing a poor innkeeper can do.”
    He quizzed the party. “These hardly look like soldiers.”
    “Nay, sir. Some poor travellers I took in, sir, and let them have the attic. Now the soldiers want it and …”
    “So you’re turning them out into the night, eh?”
    “No … no, your honor. They’ve paid for shelter and they shall have it. I am giving them an outhouse. ’Tis warm and comfortable and will seem cozy to such as they are, I’ll swear.”
    With an oath the man shut his door and the party continued their descent. The landlord took them through the kitchens where, setting down his candle, he took up a lantern, and conducted them to the outhouse.
    “You’ll pass the rest of the night in peace and comfort here,” he said. “You could not be more snug. See, there’s straw for you all and ’tis a warm night.”
    “Can the door be barred?” asked Tom.
    “Aye. You can lock it from the inside if you wish to.”
    “This will suit us for the rest of the night,” said Anne quickly.
    The landlord left them; and as soon as he had gone Tom turned the heavy key in the lock.
    “I feel a little safer here,” said Anne; but she was still trembling.

    They left early next morning as soon as the first sign of dawn was in the sky. All through the morning they walked, and in the afternoon they came into the town of Dover. Anne felt great relief as, looking out to sea, she caught sight of the Dover Packet-boat lying at anchor; the weather was undoubtedly favorable. Very soon her ordeal must be ended.
    Henrietta was lively; she had ridden all the morning on Anne’s back, and if Anne was tired, she was not.
    “Water!” she cried.
    “It is the sea, my precious one,” Anne told her.
    “Nan … want my own gown …”
    “Soon you shall have it, little Pierre.”
    “No Pierre! No Pierre!”
    “Just a little while longer, dearest.”
    “No Pierre!” chanted Henrietta. “Me … Princess. No Pierre! No Peter!”
    “Let’s pretend for a little longer. Let it be our secret, eh?”
    Tom said: “I wish the Princess would sleep.”
    “She cannot sleep all the time.”
    “No sleep! No sleep!” chanted the Princess.
    “’Twould please me better if she slept as we passed through the town,” persisted Tom.
    A man passed them. He gave no sign of having recognized them, but he was the elegant gentleman whom they had seen at the inn and who had opened his door as they had passed along the corridor.
    None of them spoke, but each was aware of him. He turned slowly and followed them. At the water’s edge he called to a boatman in his arrogant manner. “Is that the Dover Packet lying there, fellow?”
    “Yes, milord.”
    “Then row me out to her, will you? These people will go with us.”
    “Milord …?” began Tom.
    The man shook his head impatiently.
    When they were in the boat the baby Princess showed clearly her appreciation of the elegant gentleman, but he did not glance at her as he gave orders to the boatman in his cool arrogant manner.
    “How’s the wind?”
    “Set fair for France, milord.”
    “Then the Packet will be leaving soon, I’ll swear.”
    “Waiting but for the turn of the tide, milord.”
    Now they were alongside and the party stepped aboard, obediently following the man who led the way.
    He signed to Anne and led her and the child into a cabin. When they were alone, he bowed to her, taking her hand and kissing it. “You have done a marvelous thing, Anne,” he said. “The Queen will love you forever.”
    “It was a great comfort to know that you were