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At forty-two, he was the oldest of the siblings, and his service as a colonel under the old king gave his opinion further weight. Even his two littlest daughters ceased their whispering, and all eyes turned to him. His blue eyes were grave, and even as he sat still, surveying the gathering, it seemed to Jane that she could see the weight of authority and command on his broad shoulders. A raven’s hoarse cry tore through the tense silence.
“I have stayed at home and been silent long enough,” John said. “If the king crosses the border and calls for his subjects to join him, I mean to go.”
Jane felt a surge of pride as she looked at him. If I were a man, she thought, I would hope to be just such a one as he is.
A babble of voices greeted John’s news.
“Oh, John, no!” Jane’s mother, Anne, cried out. “You served honourably and well for years during the wars. Your duty is to your family now.”
“If you go, I’m with you, John,” Henry said. “When do you think of leaving?”
John glanced at his wife. She had said nothing, but the set of her mouth showed she battled strong emotions.
“It will be no use to go off half-cocked,” he said. “I’ll raise as many men and horses as I can and ensure that we’re well provided, so that when His Majesty summons us we can be of real use.”
“Then put me down as one of yours as well, brother,” Richard said.
“Not you, too, Dick!” their mother cried. “Two from the family is more than enough.”
“I am no child, Mother!”
“But think of the cost!” Anne turned to her husband. “Dissuade him, I pray you, Thomas!”
“Mother, how can you argue that they should not go to the aid of the king?” Jane cried with sudden impatience. “He has need of all the help he can get. It’s the crown—the crown and the future of the monarchy. The chance for wrongs to be righted, and the topsy-turvy world to be set back in place. I’d go myself, was I a man.”
Her mother gave a little cry of fear and horror, and Withy laughed shrilly.
“I think you would, too.”
“The Penderels from Whiteladies might come,” Walter mused, hitching his chair close to John. “And perhaps Charles Giffard from Boscobel.”
“Yes,” John said. “And no doubt men from among our tenant farmers, and many others. We’ll go to Walsall next market day and make our plans known.”
“So openly?” Sir Clement asked. “Do you trust your neighbours?”
“Some of them,” John said.
“But others wish us ill,” Richard spat, “and will surely report to the Stafford Committee anything they take amiss.”
“Then we’ll act quickly,” Henry said, leaping to his feet, “and be gone as soon as we may.”
After dinner, as the ladies prepared to withdraw to the house, Sir Clement stood and walked with Jane to the door of the banqueting house. Her female relatives exchanged significant glances and made themselves scarce.
Wonderful, Jane thought. No private conversation can take place but I will be expected to report the results. Sir Clement smiled, as if understanding her thoughts, and spoke in a low voice.
“Will you not walk with me a little, Jane, now that we have a moment to be alone?”
Jane had known he’d be likely to speak his mind tonight, and had hoped to put off the conversation, for she had no clear answer for him, and no wish to cause him pain. He stood looking down at her, his blue eyes solemn, and she nodded. They strolled towards the house in silence. The western horizon was pale pink, shot with gold, and the first stars were just beginning to twinkle in the deepening blue overhead. A hush hung over the land, and Jane inhaled the scent of blossoms heavy on the breeze. Soon it would be autumn, but tonight was a perfect summer evening and she didn’t want to go inside.
“Let’s sit in the summerhouse,” she said. “No one will disturb us there.”
They sat side by side on an upholstered bench. The men’s voices drifted from the banqueting house, still rising and falling in excited conversation.
Clement took Jane’s hand and looked at it, as though he had never noticed it before.
“So small,” he said. “And yet so strong. You’d make a fearsome soldier, Jane, and I honour your courage and your spirit, no matter what your sister may think.”
“Withy has no good opinion of me, whatever I do.”
“I think you know already what I mean to ask. I’ve long had such admiration and affection for you, and it would make my life complete if you were more to me than a friend, but a cherished partner. Jane, would you grant me the supreme happiness of consenting to be my wife?”
Jane forced herself not to sigh or to withdraw her hand. She looked into his eyes, shining at her in the shadows, kind and calm. Why could she not just say yes?
“You do me great honour, Sir Clement. You possess all the qualities that women prize in a husband, and I probably have no need to tell you that my mother and sisters are all aflutter to hear what they hope will be happy news very shortly. And yet I must ask you to indulge me by allowing me some time to consider.”
“Of course. I have no wish to hurry you.”
His lips were set as if in pain, and Jane’s heart contracted. He was a good man, honourable, brave. What was wrong with her?
“I beg you to tell me,” he said, “if there is some fear that you have, or some flaw in myself that I may mend?”
“No. The flaw is in me. I long for—I know not what. For adventure, I would say, did I want to leave myself open to your mockery.”
“I would never mock you, my dear. I don’t know what adventure you hope for, but no doubt you’re right that I cannot offer you vivid excitement. I’m thirteen years your senior, no dashing young suitor to carry you off. I watched, enraptured, as you turned from a charming girl into a lovely young woman. I offer you my esteem, respect, and love. I can provide for you a comfortable home, even a grand one, if I may say so with modesty. I would protect you, honour you, and endeavour to make our life together as happy as it may be, but more than that I am powerless to give.”
He looked off into the deepening shadows, silent. For God’s sake, give him something, Jane thought miserably.
“That in itself is a world, which any woman should be overjoyed to accept. I shall think on your offer most seriously. May I answer you at Michaelmas?”
“At Michaelmas, then,” he smiled. “And I will possess myself in patience during those two months as best I may.”
“YOU WHAT?” WITHY CRIED.
“Asked him to wait?” Jane’s mother breathed. “Sir Clement Fisher, and you asked him to wait?”
“Jane!” Athalia looked as shocked as though Jane had said she’d stuck a fork into Sir Clement’s hand. “Has John not told you of the house? And the miles of parkland in which it sits?”
“Here are two of your nieces, younger than you, and betrothed!” Jane’s mother scolded. “He does you such honour, and you fling it away!”
“I know!” Jane cried, throwing up her hands. Their words echoed the fears ringing in her head. “I know. He is all that I should want, and yet I cannot make myself love him.”
“Love the deer park,” Withy snorted. “Love for the man may come hereafter.”
LATER THAT NIGHT, WHEN MOST OF THE HOUSEHOLD HAD GONE TO bed, Jane found her father