‘Why did you invite her… at such a time?’

‘It was before this seemed possible. Her visit was delayed.’

‘Delayed! Of course it was delayed. I tell you they had wind of it. That’s why she’s here… at this moment. She’ll be peeping and prying into everything. I tell you she’s a danger. She’s putting us all at risk.’

I was too stunned to do anything, though I knew that at any moment the door could open and someone come out and find me here.

Yet I felt it was necessary for me to stay and listen. On the other hand I wondered what they would do if they discovered me.

‘You are making a great matter over nothing, Frenshaw,’ I heard my uncle say. ‘She is young… innocent… she knows nothing of these matters. She is concerned with riding and what colour sash she will wear and visiting a family she has just discovered…’

They have made a Hanoverian of her, Hessenfield. Don’t you see that? She’s here to spy. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if…’

I turned but I was too late. The door between the two rooms was suddenly opened. I swung round. The man in the brown frieze coat and black stockings was looking at me, and his expression in those first seconds of confrontation was frightening. There was triumph and malevolence. He was proved right and at the same time he was face to face with someone whom he believed to be a spy from the enemy’s camp.

‘I came to see my uncle,’ I said as firmly as I could. ‘I was surprised not to find him here.’

‘He is with friends,’ said the man, advancing towards me.

My heart was pounding so fiercely that I thought he must have noticed it beating against my bodice. I put my hands behind my back for fear he should see them trembling.

‘Then I must not disturb him now,’ I said.

‘Have you been waiting long?’ The eyes, I noticed, were grey and penetrating. I felt that he was trying to look right into my mind and was convincing himself that he found there what he suspected.

‘No… I had just come in.’

‘You must have heard us talking and known that he had visitors.’

‘I did not realize it until a moment ago.’

He hesitated and for a moment I thought he was going to seize me and make me his prisoner. He was a fanatic, if ever I saw one.

My uncle called out: ‘Who’s there?’

‘It’s your niece,’ said the man.

‘Tell her I’ll see her in about an hour.’

The man looked at me. I nodded and escaped. I ran to my room. I was still trembling. It was not pleasant to be caught eavesdropping, but to hear something which could be dangerous was quite terrifying.

I had no doubt now that I had walked into intrigue. I had chosen this time to come when something important was about to happen. I knew now what it was and that they were planning to bring James back to England and crown him King. But George of Hanover would not stand by and let that happen. There would be war and at Eversleigh they would be staunchly for George, while here, in my father’s family, they were the leaders of the plot to bring James back.

Aimée came to my room. I was lying on the bed, for I felt very shaken after that encounter.

‘Are you not well?’ she asked in astonishment.

‘A headache,’ I replied. I did not wish to talk to her about what I had heard and what I knew was happening. Not yet, at any rate—not until I had sorted out my thoughts.

‘I was just going out for a ride and hoping you would come with me.’

‘I won’t today, thanks, Aimée.’

‘Cá va. Au revoir. I will see you later on.’

I was relieved that she did not want to stay and talk.

It must have been about an hour later when I heard the sounds of departure below. I went to my window and saw a party of men riding away.

Then my uncle sent for me.

When I went to his room he was sitting in his chair in the usual place.

‘Clarissa,’ he said as I entered, and he held out his hand to me. I went to him and took it and knelt down beside his chair. ‘My dear child,’ he went on, ‘this is so difficult for me. I have so enjoyed your being here… but the times are dangerous.’

‘I know,’ I replied. ‘I have gathered that there is a plot to bring James back to the throne.’

‘It has always been our desire to do that. All these years we have promised ourselves that we would. Your father, as you know, was devoted to the cause. You could say he gave his life for it. Had he not been in Paris on the King’s business he would not have died as he did. Yes, we have never forgotten, and this time we are going to do it. It is unfortunate that you should be here now. It would have been far better if you had come when I asked you. Then this was not imminent. Now… it is.’

‘Uncle Paul,’ I said, ‘when I was in your room and you were in the ante-room I could not help overhearing that man… Frenshaw, was it… talking about me. He thought I was here to spy. You don’t think that, Uncle?’

‘Of course I don’t.’

‘I knew nothing of all this before I came. It is true that I did come as far as York with my Great-Uncle Carl and Sir Lance Clavering, but that was only because they were coming this way and my Aunt Damaris wanted me to have their protection on the roads. You do believe that?’

‘Yes, I do. I believe you so entirely that I am going to trust you. A Jacobite rising is imminent. There are many Scotsmen who are with us, that is why it will start in Scotland. Lord Kenmure has already proclaimed James King at Moffat. Lord Mar is rallying an army. The Lords Nithsdale, Wintoun and Carnwath are coming to his aid. They are already preparing to cross the Border and James is on his way to England.’

‘Uncle,’ I cried, ‘there will be war… civil war!’

‘Now listen to me. You must go back to Eversleigh. My friends suspect you of spying. If we found ourselves in difficulties they would be ruthless. I want you to prepare to leave at dawn tomorrow. I will send for your grooms and prepare them. Get your things together but don’t let anyone know. In the morning I will tell them that you have been called away.’

‘Shall I not say goodbye to Aimée?’

He hesitated. Then he said: ‘I think we can trust her, but wait until last thing tonight.’

I took his hand and kissed it. ‘I shall be so sorry to leave you,’ I said. ‘We have not had enough time together. There is so much I want to talk about.’

‘There will be other times. When all this is over the country will settle to peace and once the true King is here the German can go back to Hanover. I hear he prefers it to England in any case.’

‘Do you think it will work out like that?’

‘I know it will. And think, Clarissa, when it does it will be success for all we have been working for. Your father lived and died for this cause. You should be one of us for his sake, you know.’

I thought of Eversleigh then, and that warm protecting love I had had from my maternal relations, and I felt a sudden anger that there should be all this trouble and people should die just for the sake of putting one man on the throne against another. I was in complete sympathy now with my Grandmother Priscilla who was always more fierce than any of the others in her condemnation of war.

‘You will come again in happier times,’ went on my uncle. ‘Dear child, it seems so churlish of me to send you away, but I know these men I work with. I am not able to keep them in order as your father could. You understand?’

I kissed him tenderly and told him how much I had enjoyed meeting him and that I would come back as soon as I could.

He was frowning. ‘You will have to be careful,’ he said. ‘We don’t know what the state of the country will be later, but for the next few days it should be safe for you. Get south as quickly as you can. The grooms are good fellows and I have impressed on them the importance of taking the utmost care. I shall pay them well and I have promised—on behalf of your family at Eversleigh—that they will be amply rewarded when they deliver you safely to them. Will you see that my promise is honoured?’

‘I will, Uncle. I will.’

‘Then be prepared to leave at the first signs of dawn in the morning.’ He hesitated then he went on: ‘Before you go, there is something I want to give you. Wheel me into the ante-room.’

I did so and took him to a bureau there which he indicated. He unlocked it and took out a case. He sat for a while thoughtfully holding it in his hands.

‘This is a ring,’ he said. ‘It has been in our family’s possession since the days of Elizabeth. In fact, it is very valuable because she gave it to one of our ancestors… one of her attendants, of whom she was very fond. You see…’ He had taken the ring from the case and I saw that it was similar to the one he wore on his finger. ‘It is not as beautiful as diamonds, sapphires or emeralds, but because of its antiquity and what it stands for it is more valuable than those stones. Try it on.’

I put it on the third finger of my right hand. It was much too big.

‘You have some growing up to do,’ he said with a smile. ‘Surely there is one finger it fits.’

There was. It was my forefinger.

‘There,’ he said. ‘It is yours and you will give it to your eldest daughter. The eldest daughters in the family always have it.’

I looked at him sharply and said: ‘But Aimée…’

He was frowning again. ‘Yes, I suppose she should have it, but I hesitated. Your father wanted to marry your mother and he would have done so if she had not been already married. He felt about her as though she were his legitimate wife and you his legitimate daughter. He could not have felt the same about Aimée and her mother, for he did not mention her to me… except in that last letter. I think there may have been many women in his life who meant as much to him as she did. But with your mother it was different. That is why I am giving the ring to you. I am obeying some instinct. Preserve it. It is worth a small fortune. Look at the setting. It was designed by Elizabeth’s favourite jeweller and is recognized as such by experts. The Queen herself once wore it.’

‘I have never seen this stone before

‘No. It is fairly rare nowadays, but at one time it was worn a great deal by monarchs. They wore these rings because they were in constant danger of being poisoned. These stones are said to absorb arsenic from any liquid and they were generally worn by people who feared someone might attempt to make an end of them.’

‘It is all very interesting but I don’t think anyone is likely to put arsenic in my goblet.’

He smiled. ‘The ring is a sort of talisman… as things become when handed down through families.’

‘It is a very unusual stone,’ I said.

‘Yes. It is formed in the digestive organs of the Persian mountain goat.’

I gave a little exclamation of disgust.

‘It is all right,’ he said with a laugh. ‘It is purified, but that is what it is. It is formed by digested hair and it is this which makes it a good antidote to poison. In the Persian language Bezoar means “against poison”. And that is the name of the stone.’

‘How very interesting.’ I held out my hand and surveyed the ring. My uncle took my hand and held it tightly for a moment or two. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘you look as though you truly belong to Hessenfield.’

I thanked him warmly and as I knelt before him he took my face in his hands and kissed me.

‘Good luck, little Clarissa,’ he said. ‘Come back to us soon.’

When we were retiring that night I told Aimée that I wanted to speak to her. She said: ‘Come to my room,’ so I went.

She lay on her bed, her lovely dark hair hanging loose about her face, her eyes alert with interest. I sat by the bed on a chair, looking at her, thinking how attractive she was without being really beautiful.

‘I have come to say goodbye,’ I told her. ‘I am leaving early tomorrow morning.’

She stared at me incredulously.

‘Uncle Paul thinks it best,’ I went on. ‘There’s trouble coming.’

‘Oh, those wretches! Jacobites and Hanoverians, I suppose.’

‘Yes.’

‘Uncle must be triste because you are not a good little Jacobite.’

‘Uncle is too wise for that. He wouldn’t try to persuade anyone to be what they didn’t want to.’

‘And you are against these Jacobites?’

I shrugged my shoulders. ‘We have a King. We have crowned a King. There will only be trouble if they try to force another on the people.’

‘They seem to think here in Hessenfield that it would be a good thing for the people to have James back.’

‘It is never wise to decide what is good for others and to try to force it on them because it would be good for us. The people, in any case, will decide what they want.’