Chapter 28 #2
If only they could get some fresh air! Kate longed to be out on deck, but the ship’s master believed it unlucky to have women on board, and commanded that they keep to their quarters.
These were clean and commodious, at least to begin with, but she could eat none of the food brought to them, wholesome though it was.
At last—at last, dear God—they saw land out of the tiny window.
The master informed them that they would soon be making port at Sluys.
After five days at sea, they disembarked on a dark January evening, and Kate found herself barely able to stand.
Thomas hurried away to get the litter, the baggage cart, and the horses off the ship, then the bedraggled little party waited as he went off to find them lodgings, still wobbling on his sea legs.
He returned to say that he had commandeered rooms at an old inn, and they gratefully made their way there, Kate carrying little Anne and the other children clinging to the hands of Thomasina and their nurses.
It was a relief to sleep in a bed that didn’t move about so unpredictably that you thought you might be thrown off.
Kate found her appetite again and they all enjoyed huge helpings of a rich Flemish stew.
It gave them heart to embark on the long journey ahead.
According to Francis, Basel was six hundred miles away.
It seemed an unimaginable distance, but they were to cover it in slow, easy stages.
At dawn, they set off.
—
Ghent, Brussels, Luxembourg, Metz…Soon, one city looked much like another.
Kate would have liked to stop to see the sights, yet she remained aware of the need to press on, while the awareness that Francis would be waiting for them at the end of the long trek gave a spur to her determination.
Fifty days until she would see him, forty, thirty…
Soon they were at Nancy, then Colmar. Her spirits rose with every mile they crossed.
Resolutely, she refused to think of Greys Court.
What mattered was that they were all safe.
She still feared for the children she had left behind, yet she knew they were in good hands.
They had been traveling for exactly sixty days when they sighted the towers and spires of Basel in the distance.
Kate’s heart soared as they crossed the bridge over the River Rhine, which led to the city.
Somewhere, amid all those tall houses with red roofs, Francis was waiting.
The children could barely contain themselves at the thought of seeing their father, and Kate was no less excited.
“The house is on the marketplace,” she told Thomas. “Can you ride ahead and find it?” She was praying that Francis would be in.
It was a joy to see Protestant churches and people going in and out without fear of persecution.
There were Protestant tracts on the booksellers’ stalls, and many of the citizens were wearing the sober attire decreed by Calvin.
Kate was glad that she had put on her best black gown and hood.
She wanted to fit in here—and she also wanted to look her best for Francis.
Thomas appeared ahead, waving, and ran back to them, taking up the reins of the litter and shouting at the cart horses to follow. Kate hoped there would be a yard at the house where they could keep their vehicles.
The marketplace was packed with booths and people, and their progress around it was slow.
At last, Kate found herself standing outside a tall white house with timber beams, shuttered windows, and a tiled roof.
It was clean and well kept. She could hardly believe that she was here at last. Journey’s end. It was a miracle!
She alighted from the litter, telling her excited children to remain where they were for the moment. Her heart pounding, she walked up to the door and rapped on the knocker. And then Francis opened the door.
When he saw her, his face was transformed, radiant.
“Darling Kate!” he breathed and swept her into his arms before she could draw breath.
It was glorious to have him hold her once more and she clung on as if she would never let him go again, returning his kisses with equal ardor.
The children had burst out of the litter and were crowding around them.
“Father! Father!” they were crying, overjoyed to see him.
He bent down and hugged them all, and when he stood up, he was weeping unashamedly.
“We are safe, darling, we are safe!” he said hoarsely.
“Yes,” Kate replied, “we have done the right thing.” But in her mind, she wondered, as she had been wondering throughout the journey, when she had had a lot of time to think.
Had it been the right thing to leave their older children in England?
In doing so, had they placed too great a burden on their young minds?
It would take only one false word to land them in disaster.
Yet she was sure she had drummed into them the necessity for circumspection—and with that she must content herself, or she would go mad.
—
Francis led them indoors.
“I’m renting the ground floor only. We have five rooms and a kitchen. It will be a tight fit with the children and the servants, but we’ll manage. I need to conserve what money I have, since we don’t yet know what will happen to my lands in England.”
“I have brought plenty of money,” Kate told him. She would not mention the loss of Caversham, not yet.
“You darling girl!” He embraced her again.
The main room of their lodging was sparsely furnished with a settle, a table, a cupboard, and several stools, but it was cluttered with Francis’s stuff—bags, books, writing materials, mugs, plates, even a recorder. Three beds had been crammed into the room designated for the children.
“Anne will have to sleep in the middle, in case she falls out,” Kate observed. “At least there is a chest for their clothes.”
The bedchamber she was to share with Francis had a carved tester bed, unmade, of course, for he had no domestic skills.
“Do you have anyone to keep house?” she inquired.
“A woman comes in daily to cook and clean.”
She made a face. “She’s not much of a cleaner, is she?” They laughed.
“Her cooking’s not much better either.” Francis grinned.
“I’ll see to her,” Kate vowed. “Or I’ll hire someone else.”
“You always were brilliant at running a household, darling.” He kissed her. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you are here. Or how wonderful it will be to worship freely together.”
Happiness shot through her. They were together. That mattered more than anything. Still she did not tell him about the loss of Caversham. Nothing must spoil their reunion.