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‘He told them we had,’ Michel put in. ‘He made up a tale about how Louis had received the news weeping into his beard.’
‘They wanted to drink our health,’ Harry went on. ‘What could we do but comply?’ He laughed suddenly. ‘If I had wanted to create a diversion to cover our tracks, I could not have chosen a better one.’
‘So we have been forgotten?’ Jay queried.
‘Not entirely. By the time we had extricated ourselves, the authorities were rounding up anyone who had ever had any contact with Louis to force them to give evidence. I heard Michel’s name mentioned, but not that he had escaped from gaol.’
‘When they do find out, you may be sure they will soon know who was responsible,’ Jay said. ‘Wentworth will be all too ready to tell them.’
‘Wentworth is no more, Jay. The vain fool went out in all his finery and the mob took offence and strung him up on one of the lanterns, after they had stripped him of anything worth having. I beg your pardon, Miss Giradet, I had forgot he was your uncle.’
‘I barely knew the man and certainly never thought of him in that way,’ she said. ‘He was a traitor, prepared to betray his countrymen, Jay and Michel too, for gain and hanging was a kind of justice.’ She paused. ‘Does that mean we are safe? No one will come after us and make us go back now, will they?’
‘Of course not,’ Jay said. ‘You will be my wife and your father and brother my kin.’
‘I thought that was a ruse to fool the French,’ Nat said, looking from Jay to Lisette and back.
‘So it was,’ Jay said. ‘But Lisette has promised to make it a reality. We are to be married.’
This led to congratulations all round and Harry called for more wine to offer a toast. ‘We’ll stop at the next town and find a priest,’ he said. ‘We’ll have you married before the night is out, just to make sure.’
Jay looked at Lisette. ‘What do you say, my love?’
‘I had dreamed of being wed at Highbeck with the children and family about us.’
‘We can still do that. Do you think being married twice to the same man will make the bond stronger?’
‘It could not be more strong than it is already,’ she said, realising that to return unmarried after all their adventures might set the tongues wagging and Jay had already had enough scandal to contend with. ‘But let us do as Harry suggests.’
The next stage of the journey was made with the coach drawn by four good horses. ‘If anyone wants to know, we are escorting the British Envoy to his yacht,’ Harry said. ‘I hope Joe has managed to alert Lieutenant Sandford to be ready to sail as soon as we arrive.’
Jay and Lisette were married at the ancient church of Notre Dame in Louviers, which they had reached very late that night. Harry knocked up the incumbent and induced him to perform the ceremony for a handful of assignats. The priest was anxious to return to his bed and it did not take above a few minutes. Lisette could hardly believe she was married. ‘I don’t feel married,’ she said to Jay as they returned to the coach.
‘Now isn’t that strange,’ he said. ‘I have felt married ever since our first night in France.’
‘But nothing happened.’
He chuckled. ‘No, but you will never know how hard that was for me, lying beside you and wanting you and knowing it just would not do.’
‘As long ago as that?’
‘Yes. And now I can properly and legally make you my wife, we cannot stop. We are not safe yet and must ride through the night.’
‘Then let us make haste.’
Two days and two nights later, poorer by thousands of assignats and several hundred gold livres, they arrived in Calais and there was the Lady Anne waiting at anchor. But they still had one more hurdle to overcome. Everyone’s passports were being scrutinised. Harry, Nat and Michel had discarded their uniforms and left them behind in a woodman’s hut. They were all English travellers returning home. It was then they learned that King Louis had been tried and found guilty on a whole host of charges and sentenced to death and those who had been loyal to him could expect the same fate. Not until they were safely on board and under sail did Lisette relax. It was over. They were going home.
The vessel was crowded, but Jay and Lisette, ensconced in the main cabin, were oblivious of what the others were doing. ‘Now I mean to make up for lost time,’ Jay said, untying the lacing on her bodice. ‘I love you, Mrs Drymore.’
‘And I love you, Mr Drymore.’
Her gown, stays, petticoats and stockings were taken off and thrown aside along with his coat and breeches, his waistcoat, shirt and cravat. Naked, they fell on to the bunk, locked in each other’s arms.
