Voices in a Haunted Room

I hated to see the cruel faces in the mob. It was distressing to see how they threw stones at the carriage. One hit the King on his cheek. He caught it in his hands and sat there impassive, as though he was quite indifferent to the abuse. The carriage passed on and David said to me: “Would you like to go home?”

I said I would, and we walked back to Albemarle Street in silence.

The next day we heard that the King had returned safely to his palace and that when the bullet had struck his carriage he had been less agitated than his companions. He was reputed to have said: “My lords, there is One who disposes of all things, and in Him I trust.”

He kept the stone which had hit him-as a memento, he said, of the civilities he had received that day.

“David,” I asked, “what does this mean? Is what happened in France going to happen here?”

David shook his head. “No. I feel sure it won’t. There are not the same reasons.

But we have to find these agitators. We have to stop them. I’d be ready to swear that many of these people who were throwing stones at the King’s carriage had become caught up in the excitement of the moment and ordinarily would have been the King’s docile subjects. They are egged on by the agitators. Mob frenzy is a madness, and the agitators know this. They start haranguing the people, telling them of their wrongs, and before long there is a riot ... as we saw today.”

“Is it known who these agitators are?”

“They would not exist for long if it were. They are clever. The ringleaders get others to do the task for them, and I’d be ready to swear that they are moving about the country so that they don’t become too well known in one place.”

I was sure he was right and the following day a proclamation was issued offering a reward of a thousand pounds for information about those who had attempted to assassinate the King.

“Do you think there will be a response?” I asked.

“It’s a great deal of money,” mused David, “but I doubt it. These people are well organized. They are professional revolutionaries. It must have been well planned; the assassin was in his place at the precise moment the carriage passed along.”

”Many would know it was due to pass this way.”

“That is more than likely.”

Later we heard that Lord Grenville was introducing a bill into the Lords “for the safety of His Majesty’s person,” and more important, Mr. Pitt in the Commons was making his plans for the prevention of seditious meetings.

Later that day Jonathan and Millicent came to London and the peaceful domesticity was shattered.

Because of the disturbances David said it was necessary for us to stay in London rather longer than we had originally intended, for in view of the attempt on the King’s life, people were less inclined to discuss business. The attempt had been made on the twenty-ninth of October and we were still in London on the fifth of November.

I knew that Jonathan had hastily come to London because of what had happened. I guessed that more disturbances were expected and there was a secret state of emergency.

Jonathan looked alert, keen-eyed, as he did when he was in the throes of an adventure.

Clearly he had come to London because he had work to do. Millicent was serene. I believed that she did not care whether she was in London or the country as long as she was with Jonathan.

She told me that she believed she was to have a child. It was early days yet but she was sure ... or almost. It was clear that the possibility made her very happy indeed.

It was the fifth of November, a very significant date in English history, because it was the anniversary of that day when Guy Fawkes had tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and had been discovered just in time. It was a date which had been celebrated ever since, and even though it had happened long ago, in the year 1605 to be precise, people were still as zealous in their determination to remember tide day as they ever had been.

Jonathan and David had gone out. I was not sure whether they had gone together, but I knew David had home business deals to conclude and I had decided not to accompany him. Millicent was in her room; she had declared that she was feeling a little delicate and would stay in bed for a while.

I was alone ... thinking of the difference which had come over the house since Jonathan had come and telling myself that perhaps it was just as well that David and I would soon be setting out for Eversleigh.

I heard someone come in, I thought it was David and went to see, but it was Jonathan who stood smiling at me.

“At last,” he said. “Alone.”

I laughed at him and said uneasily: “You are ridiculous.”

“I am sure of it. But is it not exciting to be by ourselves at last? David is like a watchdog; Millicent is like a shadow; but shadow and watchdog are no longer beside us.”

“The shadow could well appear at any moment.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m getting ready to leave. I think we shall probably start out tomorrow.”

“Just as I have come!”

“That seems as good a reason to go as any.”

“Still afraid of me?”