A Place Called Freedom - Ken Follett [42]
He saw nothing wrong in torturing criminals but he was not going to tell her that, not when she was in this mood. “Of course I don’t,” he said. “Have you come from the pithead?”
“It was awful. I told Robert to let the man go but he refused.”
So she had quarreled with Robert. Jay concealed his delight. “You haven’t seen a man go the round before? It’s not so rare.”
“No, I haven’t. I don’t know how I’ve remained so wretchedly ignorant about the lives of miners. I suppose people protected me from the grim truth because I was a girl.”
“Robert seemed angry about something,” Jay probed.
“All the miners sang a hymn and they wouldn’t shut up when he ordered them to.”
Jay was pleased. It sounded as if she had seen Robert at his worst. My chances of success are improving by the minute, he thought exultantly.
A groom took her horse and they walked across the yard into the castle. Robert was talking to Sir George in the hall. “It was a piece of brazen defiance,” Robert was saying. “Whatever happens, we must make sure McAsh doesn’t get away with this.”
Lizzie made an exasperated noise and Jay saw a chance to score points with her. “I think we should consider letting McAsh go,” he said to his father.
Robert said: “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Jay recalled Harry Ratchett’s argument. “The man is a troublemaker—we’d be better off without him.”
“He has defied us openly,” Robert protested. “He can’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“He hasn’t got away with it!” Lizzie declared. “He’s suffered the most savage punishment!”
Sir George said: “It’s not savage, Elizabeth—you have to understand that they don’t feel pain as we do.” Before she could expostulate he turned to Robert. “But it’s true that he hasn’t got away with it. The miners now know they can’t leave at the age of twenty-one: we’ve proved our point. I wonder if we shouldn’t discreetly let him vanish.”
Robert was not satisfied. “Jimmy Lee is a troublemaker but we brought him back.”
“Different case,” Father argued. “Lee is all heart and no brains—he’ll never be a leader, we have nothing to fear from him. McAsh is made of finer material.”
“I’m not afraid of McAsh,” Robert said.
“He could be dangerous,” Father said. “He can read and write. He’s the fireman, which means they look up to him. And to judge by the scene you’ve just described to me, he’s halfway to becoming a hero already. If we make him stay here, he’ll cause trouble all his godforsaken life.”
Reluctantly Robert nodded. “I still think it looks bad,” he said.
“Then make it look better,” Father said. “Leave the guard on the bridge. McAsh will go over the mountain, probably: we just won’t chase him. I don’t mind them thinking he’s escaped—so long as they know he did not have the right to leave.”
“Very well,” said Robert.
Lizzie shot a triumphant look at Jay. Behind Robert’s back she mouthed the words Well done!
“I must wash my hands before dinner,” Robert said. He disappeared toward the back of the house, still looking grumpy.
Father went into his study. Lizzie threw her arms around Jay’s neck. “You did it!” she said. “You set him free!” She gave him an exuberant kiss.
It was scandalously bold, and he was shocked, but he soon recovered. He put his arms around her waist and held her close. He leaned down and they kissed again. This was a different kiss, slow and sensual and exploring. Jay closed his eyes to concentrate on the sensations. He forgot they were in the most public room of his father’s castle, where family and guests, neighbors and servants passed through constantly. By luck no one came in, and the kiss was not disturbed. When they broke apart, gasping for breath, they were still alone.
With a thrill of anxiety Jay realized that this was the moment to ask her to marry him.
“Lizzie …” Somehow he did not know just how to bring the subject up.
“What?”
“What I want to say … you can