The older woman was fighting to get air into her weakened lungs. “We’ve got to go to him.”
“Yes, yes, but hush now, Ma. Get your breath. Here.” Alys mixed some hartshorn and water that her brother, Rob, had left for their mother. “Drink this.”
Alinor drank the glass with little sips, catching her breath, while Alys watched for the color to come back into her cheeks.
“I’ve got to go to Ned,” Alinor whispered.
“Ma. You had a dream.”
“It was a Seeing. I’m not so old that I don’t know the difference.”
“It was a dream. You were asleep. It was a nightmare, I’m sure. And no wonder. But we’ll go to church this morning, as soon as we’re dressed, and pray for my uncle Ned’s safety. And then I’ll go to the coffeehouse and see if there’s news.”
A closed stubborn look crossed Alinor’s face. “Send for Johnnie,” was all she said.
“Ma, he’ll be at work. I can’t send for him.”
“He’ll have news, and I want to see him. Send for him, Alys, or I’ll go downstairs to the kitchen and send Susie myself.”
“I’ll send a lad from the warehouse,” Alys bargained, “if you’ll rest now.”
“You’ll send now?”
Alys nodded and her mother visibly relaxed. “Eh—I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly obedient, allowing Alys to tuck the sheets in around her. “I’m sorry, Alys. But you don’t know what it’s like. It’s as if I felt the blow myself. It’s not a dream. I do know.”
“Just rest, Ma, please rest. Go to sleep again, and I’ll bring your breakfast up within an hour or so.”
“I can’t sleep,” her mother said. “Ned is in terrible danger, he needs me. I can’t sleep, Alys. You have to send for Johnnie at once.”
Alys compressed her lips in a firm line to prevent any angry wordescaping and went out of the room to her own bedroom. She pulled on her working clothes, a plain woolen skirt, a white linen shirt, and a dark jacket. She glanced towards her husband’s side of the empty bed, wishing that he was with her and not at sea. Then she went to the little table and drew the writing box towards her and took out a sheet of notepaper, dipped a pen in the inkwell, and wrote to Johnnie.
Son,
Your grandmother has been troubled by a dream and won’t be turned from seeing you. Please come as soon as you can without inconveniencing the Company. Whatever she tells you,Do Notundertake to find your uncle Ned—wherever he may be.
Your loving mother
Johnnie, handed this note by one of the clerks in the huge hall of the East India Company’s headquarters, read it quickly and went straight to his department head, got an indefinite leave of absence, and left the building. He took a hackney coach back to his lodging, packed a bag, took a purse of money from the hiding place he kept under his chest of clothes, and set off at once to the water stairs to cross the river to the warehouse.
“Ma?” he said, coming through the front door and finding his mother at her desk in the counting office.
Absentmindedly she kissed him. “It’s your grandmother,” she said.
“Is she ill?”
“She’s very disturbed.”
“Why didn’t you call Rob?”
She hesitated and he knew that his mother, who rarely lied, was avoiding telling him something. “She asked for you, and I didn’t think—”
“You know that Rob would do anything for her,” he said, “but you think that I will obey you and refuse her.”
She did not acknowledge that he was right. “I can’t bear for any of us to be mixed up in this folly of my uncle’s,” she said fiercely. “It was bad enough with Matthew bringing trouble to our door. But at least that was for the king, and nobody could blame us for being on his side.But Rob’ll do whatever your grandma tells him. He thinks she’s got the Sight. And you don’t believe in such things any more than I do.” She looked up at him. “You don’t,” she told him, as if to persuade him. “We don’t. It’s brought us nothing but trouble.”
Johnnie shrugged. “More things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of…” he quoted cheerfully. “I don’t pretend to know, Ma. I know that Sarah and I could think the same thought and feel each other’s pain. I know that Grandma sent her to Venice to find Rob because she knew he was in danger. I know she has dreams that can’t be explained and foretells and foresees—”
His mother hushed him. “She doesn’t! She doesn’t! And it’s never brought us any good.”