Part 8 (1/2)

'The soldiers came by early yesterday evening, looking for them, I suppose, but they went away empty-handed,'

she replied.

'Was one of the three men elderly, wearing a cloak and carrying a silver-k.n.o.bbed cane?' Steven asked.

'He was the one who came asking for Monsieur Preslin in the first place. But why don't you go in and look?' she suggested. 'It's never locked.'

Tentatively, Steven tried the door and it swung open.

'Thank you, madame,' he said and, taking Anne by the arm, went inside. They searched the house thoroughly but found nothing to give Steven a clue that the Doctor had been there.

'They must have made good their escape before the soldiers arrived,' Steven said as they stood in the bedroom which was a shambles with Preslin's clothes strewn everywhere.

'And the neighbour didn't see them leave, sir?' Anne sounded dubious. 'A busybody like her'

'Then can you explain it?' Steven replied irritably.

'No, sir, I can't,' Anne said.

'But I must find him', Steven was emphatic.

'Best not in those clothes, sir,' Anne suggested, 'they're a bit funny and you'd soon be recognised if anyone were to see you.'

Steven smiled wryly. 'I think you're right, Anne, but what else have I to wear?'

'His things, sir,' Anne pointed to Preslin's clothes.

'By the look of them, we're not the same build,' Steven replied.

'There's plenty of people in Paris who wear ill-fitting clothes, sir.' Anne scratched her head and smiled. 'So many you don't even notice them. I'll wait for you downstairs.'

Steven looked with dismay at the hose, the doublets, the buckled shoes and the plumed hats lying on the floor and the bed. He knew Anne was right but everything, apart from the hat, was too small. He sighed and changed, then he bound his clothes up in a bundle which he slung over his shoulder and went downstairs. As soon as Anne saw him, she had a fit of the giggles.

'n.o.body would ever know it was you, sir,' she said, her shoulders jiggling.

'That's a relief,' Steven's voice had an edge to it. 'But stop calling me sir all the time. My name's Steven.'

'Yes sir er Steven, sir,' Anne replied.

He smiled. 'Where does your aunt live?'

'In the rue des Fosses Saint Jacques rue des Fosses Saint Jacques. It's not far from here,'

Anne said.

'Saint James's Ditches,' Steven translated. 'I'll take you there.'

'Very handsome you look, very handsome indeed, sir,' the neighbour said as Steven and Anne left the house.

Steven gave her a sickly smile. It did occur to him to say that he would eventually return Preslin's clothes but he decided against it.

As they made their way through the streets Steven discovered two things: the first was that Anne was right, no one paid any attention to him, and the second was that his borrowed shoes pinched. But the third discovery when they reached the aunt's modest home was much more serious. A neighbour came in tears to say that Anne's brother and her aunt had been abducted on the previous evening by Catholic soldiers.

At approximately the same time Roger Colbert presented himself at the Admiral's house and asked to see Nicholas Muss. Nervously intertwining his plump fingers the young man explained that Duval would he willing to exchange the relatives for the wench.

'Your master places considerable importance on retrieving this er wench, as you call her,' Muss said calmly from behind his desk, 'and for the life of me, I cannot think why.'

'She has a contract of employment which she has broken', Colbert replied, untwining his fingers to tap one set on the back of the other hand. 'A situation, sir, which I am sure you would not tolerate in this household.'

'Indeed not,' Muss smiled, 'it would mean instant dismissal.'

'That is not our way,' Colbert returned the smile, 'After an appropriate reprimand the offender is given a second chance.'

'In the true Christian spirit,' Muss retaliated.

'Perhaps the girl should be allowed to decide for herself?' Colbert suggested.

'Her return against her relatives' release. That's hardly the same spirit, is it?' Muss shook his head and then pointed at Colbert. 'Go back and tell Simon Duval to free her family and come here himself with a guarantee on his honour that they will not be abducted again.' Muss leant forward, put his elbow on the desk and raised his forefinger towards the ceiling. 'At that point, I will have Anne Chaplet summoned here' he reversed the direction of his finger 'to make her choice.'

Colbert inclined his head slightly and left the room.

After a few moments, Muss rang the small bell on his desk and asked his secretary to fetch Anne. When he learned she was missing he sent for Steven, only to be told that he, too, had disappeared. In exasperation he hit the desk with the his fist.

'Find them, find them before the Catholics get wind of this!' he ordered.

The Doctor had returned to the cave and, whilst he changed into his own clothes, Lerans listened to his account of the meeting with Tavannes.

'So now Catherine's with them and the Admiral's on his way out,' Lerans summarised when the Doctor had finished.

'That's how it appears,' the Doctor confirmed.

'The Queen Mother's equivocation I can understand,'

Lerans replied. 'She's always tried to maintain a balance between Catholic and Huguenot. But getting rid of de Coligny is more difficult to understand because he's the King's man.'

'You're forgetting that Charles is tied to his mother's ap.r.o.n strings,' the Doctor pointed out.

'Not since she forced him to marry Elizabeth of Austria,' Lerans answered. 'Since then he's tried to be his own master.'

'But he's sick,' the Doctor emphasised.

'Yes, I know, and his little brother, the Duke of Anjou, the heir to the throne, is no friend of ours,' Lerans added and then asked the question the Doctor dreaded: 'But how do they intend to get rid of de Coligny?'