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3.Edward Goes Visiting
And so the summer went by, and every day was busier than the one before.
Humphrey caught two more calves, and they now had more pigs and chickens.
Jacob took some of the new young chickens to Lymington to sell,
and bought salt and oatmeal, pots for the kitchen, and a gun for Humphrey.
King Charles was still in prison, and Cromwell's men went on killing their enemies and stealing the houses and land of the King's friends.
Edward could not forget that he was a Beverley of Arnwood, and was often angry.
‘I want to be a soldier like our father,’ he told Humphrey.
‘I want to fight for the King, and tell the world that my name is Beverley!’
‘If you do that, Cromwell's men will put you in prison,’ Humphrey said.
‘I know how you feel, Edward, but for now you must stay here with us.
‘What will happen to our sisters if you leave? I can't do all the work, and poor Jacob is getting old and tired.’
It was true. Jacob was nearly seventy-six years old and no longer strong.
That winter he was often ill and could not leave the cottage.
Edward did most of the hunting. He was now very good at it, and knew the forest well.
Early in 1649 Humphrey told Jacob that he needed another dog.
‘Smoker is a hunting dog,’ he said. ‘I need a dog to help me with all the farm animals.’
‘A puppy will learn most easily,’ said Jacob.
‘Oswald Partridge, a forester who lives on the other side of the forest, always has puppies, and he will give us one.
‘But Edward, you must go. I cannot ride that far.
‘Tell Oswald that you are my grandson. He'll be a good friend to you. But remember, your name is Armitage!’
The next morning Edward rode White Billy across the forest.
He was happy to go out into the world again, but he knew he must be careful.
After two hours he arrived at some cottages and knocked on the first door.
A girl aged about fourteen opened the door, and told him that Oswald Partridge was out in the forest.
‘I must wait for him, then,’ said Edward. ‘I've come to ask him for a puppy for my grandfather, Jacob Armitage.’
‘Wait a minute,’ the girl said. She went inside, and then came back. ‘You must come and speak to my father.’
Edward followed the girl inside. The man sitting at a table was dressed like one of Cromwell's men.
His tall hat lay on a chair with his sword underneath it.
The girl sat down by the fire, and the man went on reading a letter.
He did not look at Edward for two or three minutes.
Edward felt angry. But he was just a poor, unimportant forester, he remembered. So he said nothing, and waited.
‘What's your business, young man?’ the man said at last.
‘I came, sir, to see Oswald Partridge about a puppy for my grandfather, Jacob Armitage.’
‘Armitage!’ The man looked at some papers on the table. ‘Yes, one of the foresters. Why hasn't he visited me?’
‘Why must he see you, sir?’
‘Because Cromwell has given the New Forest to me, to look after for Parliament.
‘My name is Hetherstone, and all the foresters now work for me.’
‘My grandfather has not heard this, sir,’ said Edward.
‘The New Forest belongs to the King, and my grandfather is one of the King's foresters.
‘But he has a cottage and a farm which belong to him, and not the King.’
‘Yes, I know about Jacob Armitage. And I know that he was Colonel Beverley's friend.
‘The Colonel was a brave man, it's true, but he fought for the King and so was an enemy of Parliament.
‘Tell me, were you a friend of the Beverley family?’
‘When I was a child, I lived at Arnwood with the Beverley children.’
‘And where were you when the soldiers burned Arnwood?’
‘I was at my grandfather's cottage,’ replied Edward, his eyes wild with anger.
‘I can understand why you feel angry about that.’ Mr Hetherstone shook his head slowly.
‘Those soldiers did a terrible, terrible thing,’ he said quietly.
Then he looked up at Edward again. ‘But you must understand, young man, that your grandfather can no longer work as a forester.
‘I cannot give work to people who are friends of the King.
‘The forest deer now belong to Cromwell, and if you shoot any deer, you will go to prison for it.’
‘Sir,’ Edward said quietly, ‘the King himself is in prison and so he cannot pay his foresters.
‘If they kill the deer, it is because they must have food to eat.
‘I am sure the King will understand that his people must live.’
‘Well, well, those are brave words. But you will still go to prison if we catch you.
‘Now, you can go to the kitchen and wait for Oswald.’
Mr Hetherstone turned to his daughter. ‘Patience, give Armitage something to eat.’
Edward went out and took White Billy to the stables behind the cottage, then followed Patience to the kitchen.
‘I came here for a puppy,’ he thought, ‘and I have found a Roundhead— who sends a Beverley of Arnwood to eat in the kitchen!
‘But he is sorry about the burning of Arnwood, so I don't hate him.’
Patience put food on the table. Edward thanked her and sat down to eat.
Patience smiled, and Edward saw that she was a beautiful girl.
Later, he met Oswald Partridge and saw his dogs.
Oswald was very surprised to see him. ‘I never knew Jacob had a grandson,’ he said.
‘I never knew he had a son! Are you on the King's side, like Jacob?’
‘To the death,’ replied Edward, ‘when the time comes.’
‘Ah, then you can have one of my puppies,’ Oswald said. He told Edward a bit about Mr Hetherstone.
‘He's one of Cromwell's good friends, they say, but he's not a bad man. There are some much worse than him.
‘I've kept my job, but many haven't. We must all be careful these days.’
It was now late, so Edward stayed the night in a room above the stables.
There was no bed and no door, and Edward could not sleep because he was so cold.
Soon he got up and began to walk around outside, to get warm.
There was a light upstairs at one of the windows of the Hetherstones’ cottage, which was strangely bright.
Edward watched it. He saw someone moving in the room, and suddenly he saw flames. The room was burning!
‘Fire! Fire!’ he shouted. He ran back to the stables and found a ladder.
Then he quickly climbed up it to the window, broke the glass, and got into the room.
There was smoke everywhere, and he fell over a body on the floor.
Quickly, he lifted the body and moved back to the window.
The flames were now running along the floor, getting higher and higher.
With the body in his arms, he got out onto the ladder, but the flames caught his shirt, burning his arm.
He climbed down and carried the body into the stables. There he saw that it was Patience Hetherstone.
Edward ran outside again, and saw that other people were coming with buckets of water.
There was a lot of shouting, and Edward was soon up the ladder again while others carried buckets of water up to him.
In the crowd below, Mr Hetherstone was trying to get near the ladder.
‘Save her!’ he cried. ‘My daughter's up there! She'll burn to death!’
At the top of the ladder, Edward did not hear his cries,
but a voice came from the crowd: ‘There were four burned at Arnwood.’
Mr Hetherstone fell down, his face white, and some men carried him into another cottage.
At last the fire was put out, and Edward came down the ladder.
He called Oswald and they went to the stables.
Patience was still lying on the floor, but her eyes were now open. She was alive!
They gave her some water and carried her to Oswald's cottage.
Then Edward said quietly to Oswald, ‘I shall ride home now at once.
‘Come and visit Jacob soon if you can. He's not been well all this winter.’
‘But Mr Hetherstone will want to thank you for saving his daughter's life,’ said Oswald.
‘I don't want Mr Hetherstone's thanks. I want nothing from the King's enemy,’ said Edward.
He rode home with Humphrey's puppy inside his coat.
His arm was badly burned, and it was a long time before it was better.