The King's Chameleon Read Online Free Page A

for such high stakes.’
    â€˜True. And the Brethren?’
    â€˜Must seize the day, Kit. If Monck is for the King, so be it; if not, then we must declare for Monck – for he is the deliverance for which we have long prayed – or lose what little is left to us. Monck as Protector or Monck as midwife to the King are preferable to the present state of affairs. As for our own part, there is much want among mariners, many of whom have wrecked their constitutions in the state’s service as you have yourself seen, while the shipping in the Thames is much in need of moderation – as you must surely know.’
    â€˜True; I have not found a crew worth its pay in two quarters of the year, for jack must be as good as his master, even when he cannot patch his frock!’ The two men laughed and sipped their mulled wine, staring companionably into the fire that now blazed cheerfully in the grate, a symbol of renewed hope.
    â€˜So,’ Faulkner said, after a moment’s silence, ‘am I alone in your solicitations, or is the generality of the Brethren recalled?’
    â€˜Those the whereabouts of whom we know will be summoned in the next few days,’ Harrison explained. ‘As for yourself, knowing your services to both King and Commonwealth, besides my being acquainted with your good sense …’
    â€˜Did your advocacy placate those that held me a turn-coat?’ Faulkner asked.
    Harrison shrugged. ‘There have been those who have sat affairs out atop the fence and thus slid down afterwards with no mishap to their breeches, more’s the pity of it, but there are those who, like you, have acted out of patriotism, espousing the cause they thought best for their country, and shifted their allegiance when circumstances changed.’
    â€˜Thank heaven Monck is among that number,’ Faulkner remarked ruefully.
    â€˜You served with him, did you not?’ Harrison asked.
    â€˜Aye, and with some approval, I am pleased to say. He is an able commander for all his lack of sea-time.’ Faulkner finished his pot of wine. ‘So we – the Brethren, I mean – are summoned this morning then?’
    â€˜Aye, at Whitehorse Lane, where we shall determine whether to render taxes as demanded, or join those in the City who refuse until a full Parliament, including the excluded members, has ousted the Rump.’
    â€˜Well then, I must repair upstairs and don some apparel while you enjoy another bumper.’ Faulkner summoned the maid, instructed her to refill Captain Harrison’s pot and removed himself. Ten minutes later, as a red and wintry sun rose above the mist lying along the Thames to strike the myriad of masts-trucks of the scores of merchantmen lying at the tiers, the two men left for Whitehorse Lane, Stepney.
    It was four days before Faulkner returned home, and the first thing that he did was call for Henry, only to find, as he had half-expected, the young man was absent. Those four days were followed by a fortnight in which tumultuous events followed one upon the other. The Rump Parliament, governed by a clique, held Monck to his principles of submitting to the civil power, insisting his soldiers tear down the gates of the City of London and seize eleven prominent aldermen as a punishment for the citizens’ refusal to pay the taxes demanded. As Monck’s soldiers, named Coldstreamers for the place from which they had marched, bent to their task of demolition, the assembled populace confronted Monck, shouting that they would rather let their houses be pulled down round their ears than submit to the tyranny of the Rump. Realizing the Rump was wholly unrepresentative of the country at large, Monck wrote to Westminster, demanding the Rump dissolve itself and admit the excluded members. This alone would restore some semblance of legitimacy and authority to that discredited body. The Rump responded by removing Monck’s commission as Commander-in-Chief and