'You're looking particularly lush and well satisfied,' he greeted his elder sister with a wicked grin. ' 'Tis obvious marriage agrees with you, Fortune.' He kissed her heartily, and gave her a hug.
'A Stuart first, as Mama likes to say,' she responded with a chuckle. 'Here is my husband, Kieran Devers. Kieran, Charlie, the not-so-royal Stuart in the family.'
The two men clasped hands, sizing one another up, and immediately decided they liked one another.
'Henry will eventually be over from Cadby,' Charlie told his sister, and then said to Kieran, 'the revered eldest brother of us all.'
They moved into the house, and into the family hall where the servants were quick to bring refreshment. Settling themselves about the fire, for the June day was chill, they talked.
'Papa said you would know how to contact Lord Baltimore,' Fortune said to her brother.
'He's at Wardour Castle down in Wiltshire,' was the reply.
'How do we get there?' Kieran asked.
'Fortune will remain here,' Charlie said. 'You and I will ride down in a few days' time. I'll send ahead to gain an appointment with him, for this expedition of his is extremely popular, and he is besieged by those who are interested in going. Many, of course, are only interested in gaining lands, and then leaving them to their colonists while they return to England to live well. Cecil Calvert, like his father before him, wants responsible colonists who will remain in Mary's Land. I think you will qualify, and that, along with your ability to support yourselves, will weigh heavily in your favor. And of course because I am the king's dear nephew, and want a place for you,' he teased them both.
'And we have our own vessels,' Fortune said. 'I'm going with you, Charlie. You aren't going to leave me behind while you two have all the fun, little brother.'
'Wardour will be no place for a woman,' he protested. 'An important expedition is being set up there. It will be full of men, Fortune, and you are a respectable married woman now, for God's sake.'
'Doesn't Lord Baltimore have a wife, Charlie?'
'Aye, Lady Anne Arundel,' was the answer.
'Is she there?'
'Of course! It's her father's home,' he replied.
'Then I shall go,' Fortune said. 'You're a courtier, Charlie, and you don't really know a great deal outside of the court. And my husband is a country gentleman from Ulster, unfamiliar with English ways. I have to go. I'm the only one of us with a practical nature, and we'll need my skills at negotiation.'
'She's right,' Kieran said with a chuckle, 'but I'll not mind her company at all, Charlie.'
The young duke thought a moment, and then he grinned. 'Damn me if you aren't correct as always, sister. I'd forgotten that you are the sensible one among us. Aye, come along, but we're going to ride, Fortune. No servants, and no fancy clothing. Wardour at Tisbury is several long days' ride from Queen's Malvern. Perhaps on the way back we'll go by way of Oxton, and see India and her family.'
'Ohhh, I should like that!' his sister responded enthusiastically.
They sent word to Cadby to Henry Lindley that they were leaving for Wiltshire, and would see him when they returned. Rois and Kevin were left in the care of the Queen's Malvern servants, and the trio rode out one fine June morning. Kieran was surprised to find how capable his wife was in caring for herself. He had not realized it before, and it struck him suddenly how little he really knew Fortune. They reached Wardour Castle several days later. Fortune had never seen a building such as Wardour before. It was hexagonal in shape, and its Great Hall was laid out over its entrance.
Cecil Calvert greeted them personally. 'Charlie! 'Tis good to see you, my lord. The king is well?'
'I haven't been at court in a month,' Charlie replied. 'I've come today to ask a favor of you, Cecil. This is my sister, Lady Fortune Lindley, and her husband, Kieran Devers. Kieran was heir to a lovely little estate in Ulster until his English stepmother decided her son, Kieran's half-brother, would make Mallow Court a better master.'
'You're a Catholic?' Lord Baltimore said, his look sympathetic.
'Aye, my lord, I am,' Kieran said quietly.
'They want to go with you, Cecil,' Charlie said.
Lord Baltimore looked distressed. 'We already have more people than I had anticipated,' he said.
Now it was Fortune who spoke up. 'We have our own ships, my lord,' she said. 'My own two trading vessels. The larger I'll use for our transport. The other I intend using for the horses. We have colonists, too. Fourteen men of whom five are farmers, two fishermen, two weavers, and one each, a blacksmith, a cooper, a tanner, a shoemaker, and an apothecary. The five farmers have wives, and several children among them. All are healthy, devout, and of good character. And we have a physician, Mistress Happeth Jones, plus my two servants. We can provision all our people as well as the ship, my lord. Please, let us come with you. There is nowhere else for us to go, for while my husband is a Catholic, I am an Anglican. They say you will practice toleration of all faiths in your Mary's Land. It would seem the perfect place for us.'
Cecil Calvert looked at the lovely young woman before him. While she was dressed for riding, rather outrageously in doeskin breeches, her garments were expensive, and elegant. Her hands were the hands of a lady. Her speech refined. 'It will not be an easy place to settle, Lady Lindley,' he told her. 'You will have to build your own home, and it will be nothing, I will wager, like that which you are used to for it is a wilderness. There are other dangers too. Some of the natives are not friendly, and as prone to war as the French and the Spanish, although I hope to negotiate a peace treaty with them. You must bring everything that you need with you, and if you find you are in need of something you do not have, you will have to do without it. You will be bereft of your family, for I know from Charlie that yours is a large family. You will not see your brothers and sisters for years, if indeed you see them ever again. Are you truly certain that you would make this great journey, and live in this new world?'
'Aye,' Fortune told him bravely, 'I am, my lord.'
'I would consider it a debt owed you, Cecil,' Charlie Stuart said meaningfully.
Lord Baltimore waved his hand. 'Nay, Charlie, I am happy to offer your sister and her husband a place in my colony. They are just the kind of people I truly want. They will make something of the land given them, and they will remain to build the colony. Come with me now to my privy chamber. I will tell you what is involved, and what you will get in exchange.' He tucked Fortune's hand in his. 'I remember you, and your sister, India, at court. You were two of the prettiest young ladies there at the time. You departed, leaving behind many broken hearts.' He led them along a stone corridor, finally ushering them into a paneled room where a fire was burning merrily.
Lord Baltimore settled his guests, sitting with them. 'Now,' he said, directing his gaze to Fortune and Kieran. 'For every grant of land made by me, an oath of fealty must be sworn to me as the colony's Proprietary. You will receive a thousand acres for every five men you bring with you. As you are bringing fifteen men you will be given three thousand acres, Master Devers. I will want twenty pounds for each man transported. The women and children will not be charged. Each male colonist will receive a hundred acres for himself, and if he has a wife, one hundred acres for her in addition. Fifty-acres is assigned to each child over the age of sixteen years. They will pay twelve pence quitrent each year for every fifty acres. You will pay twenty pounds quitrent yearly.
'Each of your people must have a minimum of two hats, two suits, three pairs of stockings, shoes, one ax, one saw, one shovel, nails, one grindstone, one spit, one gridiron, a pot, a kettle, a frying pan, and seven ells of canvas. The women, of course, will take gowns, and not suits. Each man will need a musket, ten pounds of powder, ten pounds of lead, bullets, and goose shot, as well as a sword, a belt, a bandolier,
