“Here’s what I think about all this, Darryl. I think we ought to avoid making the mistake all these goofy kings and cardinals are making. I don’t think we can ‘read history’ any better than anybody else.”
He gave Darryl a glance. “You with me so far?”
“Yeah, sure. I agree.” And he did, too. That much he could say firmly.
“Then why don’t we start by forgetting all about some guy named ‘Oliver Cromwell’? Who lived in another universe, and did this-and-that when he was a man in his forties and fifties, under the conditions of another world. Why don’t we concentrate instead on the man we know, a little bit, at least—in this world that we’ve been busy as bees trying to change. The man who’s squatting in a cell not far from here. How’s that grab you?”
Darryl thought about it, for a moment. “Okay. I’ll buy that.”
“Then let’s consider that man. A man in his early thirties, who’s done nothing so far in his life except irritate his king in a parliament a while back, raise a family—raise ’em well, too, not even his enemies ever tried to claim Cromwell wasn’t a good family man—and led some dirt-poor fenmen in their fight against a bunch of land-grabbing rich gentry in his part of England. Who now finds himself in a dungeon because a genuinely foul and treacherous and stinking-rotten king of England is scared of what he might do years from now. Filled with grief because his wife and son were murdered before his very eyes. You got a problem with that man, hillbilly?”
The clarity came with relief. “Hell, no. My kinda guy.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. Mine too. To hell with ‘predestination,’ Darryl. A man is what a man does—what he does. And there’s an end to it.”
“I’m with you on that. All the way.”
Darryl stuck out his hand. Tom’s big one closed over it. For a moment, a son of Appalachian coal miners made the power salute with a scion of one of Appalachia’s wealthiest families. But Darryl missed the irony of it completely. Tom Simpson, too, had long since become his kinda guy. And Darryl, whatever his other faults, was one of those country boys who didn’t look back.
“So. We gonna spring him, then? For real?”
“That’s the plan.” Tom shrugged. “Whenever we decide to spring ourselves, anyway. Won’t be for quite a while, though, if ever. Mike told us to stay put till we hear otherwise. If nothing else, we’re a source of valuable information. Besides, winter’s coming. I don’t know about you, but speaking for myself—”
Tom grinned wryly, and gestured with his head toward the fireplace which dominated the room. It was a big fireplace. A king-sized one, actually. In real and actual fact, not the fancies of Madison Avenue. Three hundred and fifty years earlier, King Edward I had warmed his bones before its flames.
Darryl made a little thumbs-up. “I’m with you there, too. Screw winter. Spring’s when a young man’s fancy turns to wine, women and taking it on the lam.”
Tom smiled and clapped Darryl on the shoulder. Fortunately, he didn’t put much into it. “So. Any other questions?”
Darryl’s brow wrinkled. “Well, yeah, now that you mention it. I mean—I’m not objecting, you understand—but, uh, given what you just said, why are we planning to spring the guy? It’s a bit risky, and if he’s nobody in this universe—” Darryl’s lips tightened. “Not that I’m worried about the risk. Piss on these sorry English bastards. But . . .”
Tom’s smile was now serene. “I said I didn’t believe in predestination, Darryl. I do, on the other hand, believe in personal character. So does Melissa.” He gestured with his thumb toward the Chapel Tower, where Cromwell was immured. “And that man has character coming out of his ears, don’t think he doesn’t.”
The smile faded. “Here’s what I do know about the man called Oliver Cromwell, Darryl. His deeds are one thing, the man who could do them, another. And in that other world, he wasn’t just a great general. He was also a devoted husband and father. A man who, by the standards of his time, was tolerant on matters of religion. It’s not an accident, you know, that Cromwell was the first ruler of England in centuries who considered removing the ban on Jews. Who, once he became dictator of England—more because of circumstance than because of any lust for power—ruled as much as possible with the consent of others.” A brief flash of teeth. “Well . . . some others. He gave royalists short shrift. Still, he was no autocrat, Darryl. Ruthless he might be, when he felt it necessary. But he was never given to tyranny for its own sake.”