A Divided Command (20 page)

‘I travelled a great deal, Mrs Cadogan, all over the country, in fact, and I pride myself on recognition of a person’s native location. I have heard dialects so strong that a man from one part of the country would struggle to get a tankard of ale in another. Your accent has been modified, obviously, no doubt by living here in Naples.’

‘You have an acute ear, sir.’

‘I was fairly sure of it. In fact, I felt I had heard a trace of the same, fainter than yours, in Lady Hamilton.’

‘Did you now?’ she growled.

‘I did not, I hope, say anything to offend you.’

An even deeper growl gave the lie to her response. ‘No, sir, you did not. Now I am told you are staying for supper, so an hour before, Sir William’s valet will come to shave you. In the meantime Lady Hamilton is about to take a walk in the chevalier’s English Garden and asks if you be willing to keep her company.’

‘Certainly,’ Pearce replied, there being no real choice.

‘The carriage will be outside presently.’

Emma Hamilton exited under a parasol and a large floppy bonnet to find John Pearce waiting to hand her into the open-topped carriage, the driver flicking his whip to move the horses as soon as they were both sat down. Once out of the courtyard the interior was exposed to the sun, which made the removal of that bonnet, and the laying of it on the seat, somewhat strange. But it did allow the light to play on her near mane of russet hair, which had obviously been combed to shine.

Once in the street the reason became obvious – the parasol was lifted high – for as they passed Pearce heard the cries of the locals hailing her as the Madonna, this accompanied by much papist crossing of head and breast, accolades which Lady Hamilton took with patrician grace and short thankful waves, not unlike a monarch expressing gratitude to her loyal subjects, that before she sent out a spray of small coins, causing her audience to scrabble for them.

‘It has been thus ever since I first came to Naples, Lieutenant, they see in me the image of the Virgin, whom they reverence here, and call out to say so.’

It was as well she was looking away from him for that meant she did not see his arch response. Pearce also had to suppress any verbal rejoinder, which could only have been, given her reputation, to the inappropriate nature of such a tribute, added to the notion that the money was of superior import to her supposed image.

‘It would do you no harm for you to raise your hat to the locals, Mr Pearce. A courtesy from a British officer will help cement our place in their hearts.’

‘Do we have such a place, Lady Hamilton?’

That caused her to turn, her expression one of astonishment.
‘Why yes, Sir William and I have worked assiduously to make it so.’

‘I would have thought it of more import to be popular in the palace than in the streets.’

Her voice took on a harder quality. ‘Rest assured, sir, we are, as I am sure I made plain to you before, held in high esteem there, too.’

Pearce could not avoid thinking of Nelson and nearly blurted out the depth of the man’s regard, but it was a safer ploy, he felt, to change the subject entirely from both royalty and Nelsonian admiration. ‘Your mother said we are going to the English Garden, which I must say is a name I find to be strange in such a place as this.’

‘It has been created by my husband, Mr Pearce, as a gift to His Majesty King Ferdinand. It is not unusual to find him walking there of an early evening, poor man.’

‘Poor?’

‘He is dull in the wits, a simpleton who has only two pursuits in life and neither of them having anything to do with ruling his kingdom. That he leaves to the Queen.’

‘And they are?’

The green eyes fixed him and there was a trace of amusement at the very edges of her lips.

‘The chase, at which he is as wild as the beasts he hunts, Lieutenant, and copulation, at which he is relentless and quite lacking in discrimination, which is why I asked that you should accompany me. I hope I do not shock you?’

‘You need protection from the King?’ Pearce replied, refusing to be drawn.

‘Only in the nature of having company, sir, which serves to contain his more outré habits. His Majesty, if he comes
across a lone female, and this has happened to me, is wont to expose himself and I do assure you he is massively endowed and naturally priapic, so it is quite alarming even to a woman of experience.’

Pearce was wondering where this was leading, so he changed the subject once more. ‘I do hope I did not upset your mother.’

‘In what way?’

‘I identified that she came from the north-west of England, which has a particular mode of speech.’

‘She does, so it would hardly be likely to cause offence.’

‘I think it was when I referred to a trace in your own voice of the same.’

‘Ah’ was all she said, this as the carriage passed under an arch and into an open area, gravelled and home to scores of like conveyances.

‘Here we are, sir, at Sir William’s garden, which, as you can see, is very popular.’

Looking around Pearce observed the very same trees he might have seen at home: pines, elms, an oak that was well on the way to maturity, hazel and bushes and shrubs clearly imported from England, all arranged to provide cool walkways and paths down which to promenade. His hostess had to be handed down and as she made the ground she smiled at him.

‘We shall walk, Lieutenant Pearce, and perhaps take a seat in one of the arbours Sir William has created, where it will be cool.’

‘Delighted,’ he replied, even if he was far from it.

‘And as we walk, Mr Pearce, do not fear to take my arm, for it is a comfort to a lady to have the aid of a man in pleasant pursuits.’

That had him remarking on the trees, to avoid any mistake of interpretation. What followed was a passage of greetings and nods as he and Emma Hamilton passed several groups, including couples, engaged in the same pursuit of taking the cooler evening air, with she giving him quiet asides as to the connections of those they had just passed. Such and such were lovers of long-standing, that fellow has several mistresses, the lady with him being only one. There was only one pair she identified as being wed and when he referred to the singularity of that she laughed.

‘Fidelity is in short supply in this part of the world, Lieutenant Pearce. Now, here is a spot of which I am fond, where we will be hidden from the common gaze and where we can take a seat.’

With that she led him into a shaded arbour that had a small Doric temple at its heart, of the kind he had seen at Versailles; so much for an English garden, though it had to be admitted they were common in those too. The seat was marble and once Lady Hamilton had seated herself and arranged her dress she invited him to join her by patting the spot by her side.

‘This gives me a perfect opportunity to give to you this letter,’ Pearce said, pulling the missive from his pocket. ‘It is a private communication from Commodore Nelson.’

John Pearce had no idea if this lady had in mind what he feared. What he did know was that in presenting Nelson’s letter, he had entirely removed the possibility that it might be seduction.

O’Hagan was sure that Emily Barclay had gone as far as to actually book a passage; at the house of the Jewish moneylender he had waited outside, so had no idea of what she had offered for cash and how much she had received. Again, at the trading house the conversation had been so
sotto voce
as to render him no more than a part witness, though the word ‘Palermo’ was mentioned several times, not that it made any sense to him.

In the boat and rowing out to
HMS Larcher
she said nothing, but had an air about her that pointed to a clear notion of what was to follow, this confirmed when, back aboard, she called him into the tiny cabin where the Irishman found her packing her chest.

‘As you can see, Michael, I have elected to leave the ship.’

‘And the man who commands it.’

If Emily replied with a yes, it had no force in it and she turned enough away to avoid him seeing her face, her reply then continuing in a voice cracked with emotion. ‘I feel I do not have a choice.’

‘Sure, it’s not for me to pronounce on the way other folks live their lives.’

The eyes that turned on him then were, as he had suspected, damp. ‘Yet I am not the only one who holds him in deep affection.’

‘When a man does what John-boy has on my behalf, it would be unnatural not to care. Same goes for Rufus and Charlie.’

‘It is more than that, Michael.’

‘There’s truth there.’

‘I will go home to England, and if God wills it, then John will return to me there. I will need this shipped over to the merchant vessel on which I am to take passage. She is called the
Sandown Castle
and is anchored just off the Castel dell’Ovo, which is that large fort on the seafront.’

‘Now?’

‘Shortly, for she is to weigh at dawn.’

‘Do you not intend to wait until John-boy comes back on board?’

She produced a wan smile. ‘A coward would not.’

‘I know you too well to think of you in that manner.’

‘I will wait and I am sure when John comes back he will urge me to stay in Naples, insisting it will only be of short duration, and we both know how persuasive he can be. The fact that my chest is gone will strengthen my resolve to resist his blandishments, and it is for the best.’

Her voice quickened, as if she feared he might act in argument as a Pearce surrogate.

‘I can only hamper him! He may loathe the King’s Navy with every fibre of his being, Michael, but it is an occupation and one of the few open to a man of his talents. How can
he pursue that with the constant thought in the back of his mind that I might not be happy, indeed might not be safe from opprobrium, as was the case in Leghorn? And what, if he does not derive a living from the navy, will he do?’

Michael’s mind went back to the day off Leghorn when Pearce had handed him some coin, whereas before he would have handed over his purse and trusted Michael not to be greedy. That was as good a way of saying he needed to be careful with his money; this from a man who, as long as he had some, had previously been indifferent.

If he was not privy to every detail of the standing of his friend – John Pearce played such things close – Michael knew it was not strong. There was prize money from the taking of the
Valmy
, but that was locked up in a dispute between the two captains who had been involved in its capture, this while Pearce applied likewise through the court for a bigger share than he had been so far allotted, that of a midshipman instead of an able seaman.

If he had been flush on their last trip to the Vendée it had been because he had government money to spend, and there was half a hint the man who had gifted it to him was not happy with the way for which it had been accounted, so perhaps he was burdened there, so all that could be said as truth was his credit was good. Michael O’Hagan had been poor enough in his own life, and flush as well, to know how quickly a man could go from one to the other.

‘He will worry about how you are going to see to your needs, Mrs Barclay.’

In the name, which she had come to detest, lay one solution: she still had evidence that could put her husband in the dock, enough to extract from him the means to live in
comfort if not luxury, though to say so to John Pearce was to make him livid. That being really none of Michael’s business, though his concern was warming, she gave a reply that she knew would mollify him, the same one she had prepared for the man she was leaving.

‘I know that John has a good line of credit from Mr Davidson, his prize agent, and he has his naval pay. I am sure he will not object to me drawing on those. If you want no part of shifting my chest, I will ask of Mr Dorling.’

‘Which, as the saints know, is a good way to put the poor man in a tight spot.’

Seeing that to be as good as acquiescence Emily thanked Michael heartily, though she resisted the temptation to do what she really wanted and kiss him on the cheek.

The production of Nelson’s letter had put paid to any attempt at dalliance contemplated by Emma Hamilton. Not that Pearce had been sure it was her intention; perhaps what had taken place, the coming into the cool arbour, had been genuine or at the very worst just another manifestation of her desire – almost a need – to flirt. Yet when he sat down he ensured a decent space between them.

‘You did not see fit to give this to me when we first met?’

‘Your husband was present.’

That made her frown. ‘And what difference would that make?’

‘Commodore Nelson was most insistent that it should be passed to you without Sir William knowing.’

The way she burst out laughing was so unladylike that it had Pearce warming to her, for if he had found her a troubling companion, that lack of stuffiness he had noticed
on first encounter was something to be admired, it being so very un-English. Love Emily as he might, she would never have referred to the King’s endowment in the same manner as this lady, for it did not just border on vulgarity, it so readily surpassed it.

‘The poor man, he is so very smitten.’

The silent thought was obvious for he had seen the commodore mooning over a rather florid opera singer. And not just by you, milady!

‘Commodore, you say?’ Pearce nodded. ‘Captain Nelson came to Naples for three days, in which we entertained him as we must, while we collectively sought supplies for the effort at Toulon. Sir William was most unusually taken with him, and that on their very first meeting. Claimed him to be a new Sir Francis Drake, so acute was his perception of what was needed to defeat France.’

‘And you, Lady Hamilton?’

‘I liked him, but I found the way he sought to engage my eye when he thought no one was looking a trifle tiresome.’

Pearce could not resist it. ‘You do not approve of admiration?’

That had those green eyes narrow. ‘Am I being teased, sir?’

‘Only slightly.’

‘You intrigue me, Lieutenant,’ she said with some force, as she waved Nelson’s letter. ‘You will readily understand that you are not the sole naval officer to visit us; indeed, over the years there have been many.
Au fond
they tend to be gauche fellows – awkward, in fact, and not at home in domestic surroundings.’

‘Is the Palazzo Sessa such a thing?’

‘Oh, it is grand, that I will admit, but I feel it would not
matter if it was an English farmhouse. I am inclined to think that the men who officer the King’s Navy are only at home on their ships, for once ashore they turn into blushing boobies who seem to possess two left feet, added to the inability to speak without a stammer.’

‘A ship’s deck is no place in which to refine your manners or your conversation.’

‘A fact, I am sure, but one that does not apply to you.’

‘Am I in receipt of a compliment or a slight?’

Pearce’s smile took the sting out of that question and Lady Hamilton responded with another peal of laughter. ‘There you are, Lieutenant, quite able to hold your own, though sailors at least are famed for skill at that.’

The double meaning of that had her putting her hand to her mouth in mock horror, which dented the rising opinion Pearce had of her. Determined not to let her get away with what was pure mischief, he decided not to be outdone.

‘We have less need of that than the King of Naples, it seems.’

‘Sir!’ she exclaimed, pretending to be shocked.

‘Me even less,’ Pearce added, ‘being as I am heavily committed to a certain lady.’

‘You have a lover?’

‘I do and she has a husband.’

There was calculation in letting that out: this woman could be a help to Emily in what was a strange city and she would surely not demur, given her previous allusion to the common lack of fidelity, to their present estate, this confirmed by what followed.

‘I think, in being so open about it, Mr Pearce, you would
not find yourself out of place in the society of Naples.’ That said, she stood and proffered her arm. ‘Time we went back to Sir William, don’t you think?’

Unbeknown to Emily Barclay, fretting aboard
HMS Larcher
as the day faded into night, her lover was having a fine if simple dinner with the Hamiltons and, as requested, he gave Sir William a first-hand account of the debacle at Toulon, not forgetting to add that if the government at home had chosen to support Lord Hood, instead of sending off an expedition to the Caribbean, the British and their allies might hold the port still.

‘For the place could only be held with a strong commitment of troops.’

‘Never underestimate the power of the sugar lobby, Mr Pearce. They have the ear of the men in power for they have deep pockets. Added to that, King George frets that having lost America, he might also lose the likes of Jamaica.’

‘To the Jonathans?’

Sir William smiled. ‘To anyone, the French included, but that does not preclude the fledgling democracy.’

‘Unlikely sir, I know little of the new United States but I am aware they have no navy.’

‘They don’t have much of anything, from what I hear, and since we banned them trading with the Caribbean colonies it is rumoured they are on their uppers, which has my old friend dreaming that they might be recovered one day.’

‘You were a friend of King George I recall.’

‘While I recall telling you what a rakehell he was, Mr Pearce, never out of some bedchamber or other and forever setting the poor watchmen by their ears. And drink, you never saw the like.’

‘And him being so famously upright now.’

‘Upright and half mad,’ Lady Hamilton snapped. ‘Talking to trees and the like.’

It was impossible not to hear the voice of his dead father then, railing against a system that allowed a man to rule who could not talk sense, with the alternative an heir universally held to be an utter fool. The state paid to keep them in luxury while the common folk lived on the edge of starvation.

‘Perhaps you know, Sir William, for I do not, if he is fully recovered?’

‘No, George Rex will not speak with me any more, he has become such a pious booby. We discussed on your last visit how he denies to his sons that in which he indulged himself and thus ensures the one fate that awaits all rulers.’ The question was on the face of his guest. ‘That is that the man designated to succeed them should hold them in contempt. It has been thus since ancient times.’

That was only worth a nod and a sip of wine.

‘I am a student of the classical age, Mr Pearce.’

‘For which you are justly famous, sir, as are your finds.’

That got the old man glowing and he was off on the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, where he went frequently to dig. ‘Though scraping would be a better description, sir, for the ruins are delicate. Not the structures, so much, as the art to be found on the walls and the objects that must be gently prised from the thick bed of lava.’

‘You must show the lieutenant your latest finds, husband.’

‘Only if he would care to see them.’

‘I would be honoured, sir.’

Emma suppressed a yawn. ‘Then you will forgive me leaving you gentlemen to that.’

‘My dear,’ Sir William replied, solicitously. ‘You are not fatigued.’

‘No, but I have had a private letter from Commodore Nelson, discretely delivered by Lieutenant Pearce. He has been given a pennant of that rank you know …’

‘I do, my love, he told me in the letter he sent to me.’

Pearce was watching them both, seeking to discern if the news of the private letter to his wife caused Sir William any anxiety, but there was none.

‘I dare say,’ Sir William continued, with a wry smile, ‘he sent you his undying affection once more?’

‘Suffice to say,’ his wife responded, in what Pearce took to be an intimate jest, ‘his ardour seems to have moved to a higher plane, so much so that he fears for you to be privy to it.’

‘How little he really knows me, my dear.’

‘True and it is yours to read if you so desire.’

‘I would not dream of doing so, unless it is your wish.’

‘Let us see what he has to say,’ Emma replied with an indulgent smile, before turning to Pearce. ‘Lieutenant, I bid you good night and if I do not see you of the morning I wish you bon voyage.’

Both men were on their feet as she stood, Pearce bowing. Her husband spoke as she left the room and Pearce was not sure she was out of earshot.

‘My wife was quite taken with Nelson, which surprised me, for much as I admire his acuity when it comes to a strategy in fighting the French, I do not see him as a cooing swain of the type to tug at the heart of a woman of experience.’

‘You do not object that he chooses on this occasion to write to your wife without your knowledge?’

‘Good Lord No!’ He seemed shocked by the question, though Pearce thought that a touch exaggerated. ‘What gentleman could possibly object to another man finding his wife attractive, and who, Lieutenant, would want to live with such a creature? I have known men, friends even, who have seen fit to tie themselves to ladies not of unsurpassing comeliness to avoid anxiety and never seen the sense of it, jealousy being such a tedious emotion. Now, bring your wine and prepare to be entertained, for I will show you that the ancients had no such concerns.’