The Emperor (22 page)

‘
There are advantages either way. At sea there is prize
money, and the chance of distinguishing oneself; but my
new position will enable me to make myself known to the
top men in the service, and to influence naval policy, even if
only in a small way. It's an opportunity many men would
give an arm for, and you may be sure I shan't waste it.'

‘
I'm very glad for you,' Lucy said, her expression soften
ing. 'And glad for us, too. We should have missed your
company, Mr Weston.' There was a perilous moment when
the room seemed to hold its breath, and Mary wondered
what impropriety her sister was about to commit; and then
she added with her usual cheerful frankness. 'And with two brothers and a brother-in-law in the navy, I shall be glad of a contact within the Admiralty. We shall make good use of
him, shan't we, Mary?’

*

Mary had been worried in recent weeks about Lucy's
growing intimacy with Lieutenant Weston, which seemed to
her of a different order from her friendship with Wiske or
with Brummell; not so much in its external application, for in public Lucy treated him no differently from any other of her cicisbeos, but in what she feared it might come to mean
to Lucy herself.

Chetwyn didn't seem to mind what Lucy did, or with
whom she did it, living his own life with his own friends and
occupations, and treating her, when they were together,
with exactly the same older-brother friendliness as always, so Mary had no reason to fear that a scandal was imminent.
But she was fond of Lucy, and knowing that her younger
sister's affections had never been deeply engaged, was only
afraid of their being aroused now, disastrously, by the wrong
person at the wrong time.

But that evening all her fears were banished, not by any
change in Lucy's circumstances, but by the arrival at Upper
Grosvenor Street of her husband, which left her no capacity for any feeling but joy. Captain Haworth looked very tired,
and pale under his tan.

‘
And I'm sure you are thinner. You have not been taking
proper care of yourself,' Mary said. They were in the
morning-room, locked in each others' arms, and enjoying
the first precious moments in privacy, thanks to Chetwyn's
exertions in the drawing-room, in keeping Lucy from
bursting in on them.

‘
I'm perfectly well, my darling,' Haworth said, kissing her
eyes and brow and nose in rapid succession. 'A little short of
sleep, that's all. On blockade, in those waters and at this
time of year, one is up and down every few hours for some change of course or modification of the wind; and we have
had a hard haul of it up the Channel, too. Oh, my darling, I
have missed you so much!'

‘
Not a fraction as much as I have missed you,' Mary said,
revelling in the feeling of his arms around her, the smooth
ness of his cheek, and the warm smell of his skin which she
had almost forgotten. 'At least you have been kept busy.
And you had no fears about my safety. I am used to worry
ing about shoals and rocks and hurricanes, but having to
worry about mutinies is something new.'

‘
I wasn't in the least danger from that,' he smiled down at
her. 'In fact, the whole thing was conducted almost in a
gentlemanly manner.'

‘
Gentlemanly! A strange adjective to choose,' Mary
smiled. 'What do you think will happen now?'

‘
I think, if Their Lordships have any sense at all, that they
will acceed at least to some of their demands. Most of what
the mutineers are asking is reasonable, and we can't afford
disaffection in the navy at a time like this. Give them
something, the basic things, and they'll go quietly back to
work. The steadier men, the older jacks, will see to that.'

‘Your ship was not involved, so Lucy's friend tells us.'

‘
No, my love, so there was nothing for you to fear. My crew are seasoned, and they've been too long on blockade
to feel anything but pleasure at being back in port. Besides, we hadn't been long enough in harbour for the mutineers to
contact us.'

‘
And how long do you stay this time?' Mary asked in a
small voice.

He sighed. 'Only as long as it takes me to find a new ship.
Not long, I hope.'

‘You hope!'

‘
I know, I know — it's very hard, hard for both of us. I
want to be with you, dearest; but the navy is my career, and
we are at war. I must get back to sea as soon as possible; and
yet, it breaks my heart to think of parting from you.'

‘
Oh George,' Mary said, closing her eyes against the
pricking of tears, and lifting her mouth to his. A long and
tender embrace later, he released her and turned her
towards the door, his arm round her shoulder.

‘
I ought to pay my respects to my hosts,' he said. 'By the
by, my love, I saw your brother when I was in the port-
admiral's — your brother William. Did you know that the
Pelican
was in Portsmouth? Fortunately she moved there
from Spithead before the mutiny broke out, to take a turn at
the sheer-hulk — a damaged foremast, I believe — so she was
not involved either. He was looking very well, but he tells
me your brother Harry is a little under the weather. He took
Jack's death very hard, of course. Extraordinary man, your
brother William,' he added thoughtfully as he opened the
door for his wife. 'He reminds me of a granite statue, so
huge, and hard, and unemotional; and yet, you know, my
servant on the
Cressy
tells me that he has a mistress of
whom he is very fond, and who goes everywhere with him,
for all that no-one else can see any virtue in her, for she is
not pretty, nor even particularly young.'

‘William, a mistress!' Mary exclaimed in amazement

‘
Why, yes. She's called Mrs Smith, though whether that's
her real name anyone may guess. She's a Creole, I believe —
certainly he picked her up in the West Indies. I hope you are
not shocked, Mary? She is some years older than him, I
believe, and gives all the appearance of a staid and respect
able married woman, so Dipton tells me. Do not be imagin
ing a painted lightskirt! Dipton calls her "plain and sensible",
and says she's a better sailor than most of the
Pelican's
officers.’

Mary looked up into her husband's smiling eyes, and
thrust aside all this to come to the important part of the
revelation. 'But you said she goes everywhere with him.
What can you mean by that? You mean she sails with him,
in the ship?'

‘
Yes, my love — she shares his cabin. Of course, it is
against regulations, when a vessel is operational, but it is
often done, and everyone turns a blind eye to it. The
Captain may do pretty well as he likes in his own ship, you
know, and many of them take a mistress or a wife with
them. It's surprising, I grant you, that William does — he's
known as a high-stickler of the most rigid sort — but every
man has his weakness.’

Mary actually caught his lapel and shook it in her anxiety
to have his attention. ‘Do you mean to stand there and tell me, Captain Haworth, that your brother captains take their
wives with them when they go to sea, and you have never so
much as hinted of it before? That I could have been with
you these last three years, instead of pining and fretting on
shore?’

Haworth looked at her in surprise. 'It never occurred to
me to mention it, dearest. It is very uncomfortable on board
a seventy-four. The accommodation is poor, the food worse, and we are not cruising in the West Indies, you know, where
one may have fine weather and calm seas. We are blockad
ing the French coast — foul weather, rough seas, and a great
deal of danger.'

‘
As if I should care about that, you fool,' Mary said. 'If
you endure hardships, I want to share them with you. If you
face danger, I want to he near you.'

‘My love, you can have no idea —'

‘I have a very good idea, George — remember I have two
brothers in the navy. If there is any way in which I can he
with you, I am willing to take it. What is my life to me
without you? Don't you think I would sooner be with you in
whatever conditions of hardship, than apart from you in the greatest luxury in the world? Every moment we spend apart
is time wasted to me, however I spend it.'

‘
Well, if you really feel like that,' he began, and she inter
rupted him, taking both his hands and pressing them in her
anxiety to convince him.

‘
I do, I do! Oh George, let me come with you, when you
go to sea again! I don't mind how cramped the cabin or how
poor the food, if we can be together. I won't be a nuisance –indeed, I will be a help to you, mend your clothes and cook
your food and so on.’

He lifted one of her white hands, and then turned it over,
laughing, and kissed the soft palm and unblemished finger
tips. Those hands had never done anything in their lives
more damaging than arranging flowers. 'I have servants to
do those things, my own love, and I assure you that Dipton
would not welcome any interference in his dispositions. If you come with me, it must be solely to bear me company,
and receive my love, and dine with me, and talk to me, and
sleep with me.’

She lifted her shining eyes to him, and pressed his hand
against her cheek. 'Yes,' she said. 'Oh yes, please!’

 
Harry's indisposition turned out to be chickenpox, which
necessitated his removal to the shore hospital to avoid his
infecting the whole ship. While he was in the hospital, the
Pelican
completed her refitting and sailed, and at the end of
a fortnight, Harry was sent home to recuperate until passage
could be arranged for him to rejoin his ship.

Jemima was delighted to receive her youngest son back
into the bosom of the family, and was disappointed only
that Harry refused to be coddled or nursed, despite his
looking very pale and fagged. His indisposition had not
been severe, and he bore only the faint marks of his spots
when he arrived home, but he was suffering under the
debilitation of the illness, and a lassitude of spirit, which
made him by turns mopeish and irritable.

A week of rest and good food did a great deal to restore
him to health and spirits, and it was not long before Jemima
had the pleasure of having him request permission to
accompany her on her morning ride.

‘
If you have anything that's up to my weight,' he added
with a smile. Jemima looked him over critically.

‘
Yes, I must say it puzzles me where you have this giant's
blood from. Your father was a small man,' she said.

At twenty he had grown almost as tall as William, and
was shewing something of William's heavy build, together with a roundness of face and fullness of jaw which was all
his own. In looks he was unremarkable. His hair was straight
and mouse-brown, his eyes blue-grey, and under his tan
there was a high colour in his cheeks. He had a pleasant
face, and when he was in spirits, an engaging smile, but even
Jemima's partiality could not call him better than a person
able young man.

‘
Don't worry,' Jemima reassured him. 'We've plenty of
good, plain hacks, and if none of them is big enough, I can
find you a plough horse or an ox that will do.’

Now Harry positively grinned. 'Thank you, Mama! Or a
circus elephant, perhaps?’

As Harry, like William, was an indifferent rider Jemima put him up on old Badger, the schoolmaster, who could be
trusted to look after a tyro; and, mounted on her own new
horse, a pretty dark-chestnut mare called Hazel, led the way
out of the yard.