Edward Marston - Fire and Sword

‘Stop fussing over me,’ said Marlborough, good-humouredly. ‘You’re sounding like my dear wife. If I so much as cough, she thinks that I’m about to expire. Take heart, Adam,’ he went on, ‘I’m not nearly as bad as I must look.’

Though he recognised it as a patent lie, Cardonnel said nothing. Nobody had been in such constant contact with Marlborough as his secretary and he’d been able to gauge the steady deterioration of the other’s health. More worryingly, he’d also seen him sink lower and lower into melancholy. Physical exhaustion was matched by a mental fatigue that had taken its toll on Marlborough’s brimming confidence. There’d been moments when he’d lapsed into unqualified despair.

For his part, Marlborough steeled himself to withstand the drumming inside his head and the creeping heat that turned his body into a furnace. In the face of a daring French strategy, he’d been found wanting and that had inflicted a deep wound on his pride. Accustomed to receiving unstinting praise, he was now being roundly condemned in some quarters. Ordinarily, when he walked around his camp, he floated on a wave of respect and affection. Both, he feared, had been forfeited. Silent reproach from his officers could be borne far more easily than his loss of esteem among the common soldiers. Corporal John had to earn back their regard immediately.

As Marlborough was about to leave, Cardonnel had a request.

‘At the very least, travel in your coach,’ he said.

‘No, Adam,’ replied Marlborough, stoically. ‘I need to ride at the head of the army. I have to be seen.’

The hasty departure meant that Daniel had little time to take his leave of Amalia Janssen. While he was going in one direction, she was about to be taken back to Amsterdam with an armed guard.

‘When will I see you again?’ she asked.

‘It may not be for some time, Amalia,’ he warned.

‘Please write to me, if you can.’

‘I’ll endeavour to do so.’

She took his hands. ‘I’m sorry that I caused so much trouble.’

‘You caused none at all,’ he said.

‘I let myself be taken as a hostage, Daniel. That put your life in danger and I still shudder when I think about it.’

‘You didn’t get kidnapped deliberately.’

‘Nevertheless, I put you to a lot of trouble.’

Daniel smiled. ‘Coming to your rescue was no trouble at all, Amalia,’ he said. ‘My only regret is that I brought Mademoiselle Prunier with us. I should have left her with her paymasters.’ He looked over his shoulder as another regiment marched past. ‘I’ll have to go now. Think of me.’

‘Nothing could stop me doing that.’

‘Have a safe journey!’

‘Thank you,’ she said, ‘but I’m far more concerned about your safety than mine. You could be involved in a battle.’

‘I’m ready for it,’ he said, patting the sword that hung by his side. ‘Now that I have this back, I can’t wait for action in the field.’

Amalia trembled. ‘It worries me when you talk like that.’

‘Then don’t listen to what I say.’

‘You seem to welcome danger.’

‘The only thing I welcome is an end to this interminable war,’ he told her, ‘and I’m prepared to do anything I can to bring it about. Only then can I think about spending more time with you, Amalia.’

She squeezed his hands. ‘Good luck, Daniel!’

‘I was hoping for a farewell kiss.’

‘You don’t need to hope,’ she said with a laugh.

‘Thank you — this is the best way to part.’

Enfolding her in his arms, he gave her a long, lingering kiss, relishing every luscious second of it and ignoring the envious jeers of the soldiers who went swiftly past them.

One thing for which Marlborough’s soldiers were justly famed was their ability to put on a superb display of forced marching. They kept their shape, negotiated any undulations in their path with ease and maintained a considerable speed. Indeed, they moved so fast that they almost caught the French army in two separate columns halfway between Tubize and Ninove. In the event, all that the French rearguard lost was its baggage. The duc de Vendome saw it a reason for congratulation.

‘We fooled them again,’ he said, chortling. ‘We flourished our colours in the scrub and gave the impression that our entire army was about to give battle. That made them back off at once.’

‘Marlborough has been tricked once more,’ said Burgundy, sipping a celebratory glass of wine. ‘That won’t improve his temper.’

‘Or his health, for that matter — he’s a sick man.’

‘Is that what your intelligencer told you?’

‘Sophie Prunier — Madame Bouteron, I should say — met him in person. She said how old and ill he appeared.’

‘We’re not here to act as his physicians, my lord Duke. A sick commander is a serious handicap. We must exploit his weakness to the limit. The best way to do that, I feel, is to lay siege to Menin.’

‘That would take us farther west,’ argued Vendome, ‘and our real destination should be Oudenarde. Seize that and we’d have complete control of the central part of the Scheldt before the Allies have time to bring in reinforcements.’

‘I still favour Menin as our target.’

‘Then I beg you to reconsider, my lord. Our first task should be to occupy the river crossings at Lessines. That would prevent the enemy from getting over the river and severing our communications with Lille and Tournai.’

‘I’ve taken that into account.’

‘Then respond accordingly.’

‘You advice is welcome,’ said Burgundy with a lordly smile, ‘but I choose to disregard it in this instance.’

Vendome bristled. ‘Oudenarde has to take priority over Menin.’

‘That’s for me to decide.’

‘It’s the crucial fortress town on the Scheldt. Until we capture it, the Allies will always be masters of that stretch of the river.’

‘I know that, my lord,’ said Burgundy, irritably, ‘and I promise you that we’ll attack it in due course. Before that, however, I wish to invest Menin.’

‘That operation would divert too many of our men.’

‘Yet I find myself minded to attempt it.’

‘After we occupy the crossings at Lessines,’ insisted Vendome, ‘and after Oudenarde has fallen. Everything must be done in order. Even you must accept that.’

Burgundy was brusque. ‘I wish that you wouldn’t keep questioning my decisions, my lord Duke,’ he said.

‘If you made the right ones, there’d be no need to question them.’

‘I take that as an insult.’

‘It was not meant to be,’ said Vendome, trying to smother his rising fury under a pillow of politeness. ‘I defer to you at all times and, as we’ve shown, we can devise a strategy that’s both guileful and effective. On this point, however, there’s a diversity of opinion. May I suggest that you consult the other generals? I think you’ll find that they’ll agree to a man with me.’

‘I refuse to wage war by means of a show of hands,’ snapped Burgundy, putting his glass down on the table. ‘That has echoes of democracy about it and there’s nothing I abhor more than that. I don’t deny that most of the generals would side with you. It’s only natural that old friends will support you against someone less seasoned.’

‘They will see exactly what I see, my lord.’

‘Then they are looking in the wrong direction. What they should bear in mind is that I was appointed by His Majesty to lead this army and my orders are above reproach.’

‘I accept that,’ said Vendome in a voice that contained no hint whatsoever of acceptance. ‘I just ask you to depend for once on my experience in the field.’

‘Menin must come before Oudenarde.’