Mary Nichols - In the Commodore's Hands

‘When are you on duty again?’

‘Tomorrow, all day,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I will come in the morning.’ He left his drink untouched and stood up. ‘Are you coming, Sam?’

‘No, I think I’ll enjoy the company a little longer,’ Sam said, winking at him.

Jay left him, glad to be out in the fresh air again and, making sure he was not followed, returned to his grandfather’s villa.

He found Sir John in his parlour waiting for him. ‘How did it go?’ he asked.

‘How did what go?’ Jay Was still thinking of the gaolers.

‘Your conversation with Lisette. Was anything decided?’

‘No. Until I have been to the gaol and seen what we are up against, I can formulate no plan. I have, however, made the acquaintance of two of the gaolers. They think I am a smuggler.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘But then, I suppose I am, although it is not brandy I’ll be smuggling, but people. If the Comte agrees to come, that is. According to Mademoiselle Giradet, he is no lover of the English.’

‘You cannot set him free simply to go home or even to go anywhere else in France. He will be picked up again in no time.’

‘I know. I am relying on mademoiselle to persuade him that he will be welcome in England. There are already hundreds of French émigrés making new lives for themselves there, they will not be alone.’

‘Lisette is a lovely girl, not the most handsome, it is true, but she is a good daughter and she and the Comte have been good friends to me, exiled as I am.’

‘How did that happen?’ Jay asked. ‘My parents never speak of it.’

‘No, they would not.’ Sir John laughed. ‘I am the black sheep of the family. I dared to side with the Pretender and voluntarily left the country shortly after the ’45 rebellion, but when the Young Pretender went to England to try to drum up support I went with him. It was a foolhardy thing to do and the only reason I escaped was because your father and Sam Roker helped me, and that on condition I never showed my face in England again.’

‘Sam Roker? You know Sam?’

‘Yes. He is the one who saw me safely on board ship.’ He chuckled. ‘Mind you, he had to knock James out to do it.’

‘Why?’

‘James was in King George’s navy and helping a fugitive would have gone ill for him had it become known. He was only prepared to do it for the great love he had for Amy, but Roker stopped him.’

‘Yes, he is a good man, a trusted retainer. I have brought him with me.’

‘I fancy he has no great affection for me.’

‘Perhaps not, but he will do anything for my parents.’

‘Your parents, they are happy together, are they?’

‘Very. Mama is one in a million and my father adores her.’

‘It has not been an easy exile,’ Sir John went on. ‘I settled here in Honfleur because so many English merchants used to use the port and I could learn a little of what was happening at home. Now, with the blockade, that doesn’t happen and I grow more homesick.’

Jay detected a wistful note in the older man’s voice and realised how hard life must have been in France when everyone he loved was in England. No wonder he had been glad of Lisette’s friendship. ‘Mademoiselle Giradet told me her mother was English.’

‘Yes. She was a Wentworth, daughter of Earl Wentworth.’ He looked up as a startled gasp escaped from Jay’s lips. ‘You know the family?’

‘I know of them.’ Jay pulled himself together. ‘Go on.’

‘The Earl was furious when she told him she wanted to marry Gervais and live in France. They cut her off without a penny, hoping it would make her change her mind, but Louise was made of sterner stuff.’ He chuckled. ‘In any case, money was not a problem because Gervais was as rich as Croesus. What he found so hard to bear, and he told me this many, many times, was that she was cut off from a family she had loved, particularly her mother, and though she never complained he knew she felt it deeply. We had that in common.’

‘And what about her daughter? Does she feel it too?’ The revelation that the woman he had come to rescue was related to the Wentworths had shocked him to the core. He felt again the fury that had engulfed him on coming home from a long voyage to find his wife absent and children alone with their governess. Miss Corton had said her mistress had been gone some days, but she did not know where she was.

‘The children have been told she is taking a little holiday with friends,’ she had said. It had been left to his mother to tell him the truth.

‘I believe she has gone to live with Gerald Wentworth at his home in Hertfordshire,’ she had said. ‘They seem not to mind the scandal.’

How Wentworth had seduced his wife he did not know, but the man could not be allowed to go unchallenged. His mother had advised against it, telling him to let sleeping dogs lie, but he had been so furious, he would not listen. The duel had been fought in the grounds of Wentworth Castle, the choice of his opponent and a poor one for him because his adversary’s friends and family were there. Nevertheless he was the better swordsman and no one interfered until he was standing over the disarmed Wentworth, sword raised to deliver the fatal blow. He found he could not do it and had walked away in disgust, with the man’s threats ringing in his ears.

The gossip had raged for months; a man did not fight a duel and then refuse to deliver the coup de grâce when it was within his power. Many laughed at him, others said he was in hiding, fearing Wentworth’s revenge for the humiliation, for it was humiliating to lose and be spared simply because one’s opponent did not have the stomach to finish it.

None of that was Mademoiselle Giradet’s fault, he scolded himself, and ought to have no bearing on the task he had been set. Once he had accomplished it, they need never meet again.

‘Lisette?’ his grandfather said, in answer to his question. ‘A little, perhaps. I can only guess. Like her mother, she does not complain.’

‘What about her brother? What can you tell me of him?’

‘He is Lisette’s twin and has been in the service of King Louis ever since he finished his education, first as a page and then a gentleman of the bedchamber. I believe it took money and influence on Gervais’s part to obtain the post for him. After all, they are not the old nobility. It was an unselfish act on the Comte’s part; he was devoted to his son and hated parting from him, but he wanted him to make his way at court and encouraged him to go. Michel is loyal to the King and, according to Lisette, would not dream of deserting him. She worries about him, but is convinced the King will be able to protect him.’

‘Do you believe that?’

Sir John shrugged. ‘Who knows? The King embraced the new constitution and that pleased the people, but then he chose to try to flee, no doubt to drum up foreign support, and that sent his popularity plummeting. He might just as well be in prison himself. I suppose while the legislature is divided on what to do about him, he is safe enough and that goes for Michel too.’

‘So mademoiselle is content to leave him behind?’

‘I think it will be hard for her, she and her brother were close as children, but her first concern at the moment is to free her father.’

‘Then we must do what we can to bring that about.’

‘What would you like me to do?’

‘Nothing at the moment, except to put your affairs in order and gather together whatever you want to take to England, but bear in mind we cannot accommodate large or heavy items; everything will have to be carried aboard the Lady Amy and we must not attract undue attention. I shall tell Mademoiselle Giradet the same thing.’