Simon Scarrow - Fire and Sword

The coach soon emerged from the trees and entered the first of the villages that were slowly being swallowed up and overwhelmed by the sprawling capital. The cottages and small shops gradually gave way to dense housing that rose up on either side, crowding the cobbled streets. Occasionally the coach passed workhouses and the premises of small industries from whose chimneys smoke belched into the sky, adding to the brown pall hanging over London. At length they arrived at the yard of the coach station in Chelsea, and after a curt farewell to Mr Jardine Arthur tipped a porter to carry his travel case to one of the cabs waiting out in the street. The rest of his baggage was in the hold of the Indiaman and would be sent on to London as soon as it was unloaded.

‘Cavendish Square, if you please,’ Arthur called up to the cabby as he climbed aboard and pulled the small door to.

‘Aye, sir!’ The cabby nodded, and then flicked the reins, urging his horse forward. The cab rattled out into the traffic passing along the crowded thoroughfare. At once Arthur was struck by the stark difference between the streets of London and those he had become used to in India.As a boy, his family had mostly lived in the countryside of Ireland, and Arthur had been horrified by the squalor and the smoky, sweaty odours of Dublin and then London. But he had quickly become used to them, just as he had become used to the appalling poverty and stench of the primitive slums of Indian cities. Now he measured London by a new standard and marvelled at the obvious wealth of the capital and the fine facades it presented to the paved and cobbled streets.

As the cab turned into Cavendish Square, Arthur’s mind turned to his family. The house that his mother rented was in a street off the square. It was modest by the standards of the aristocracy, but Anne Wellesley had been saddled with debts after her husband had died and what little was left of her private fortune was supplemented by loans from her sons. Arthur wondered what kind of greeting she would offer him after an absence of a decade.They had not parted on good terms, mostly because they had never been on good terms. She had regarded Arthur as the least able, and most indolent, of her sons, and had always been cold with him. Now that he was a major-general and the hero of Assaye he wondered if his stock with her might have risen. Would she now embrace him and hold him in the same regard as Richard,William and Henry?

Arthur rapped the side of the cab and called to the driver. ‘Stop here!’

The cab pulled up and Arthur stepped out on to the street in front of his mother’s house, straightening his jacket as he waited for the driver to bring his travelling case down from the roof. Then, taking a deep breath, he climbed the steps and rapped the brass knocker sharply.There was a short delay before he heard footsteps inside and the door opened to reveal a footman.

‘Yes, sir?’

‘I am Arthur Wellesley. Is my mother at home?’

The footman scrutinised his face for a moment before he nodded and stood aside.

‘Yes, Sir Arthur, my lady is at home. If you would care to wait in the front parlour I will see to your luggage and inform Lady Mornington of your arrival.’

Arthur nodded, paid off the cab driver, and made for the parlour as the footman brought his bags in.The floor of the parlour was carpeted and the furniture was neat and expensive. Clearly his mother had done well out of her sons’ improved financial standing, Arthur mused. He took a seat and glanced round the walls. Above the fireplace were a series of small portraits of his brothers and sister, beneath a larger picture of his father, but no picture of Arthur.

Before his thoughts could become more melancholy, the door opened and his mother stepped into the room.Anne Wellesley was more gaunt than he recalled.Ten years had hardened the lines in her face and her bright eyes had sunk a little further into their sockets. She stood and examined him in turn.

‘You don’t look well,’ she said abruptly. ‘Your hair is cropped too close and your complexion is altogether too common and ruddy, as if you had been working the fields alongside common labourers.’

Arthur smiled faintly as he rose to his feet.‘It’s good to see you again too, Mother.’ He crossed the room and leaned forward to kiss the cheek she offered him. She forced a smile and took his hand.

‘It has been a long time, Arthur. Too long, perhaps.You did not write to me very often.’ Her tone was hurt, or affected to be hurt, Arthur thought.

‘You hardly wrote to me either, Mother.’

‘I was busy.A mother has to spend her time watching over her whole family. I did not have time to write in detail to every one of my children.’

It was a lame excuse and Arthur felt his heart harden a little.Ten years appeared to have changed very little between them. She gestured to the two seats opposite the fireplace. ‘Sit down. I have asked for tea to be served to us. I expect you will want to stay here for some time, while you find your feet in London.’

‘Yes, Mother. If that would not be too much of an imposition.’

‘Of course not,’ she shot back.‘And now that you are here I will send word to William and the others to let them know you have returned. They will want to see you again.’

‘And I them.’

‘Yes, I am sure you will have plenty of tales to relate of your adventures amongst the savages.You and Richard may have had a high time of it in India, but you have stirred up a veritable wasps’ nest of criticism back here in London.’

‘I gathered something of it from the newspapers I read on the voyage back.’

‘It seems that not everyone is appreciative of your efforts on behalf of the nation. The East India Company is furious over the cost of Richard’s wars in the subcontinent.’

‘War is an expensive business.’

‘Perhaps, but there are men in Parliament who say that Britain needs every penny just to continue the fight here in Europe.’ She pursed her lips. ‘It doesn’t help Richard’s case that he is reported to have been lavishing every luxury on himself out of the public purse.’

‘If that’s all they are saying I am not unduly concerned.’ Arthur shrugged. ‘Some people are envious, others are malicious and the rest are merely ill-informed. I shall make the case on Richard’s behalf until he gets back.’

‘Well, you had better make a better go of it than William has managed thus far. At times it has been as if Parliament was a pack of hounds baying for the blood of our family. Speaking of which, there was a message for you this morning, from the Colonial Office in Downing Street.You are required to attend Lord Castlereagh’s office at your earliest convenience. It seems that news of your arrival preceded you.’

‘By God, that was quick. Word must have been sent the moment I landed.’

‘Then the powers that be are wasting no time in calling you to account.’ Lady Mornington leaned forward. ‘Be careful, Arthur.You are a soldier amongst politicians.You are out of your league. Do nothing to embarrass the fortunes of the family.’

Arthur stared at her for a moment, his heart filled with bitterness at her obvious disregard for his qualities. He swallowed and replied tersely, ‘I will not discredit the name of Wellesley, Mother. I never have. And I never will, and I pray that we both live to see the day when you regard me with pride.’

Anne Wellesley smiled faintly.‘I hope so. Now, you’d better go. Don’t make a hash of it.’

Chapter 5

In Downing Street, Arthur made directly for the office of Lord Castlereagh, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Arthur was surprised to find that his heart was beating fast and that he felt apprehensive over the coming interrogation, assuming that was the reason for his summons. It was strange, he thought, how he had faced shot and shell on the battlefield with less trepidation. Or was it that he had been so acutely focused on his duties as commander that there was no time for fear? Arthur had long since mastered the art of hiding his emotions, and he did so now when he approached the clerk seated at the large desk in the main hall of the Colonial Office.