A King`s Commander l-7

by Dewey Lambdin

"Better the temporary dictator, signore, from the old neighborhood," Lewrie said with a grin, "than the eternal conqueror from France."

  "Ah ha!" di Silvano barked of a sudden, hands on his hips, and seeming terribly pleased with himself.

  Have I stepped in the horse turds, Lewrie thought; again? He's too damn' pleased for my liking. I must have fallen into a trap he's laid, some subtle debater's ruse, or… When he'd sailed to Naples, he'd been presented to King Ferdinand in his fried-fish shop, told him a tale of British derring-do that had bucked him up, gotten Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into the Coalition. Well, that'd been arranged sub rosa long before, but he had added the last straw to the camel's load, hadn't he? Perhaps tonight, he could cajole Genoa…?

  "I mean… what could a united Italian army not do, were their kings and princes of the same mind, sir?" Lewrie added quickly, with a view to backing off.

  "Perhaps, Signore Lewrie… rid ourselves of Germans, at last?" the senator hinted.

  "Rid yourselves of a plague of Frogs, first, sir," Lewrie said. "Then, were you of a mind…"

  "Even though our days of glory are long gone, signore? You say Cincin-natus at his plough. Yet, our modern-day Cincinnatuses will not leave their fields to defend the soil. They wish to rest." His host almost sneered. "A man of his hands, and of his head. Si, a modern Marius or Caesar is what we need. But where are we to find him?"

  "Well, that's pretty much up to you, sir," Lewrie allowed.

  "Up to me?" di Silvano replied, turning almost teasing. "Up to me personally, signore?"

  "Well, you and your fellow senators, Signore di Silvano." Alan shrugged, reaching for another shrimp on his plate, at long last. With a generous dredge through the kai-t'sap. "I'd expect you'd know your fellow Italians best."

  "You surprise me, Signore Lewrie." The senator beamed elatedly. "You really do. I would not think an Englishman…"

  "Ah, Your Excellency!" Drake bellowed, finally coming to Alan's rescue through a purposely maddening maze of strollers and wine-bibbers. "Have you and the commander been having a good chat?"

  "A most excellent one, Signore Drake," di Silvano assured him with a pleased purr. "Though he gives me no reassurances for the poor people of the Riviera, my fellow Genoese. But that…"

  "But that, Marcello," Claudia Mastandrea interjected with a moue of boredom, and a sulky tone, "is best taken up with the good Signore Drake, or his ammiraglio piccolo. Politics, Marcello!" She pouted. "They bore me. And you must argue with Comandante Lewrie… a guest!"

  "Our squadron commander, you mean, signorina?" Drake amended.

  "Signore Nelson," she said, turning to him with a sly expression. "Si, he is piccolo. A very little ammiraglio."

  Lewrie coughed some kai-fsap up his nose as he snorted in appreciation of her wordplay. Piccolo, he thought; have to remember it! Horatio Piccolo, haw haw!

  "Scusa, Signore Lewrie," di Silvano offered, reaching across to shake his hand right manly and gentlemanly. "My enthusiasm, my concern… we must speak again. Of Rome and its past glories. Of a new Rome, and its possibilities. Most intriguing."

  "I should be delighted, Your Excellency." Lewrie beamed, glad to be free.

  "You will allow the Comandante Lewrie to escort me, Marcello?" Signorina Mastandrea cajoled. "He is in need of more wine. As am I."

  "But of course, cara mнa, of course," di Silvano said magnanimously. "You will be in the care of a fine English gentleman."

  Thankee, Jesus, Alan exulted! No, wait Maybe not, there's… well… oh, to hell with it!

  He put down his plate, offered the crook of his arm to her once around the table, upon which she could rest her forearm and hand.

  "I apologize for Marcello, Signore Comandante," she said, with a delicious tilt of her head in his direction, an intimate, conspiratorial tilt, revealing strands of strawberry-gold blond hair peeking from beneath her high-piled white wig. Huzzah, she is a blonde, he smirked! "He must be seen concerned, you know. He has many estates, now taken by the French, many paisans depending on him as their protector he cannot help, until the French are driven away. But he must show concern for the welfare of all of the people of the Riviera, since none of this was Genoa 's doing. Your embargo, or the French occupation."

  "I quite understand, signorina. Though it was a bit touch-and-go there, for a bit." Lewrie decided to shrug off. "I still don't understand why, though, your senator, and his fellows, won't take steps."

  "To complain against you is all they can do, Signore Lewrie." She shrugged. "All Marcello can do, for the moment. He is of a mind to resist, he alone of them, but… what may one out of many do?"

  "You are from the Riviera yourself, signorina?" Lewrie asked as they got to a spumante fountain.

  "Oh pooh, signorel" She pouted again. "Claudia. I allow you."

  "Signorina Claudia, thankee," he said with a short bow.

  "No, I am not from the Riviera. I am from the north. Bergamo."

  "Pardon me, but…" Lewrie snickered. "Wouldn't that make you one of his detestable Germans?"'

  "Marcello has forgiven me my blood, long ago, Signore Lewrie," Claudia whispered close to him, leaning toward him as a waiter handed them their glasses of sparkling wine. Husky, breathy… A rare, and costly aroma exuded from her shoulders and bountifully filled bodice, a seductive citron and sandalwood. "He assures me that many clans of the Republic and early Empire were rufios… mixed with the original Celts. Alexander the Great of Macedonia was of the celtoi. So you see, he is so forgiving. Of almost anything I do," she promised him with another husky chuckle, her eyes hooded.

  "Er…" Alan croaked, wishing he could bite a knuckle to fight his urges; bite something. "Even when you tell him he's boresome?" he japed, striving for flippancy.

  She tossed back her head and laughed a deep-toned guffaw, not a simpering twit's titter or giggle. "You struck a chord, signore. Alan Lewrie? I call you Alan, as you call me Claudia, si? Grazie. A very Roman chord. Come. Walk with me, while we sip our wine."

  He offered his arm again and they began a languid stroll toward the far salon wing, against the tide of guests drifting into the salon readied for dancing, circling the rotunda counterclockwise.

  "Marcello is of very ancient family, you see?" Claudia imparted, walking so close their hips brushed, sending a shock through him. "Of a patrician, senatorial family since the days of Rome 's first wall. So what is more apt, that he is a senator now? The di Silvanos come from the Silvanii, a prominent Roman clan. Many senators, tribunes, and generals.

  Pagans, even after the reign of Constantine. Or so he tells me. You will see how fond Marcello is of Rome 's ancient glories. Statuary, the picture gallery, the armory that holds so many things he has had unearthed, or purchased from others. Perhaps the library, at the far end…?" she cooed, as promisingly as a new bride after the last of the wedding guests had been shooed away.

  Dear Christ, I'm trying, he groaned! Some credit in that, hey?

  "So he surely must be upset that Italy is fragmented, controlled by Austrians, not what it once was. Or could be," Lewrie temporized. "And he wishes there would come a new Caesar? Himself, perhaps?"

  "Ah no, he is not a professional soldier," Claudia pouted quite prettily as they neared the first massy double doors leading from the rotunda to that dimly lit far wing. "But he believes he might be the new Cato. The one who might arouse the passion for a unified Italy… a New Republic… in people's hearts. A liberated Italy, a power to be reckoned with. There is a map, in the library… you must see it. Do you wish to see it, Alan? A map of what might be. Should be."

  She had come around a little before him, looking up in his eyes, no longer veiled in her meaning or her carriage.

  "Uhm… the dance, signorina," Alan flummoxed. "Isn't it just about to…?"

  "Oh, pooh." She breathed in a sultry, silken mutter. "You are more interested in a silly dance or two, than in allowing me to display Mar-cello's most-prized treasures to you?"

  He looked down at two of '
em, in a hellish quandary. Firm, and big as bloody pineapples, or coconuts, shifting up and down along with her every deep breath, larboard or starboard as she swayed sideways as if keeping time with her own dance.

  Christ on a Cross, he begged; just a little help here! Didn't bring my cundums ashore o' purpose, just in case some mort was just too temptin'… oh my God, look at her…!

  The intricately pleated and ruched folds of her already strained bodice wnpleated, as two proud nipples hardened and puckered behind a single layer of cloth-all that stood between him and bliss. Lewrie tore his gaze upward to her face, to a smile that seemed to promise everything, those amber eyes going so wide…

  "Perhaps, uhm…" He coughed, unable to look away, mesmerized. ' 'Tis been so long since I've danced, d'ye see… enjoy it, rather, and… two years or more in active commission, and a short refit back home. The wife and I… ah…" Hmm… didn't hurt so much to say…

  By God I do have self-control, he exulted! Lookit! I'm turnin' down the bounciest quim ever I did see! See, God… morals?

  "We had no chance to dance at Portsmouth. And, with our kiddies along…" he felt emboldened to add. "I would request you save me at least the one turn around the floor, signorina. For a wondrous memory of Genoa, but… perhaps we should enter the salon. And dance?"

  "So honorable," she whispered, so softly he had to lean to her to hear. "So decent an English gentleman," Claudia crooned, eyes wet in wonder. She glided a half step to him, her breasts brushing at his shirtfront and waistcoat buttons, her lips open in a half smile, her eyes going even wider and more besotting. Within inches of a first kiss, her lips opening. And Lewrie knew he was a lying hound, after all.

  God, just a dab o' backbone, he pleaded, ready to succumb, in spite of his best efforts; I'm a cunt-struck cully, always was, always will be, I'm tryin' t'help meself, so where's yer…?

  "Ahem, Commander Lewrie?" A very welcome voice intruded behind him, a very plumby, cultured English voice!

  Thankee Jesus, Alan thought, whirling in alarm, and an immense relief. Which turned to wide-eyed amazement, seasoned with just the slightest dash of terror, when he beheld his rescuer.

  How the Devil'd he get here? He gawped. And should I be glad or not.

  "Allow me to name myself to you, sir." The impossibly tall and skele-tally lean old beak blathered on quickly, stalking up to offer a hand to be shook. Thin hair brushed back severely, above a weathered face that was all angles and hollows in the cheeks, temples, and eyes. Agate-y buzzard's eyes that glinted hard and merciless as gunflints over a long hawk's nose. "Simon Silberberg, sir. Your servant, sir. From Coutts's Bank, in London?" he purred as he shook Alan's quite-nerveless hand.

  "Mister… Silberberg, sir," Lewrie continued to gawp, clapping his astonished mouth shut.

  "Agent of the bank, sir," Silberberg rattled on. "In Genoa on business, don't ye know… commercial interests… well, when I heard we were both invited to the same ball, Commander Lewrie, I took it 'pon myself to make my acquaintance of you. Hoping we might meet… your solicitor Mister Matthew Mountjoy mentioned you to me, just before I sailed? Wished me to convey his greetings. Do you have a moment, sir? Just the one triflin' moment. Took it 'pon myself, sir, to list ev'ry bank customer in the Mediterranean, make them familiar with me, impart details of new services for serving officers on foreign stations." The lean old fellow in his "ditto" suit of somber black almost whinnied in shy urgency, playing the perfect overeducated, underemployed fool of a tradesman. "Can't hope to rise in Coutts's, sir, 'less…"

  "Of course, Mister… Silberberg," Lewrie allowed. "This won't take much time, though, will it? The dancing, d'ye see."

  "Of course not, sir. Won't interrupt yer pleasures," Silberberg promised, casting a sidelong, significant glance at Claudia Mastandrea.

  "You will excuse me, signorina," Lewrie said to the mort. "Do save me at least the one dance, I pray you. Until later, hmm?"

  "The night is young, Signore Lewrie," Claudia huffed, a bit beyond "cooled" from her ardor; downright snippy, in fact. "Perhaps you will accompany me later. Ciao, signore."

  "Should I escort you…?" Lewrie offered, but she swept away.

  "Up to your old tricks, are we, Lewrie?" Silberberg sniffed in aspersion, his lips suddenly hairline thin and cramped together. And suddenly not half the hand-wringing senior clerk he'd seemed.

  "Up to yours, are we… Twigg?" Lewrie scowled back.

  "Yes," the spy from the Foreign Office, the cold-blooded manipulator Lewrie had known in the Far East as Zachariah Twigg drawled in a toplofty sneer. "In point of fact… I am."

  CHAPTER

  9

  "Silberberg?" Lewrie sneered softly. "However did you come by that? And, ain't you slightly out of your usual bounds, sir?"

  "A half-addled banking clerk of the Hebrew persuasion may be an object of amusement, Lewrie… of some derision," Twigg replied with a conspirator's mutter, though sounding pleased with his alias. "Hardly one to suspect as a spy, though. We, after all, finance their wars for them. Apolitically, mind… with suspected loyalties only to the bank, the guinea, and one's tribe. As for my presence, the Far East became more a military, or a naval problem, of the overt sort. And, too, our last escapade made me too well-known there. With French influence limited to Pondichery or their Indian Ocean islands, their trade dried up, and with trade their hopes to service informers, agents provocateurs, pirates, well…"

  Twigg shrugged expressively, then with the dropping of his arms he seemed to fall back into his assumed character. They paced toward a wine table, Twigg all but fawning and bobbing, anxious to please.

  "You will remember it is Silberberg, not Twigg, from now on, I trust, sir?" He wheedled in a whisper, laying a finger to his fleshy-tipped nose, the end-pad of which would have made a walrus jealous. A louder voice for his next statement. "So very sorry to take you from your amusements, Commander Lewrie, but since you're so much at sea, I have so few opportunities. If not tonight, sir, perhaps you may do me the honor of allowing me to call upon you, aboard ship, before Jester departs? Oh my, sir… your account prospers, indeed it does. Prize money, the Four Percents. Though you are aware there is talk of a tax on income, sir?

  Hideous notion, truly hideous, but there it is. Now, had we a moment, Commander Lewrie, I believe I may make to you such a proposition of investments to safeguard your farm income, making less of it subject to any future levy, as would warm the very cockles of yer heart. A glass of wine with you, sir? A true nautical hero? One such as I have so few opportunities… dine out on it for years, I could."

  "Oh for God's sake," Lewrie whispered, frowning crossly. "Bit less of it, hey?"

  The waiter turned away after pouring them each some claret, run in from France, of a certainty.

  "Your ship, instanter," Silberberg hissed softly, as Twigg, a finger to his thin lips. "We have so much to discuss, sir. Oh my, yes!" He gushed for the waiter's benefit, as Silberberg.

  "But…" Lewrie protested, as the opening strains of a gay air soared from the far salon to the rotunda. He knew there was nothing he could say or do, but go along with Twigg's dictate. Again!

  "Your father's well, sir," Twigg told him as they tossed their hats and gloves in his great-cabins. "Made a brigadier, imagine that. He'll know of it, soon enough. This come from Leadenhall Street with me. Your brother-in-law Burgess Chiswick will become a major."

  "That's gratifyin'." Lewrie sighed, opening his wine cabinet.

  "So sorry to spoil your fun," Twigg posed, one brow lifted in amusement as Alan grudgingly gave him a snifter of brandy. "And, such bountiful fun it would have been, too."

  "Didn't think a cypher such as you'd notice, Twigg," Alan spat.

  "Au contraire, Lewrie, I have always had an eye for the ladies." Twigg chuckled. "Though I may hardly say that my face, or my choice of career, has ever stood me in such good stead as yours, in that regard. Such a splendid run of luck you've had, though. A lovely wife, truly lovely, is your Caroline. As is your Corsic
an doxy, the, uhm… shall I say the confessa Aretino?"

  "Now why would you wish to know so much about me, Twigg?"

  "I know a lot about everybody, Lewrie. That's my job."

  "So you can use 'em, I s'pose. And that, most cynically," Alan accused. "Leave my wife and… mistress… out of this, Twigg."

  "Only if you will, sir," Twigg shot back, even more amused with Lewrie's sullen truculence, his past grievances. "I will not use them, cynically or otherwise. I leave that to you, Lewrie. No matter. Now, sir.

  Might you summon your clerk, Mister Thomas Mountjoy? I confess I was quite struck by your clandestine report to Nelson, in which Mountjoy played so prominent a part. I've gotten little from our Frenchman you captured, and I wish to go over that report, fleshing out the sparsity of the written account with both your recollections."

  "Sentry?" Lewrie called to the Marine at the door. "Pass the word for my clerk. Come at once, tell him."

  "Aye aye, Cap'um… SAH!" the muffled voice shouted back.

  "Inconnu, my God," Twigg mused, slouching in the sofa cushions. "How dramatic. How French! Fellow could have put on a fool's face and gotten clean away, since he'd purged his own chest so thoroughly. That partner of his, he's the same stubborn sort. All fired with adoration for his Revolution. Might as well make a Hindu kill a cow, as get him to talk. Bloody amateur, in his own theatric."

  "What did you learn of him?" Lewrie asked, wincing as he remembered Twigg on a captured Lanun Rover prao, with a wavy-bladed krees at a pirate prisoner's throat. Which Twigg had most dispassionately cut, after slicing and torturing what little he could from him. "And how? Up to all your old tricks, Mister Twigg?"

  "And why not, now and again, sir?" Twigg allowed coolly. "I find they more than suffice. No, Lewrie, he lives. Shaken, one may hope, but no permanent harm done. An amateur, as I said. Marks on a pile of dirty linen, with several aliases, from several cities. Some of them most embarrassingly French. And caught red-handed, laden with gold, in a ship laden with military goods. Should have taken another vessel, traveled separately from his dead compatriot, that unlamented romantic, Inconnu. Secret writings… the lemon-juice variety 'tween the lines of innocent correspondence. Smell it, by God! A dead giveaway, everytime. No, a more elaborate cypher would have served them better, but I doubt the poor fellow in charge of French spies in the region has much to work with yet. And, he's no Richelieu, himself, exactly. Learnin'… give him that much." Twigg shrugged again, and took a sip to toast his worthy opponent. "Fellow'll be turned off in a fortnight, though. Hung for spying, soon as a military court at Corsica has him in."