by Dudley Pope
'Do you often find anything of consequence?'
Dalrymple shook his head. 'No. The masters with the interest and ability to help us never seem to go anywhere interesting. They spot a fall of rock or a new battery along the French Channel coast, but apart from your Mr Southwick they don't benefit us much.'
'Ah, you find Southwick's log of interest?'
'Yes - his are the best sketches of the coast of Tuscany. And the recent ones of the southwestern corner of Sardinia were invaluable.'
'And the Catalan coast, sir,' Walker added.
'Ah yes, and of course many places in the West Indies. The island of Culebra. Parts of Martinique - Diamond Rock, for example: his survey and line and wash sketches of the Diamond are among the best examples of a master's work that we have.'
'May I tell him that?'
'Indeed you may, my Lord; we would welcome a good survey of Trinidade, of course . . .'
Ramage recalled St Vincent's warning about secrecy, even though the First Lord had suggested the visit to the Hydrographic Office. 'If we ever visit it, I'll do my best. I was just curious about it.'
'Of course,' Dalrymple said politely. 'Well, that's what we're here for. I wish more captains and masters would make use of us - and send us copies of charts! It's a slow business, building up a library of the charts of the whole world - which is what I intend to do. Who knows, one day we might be able to print and issue our own charts, instead of masters having to copy anything they don't have in their own private collections.'
Ramage returned to Palace Street to find his father looking worried. The old Admiral glanced at him inquiringly. 'Did St Vincent have good news for you?'
Ramage nodded and patted his pocket. 'The Calypso stays in commission and we sail the moment her refit is completed.'
The Admiral was quick to recognize the significance of Ramage's words and tone of voice. Knowing he would have been told more had it not been secret, he limited himself to one question. 'A long voyage?'
'It could be, sir. Six months or more.'
'I'm worried about Gianna,' the old man confided, running a hand through his hair in a gesture Ramage knew also indicated exasperation.
'Where is she?'
'Visiting Hawkesbury. A messenger from the Secretary of State's office said she was free to call this morning. She left about an hour ago.'
'Surely she couldn't be naïve enough to take advice from Hawkesbury?' But even as he spoke, Ramage knew that Hawkesbury's sole ability was delivering the most banal statement with all the authority and panache of the Primate of All England damning the devil in Canterbury Cathedral.
The Earl nodded his head sadly. 'I've warned her and so have you, but she's drawn to Volterra: as its legitimate ruler she feels she should be there -'
'But Napoleon will arrest her the moment she sets foot in France!'
'I know, I know, and we've all told her that too. But will that fool Jenks? He's a poor specimen of a politician, and like any tradesman he'll tell her what she wants to hear.'
'You think he'll tell her it's safe for her to return to Volterra?'
'Yes, because scores of people are packing for visits to Paris. Rome and Florence. It's the first time they've been able to visit France and Italy for eight years. Jenks hasn't the wit to distinguish between the case of an English person visiting Italy and that of the ruler of an Italian state still occupied by Bonaparte's troops and deliberately omitted from the new Treaty.'
Both men heard a carriage stop outside the door and Hanson shuffled across the hall with his cry of 'Coming, my Lady, I'm coming.'
Ramage said: 'We could get her to see Grenville and ask his advice . . .'
Lord Grenville, who had resigned with Pitt and had been the previous Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was a shrewd man. 'Grenville would certainly give it, and we know what he would say. The fact is,' the old man said wearily, worried as if Gianna was his own daughter, 'she'll listen to whoever tells her what she wants to hear.'
'We may be wronging Hawkesbury,' Ramage said, with no conviction in his voice, and he sat down to wait for Gianna.
'Interesting orders?' the Earl asked casually.
'Not very, sir. Almost routine for peacetime, I imagine. There's just one unusual aspect that makes 'em secret.'
'Don't tell me any more; I was just interested to see how you regarded your first peacetime commission.'
'My own ship and my own men - the First Lord is being generous.'
'Yes, but you deserve it. How many Gazettes have you had?'
Ramage grinned and held out his hands, palms uppermost. 'I've no idea; they're usually published while I'm at sea.'
'Ask your mother or Gianna; they both collect 'em!'
They heard the front door open and Gianna's voice sounded gay as she greeted Hanson. Father and son glanced at each other; both guessed what Hawkesbury had said.
A moment later a bubbling Gianna came into the room, undoing the ribbon holding her hat.
'I can go!' she exclaimed. 'Lord Hawkesbury says there is no danger! He is going to ask M. Otto for a passport for me, and he says Bonaparte is sure to approve it.'
Ramage groaned as he helped her remove her cloak.
'Why are you so - so pesante about everything?' she exclaimed angrily. 'You are not sad at the idea of me leaving, because you are at sea most of the time!'
'I am so "heavy" as you put it, because I don't trust Bonaparte, and no one but a fool would listen to Hawkesbury -'
'Oh, so I'm a fool now!'
'- on such a matter. Yes, you are foolish if you believe Bonaparte is going to let you return to Volterra while his troops still occupy it and he's left it out of the Treaty. You might just as well expect him to allow a British army to land on the Tuscan coast and march to Volterra with bands playing and flags flying "to pay their respects" to the Marchesa.'
Gianna sat down with an angry thump. 'You know about the sea, and Lord Hawkesbury knows about diplomacy -'
'Very little,' Ramage interrupted bitterly. 'He's had the job only a few months and the Treaty shows all he can do is lose a peace. He's given back to Napoleon just about everything we won in battle. Why, Volterra isn't even mentioned.'
'Ah, that shows how little you know. Lord Hawkesbury explained it to me,' she said, her voice dropping confidentially. 'He has heard it direct from M'sieu Otto. Bonaparte is tired of bloodshed. He had to continue the war that the others started with the Revolution until he could arrange a fair peace that was honourable for France.'
Ramage sighed and his father said gently: 'Gianna, there isn't a labourer in England who would believe that. Bonaparte wants to rule the world. He'll start the war again as soon as his warehouses are full, and he'll fight until he rules India, Egypt, the Americas - the world, in fact.'
'That's not what Lord Hawkesbury says.'
'I don't doubt that,' the Earl said soberly. 'Would you listen to Lord Grenville? We can have him to dinner and you can talk privately to him.'
'What does this Grenville know? He's out of office; he had nothing to do with the negotiations for the new Treaty.'
It was the Earl's turn to sigh. 'My dear, Grenville probably knows more about French diplomacy and Bonaparte's intentions than any other Englishman. But did you ask Hawkesbury the question I mentioned to you?'
'What question?'
'Why - if he approved your journey - he thought Bonaparte would let you remain free while his army continues to occupy Volterra.'
'Well, no, I did not,' she admitted. 'It was - how do you say? - redundant. Lord Hawkesbury, His Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, says it is quite all right for me to go back to Volterra and he is arranging my passports so – allora!'
The Earl took a deep breath. 'My dear, we are only trying to protect you when we strongly advise you not to go to Volterra!'
'I know, caro zio, but my mind is made up. There will be so much for me to do in Volterra!'
'You'll find it very different from when you
left. You may well discover that people you trusted have - well, behaved differently from what you expected.'
'Had a right to expect,' Gianna said, an unexpectedly grim note in her voice. 'This is another reason why I must go.'
'What can you do alone?' Ramage asked harshly. 'A dagger in your back would solve many problems for those with power.'
'You could take Paolo,' the Earl said, 'although it'd be a pity to interrupt his training.'
'No,' Gianna said emphatically, 'Paolo stays with Nicholas. Come si chiama? - not all my eggs in one basket!'
Ramage felt completely helpless. They had all argued the whole question since the first reports in the newspapers thata Treaty would be signed. From the first Gianna had said she would go; from the first the whole family had argued against it, refusing to trust the French. He had progressed through gentle reasoning to angry arguments; he had wanted to seize and shake her, refusing to believe she could be so stubborn.
His mother was probably right: very early on she had told Nicholas: 'She has a strong sense of duty. I am sure she understands the danger, but she feels she must risk it because she is the ruler of Volterra, and with the war ended she can at last return to her people. Noblesse oblige, my dear Nicholas. You men admire Lovelace for writing "I could not love thee dear so much, lov'd I not honour more", but when a woman says the same thing you do not understand.'
Clapping her hands, as if to signal a change in the topic of conversation, Gianna asked Ramage: 'And you - how did you fare at the hands of milord St Vincent?'
'We sail again as soon as the dockyard finishes the refit.'
'Back to the Mediterranean? That would be fortunate.'
The Earl interrupted to save Ramage from the risk of provoking an angry outburst from Gianna. She was clearly on the verge of one of her 'imperious' moods.
'His orders are marked "Secret" so we can't ask him. All I've been able to worm out of him is that it will be a long commission - six months or more.'
'There you are!' she said. 'You were expecting to be half paid!'
'Put on halfpay,' Ramage gently corrected. 'Yes, obviously the size of the Navy will be cut, and I expected...'
'Why would the government cut the size of the Navy if Bonaparte is not to be trusted?' she demanded.
'Because politicians are fools and optimists,' the Earl said contemptuously. 'They want to cut taxes to have everyone cheering and voting for them. They do not have to fight and die to correct their mistakes.'
'You can take Paolo with you?' she asked Ramage.
'Yes, of course - but whether or not he will want to come when he hears of your plan ...'
'He has no choice; I say he stays with you.'
Ramage shrugged his shoulders: he found it impossible to be gracious, understanding or patient with a woman who deliberately handed herself over to Bonaparte as a hostage.
'I have to go down to Chatham tomorrow. Do you have any messages for him?'
'Will he have any leave before I go?'
'That depends when you go.'
'Next week,' she said. 'I shall be leaving London next Wednesday morning. I am travelling to Paris with the Herveys: I met Lady Hervey at Lord Hawkesbury's office this morning and she invited me to join them - they have room in their carriages.'
Later that afternoon Ramage was sitting in his own room on the first floor, glancing at the latest edition of Steele's Naval Chronologist. He looked out at the plane trees, and like calendars recording the passage of autumn, they were losing their leaves. The bark of the trunks reminded him of a beggar with some vile disease.
So she was returning to Volterra, but he was puzzled and troubled by his own thoughts and feelings or, rather, by the contradictions in them which had been emerging over the last year or two and he was now being forced to examine.
How should the love between a man and a woman develop? It was something about which he knew very little, because Gianna was his first real love. Since those early months (years, he corrected himself, the period between being a junior lieutenant and a junior post captain), the original blazing love had cooled slightly. Cooled? Well, changed, both in his actual feelings for her and in his eventual realization that they could never marry. Had that realization eaten into that love, silently like rust or old age?
Could love really continue and develop when both people knew it would never reach the final stage of marriage? Neither he nor Gianna had talked about it; rather each of them (he was guessing her thoughts) had felt the pressures mounting. First there had been religion, and it seemed obvious that a woman accustomed to her own way in everything, as only the ruler of a nation could insist on it, would not accept that one of the oldest Protestant earldoms in the kingdom could never become Catholic by marriage.
Nor did she ever consider that, even if marriage was possible, the people of Volterra would never accept their ruler back if she had married a Protestant foreigner while in exile. That the foreigner had rescued her from Bonaparte, that his family had given her shelter, that her heir served in the Royal Navy under him - no, the man was a straniero and a Protestant; and that would be enough. Gianna had mentioned that he could perhaps be appointed the British ambassador, but he wondered if she had considered whether either of them really wanted a lover-and-mistress relationship.
Did the 'deep love' still exist? Love, yes; enough to make him want to bend iron bars with the frustration of failing to persuade her not to go to Volterra. In the old days he would kidnap her rather than let her go. Now he was apprehensive, but as though she was a favourite sister.
Guilt came into it, of course. The story of their romance was well known; the reception the Calypsos had given Gianna was proof of that. Ramage felt he had been urged on by what was expected of him - but with no opportunity of holding up a hand and explaining the difficulties: of religion and of the feelings of Gianna's own subjects.
He often felt that Paolo, young as he was, understood that he was in effect on a treadmill; as though instinctively Paolo had known there was no way round the twin barriers of religion and nationalism.
He sighed and watched a sudden gust of wind send more leaves tumbling down. Duty was forcing Gianna to return to Volterra and abandon the man she loved; duty had forced him to accept that he could never marry her because their son would have to be raised as a Catholic, which meant that when he inherited . . . Duty, noblesse oblige, was armoured against Cupid's darts.
CHAPTER FIVE
Although his head was buzzing and his nose was painful because of the strong smell of paint, Ramage was glad to be back on board the Calypso, and through the sternlights he could see the houses of Chatham beginning to move round as the frigate swung at the turn of the tide. The misery of dry docking was over; the copper sheathing had been replaced; the only work remaining to be done by the dockyard was building some extra cabins forward of the gunroom. They would be insubstantial structures, merely large boxes with sides made of battens and canvas.
More cabins meant more men on board, and once again he looked gloomily at the latest letter from the Admiralty. 'I am directed by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty', Nepean had written in the time-honoured opening phrase, 'to direct you to prepare for the reception on board the vessel you command of the people listed in the margin ... and who will accompany you on the voyage for which you have already received secret orders.
'Their Lordships further direct me to enjoin upon you the need for secrecy and none of the individuals named in the margin know the details of the service upon which you are engaged. The circumstances under which such details may be imparted are described in your sealed orders.'
The list comprised seven men, each name followed by a description of his function. The first read, 'The Rev. Percival Stokes, chaplain', and was the reason for Ramage's irritation. No ship smaller than a ship of the line was compelled to have a chaplain - unless one volunteered. There were captains whose religious beliefs bordered on fanaticism and who had the ship's company praying twice daily. Most capta
ins were like Ramage, respecting the fact that a man's religious beliefs were his own affair and limiting the enforced observance to Divine service on Sundays.
Chaplains were not at this stage of the war - at the moment, he corrected himself - very popular among either captains or ships' companies. Some were splendid fellows who, in a ship of the line, kept the six or seven hundred men cheerful and were a help to the captain and officers responsible for their welfare. Others stayed remote from the men, regarding the wardroom and the quarterdeck as the limit of their perambulations. The third type were members of what Ramage always called 'the pursed lips party': narrow-minded and self-righteous, regarding a ship of war solely as a floating house of God which they controlled, they were usually the centre of intrigue and complaint. Either they found a fanatical captain who listened to their every word, or else he ignored them and they whined at the most senior of the lieutenants who cared to listen.
The general dislike of chaplains, though, was based on something much simpler: there were so few of them that although ships of the line had in theory to carry them, only one in three had a chaplain: in wartime parsons, it seemed, preferred a rectory or vicarage where a fire blazed of a winter's night. The ship of the line with a chaplain was usually carrying a clerical friend of the captain. Frigates, with a ship's company a third of the size of a ship of the line, rarely saw one; Ramage could not remember a single case.
Now, however, with peace, were chaplains going to flock to sea? And what on earth made the Reverend Percival Stokes apply to join the Calypso? He was probably the penurious friend of a friend of one of their Lordships. Ramage saw an endless vista of members of the ship's company complaining: in one of the King's ships carrying a chaplain it was more restful, to say the least, being Church of England.
Well, Mr Stokes had better be a careful man: the Calypso's first lieutenant was a Highland Scot and certainly Low Church; the master was, surprisingly, a free-thinker; the single midshipman an Italian Catholic. And the captain refused to discuss religion with anyone.
