by Dudley Pope
"There's a covering letter explaining about the resolution and asking me to suggest a date," he added. "And it says I can also bring any of my officers present at the action as my guests."
Sarah was puzzled. She accepted the reference to the sword as though her husband deserved a dozen, but when had it happened?
"That was before - why, before you came down to Isla Trinidade and we first met. Two French frigates taken? And you destroyed two more? Is that when you captured the Calypso?"
A bewildered Ramage nodded. "Southwick and the rest of them usually refer to it as 'The Diamond Rock Affair'. It's taken Lloyd's long enough to make up their minds!"
"You're hardly ever in England," Sarah pointed out. "No sooner are you home than you sail again. Then you spent that brief peace marrying me and honeymooning. Then we were captured and you escaped and went to Devil's Island when war broke out again . . . Then you went off to the Mediterranean, and we've only just returned from there, with all those unlikely people you rescued, including me. So the Committee of Lloyd's haven't had much time . . ."
She stared at the log on the fire which was now beginning to sizzle and flare. "You'll wear uniform. I have that white dress. I wonder if your mother would lend me the pearls?"
Ramage laughed. "And the tiara too! She hates wearing it."
Sarah suddenly looked embarrassed. "I forgot! Of course, she'll want to wear the pearls. I'll wear my emeralds."
"What about me?" Ramage grumbled. "I have an enormous problem, and all you think of is pearls and tiaras."
Sarah, distressed, said quickly: "What problem, darling? What's the matter?"
"Do I wear a sword to the dinner? - it is correct uniform. But what do I do with the old sword while they present me with the new one, 'Value one hundred guineas'? I can't stand up there wearing one sword and holding another in my hand: I'll look like a sword cutler plying for business!"
"Your father will know," Sarah said. "Anyway, I can always hold your regular one while you march up to collect the new one."
"It's all such a fuss," Ramage grumbled. "Pity I can't ask them to send me a hundred guineas, and I'll use it to buy you some new jewellery!"
"Clothes perhaps," Sarah said laughing, "but not jewellery. I inherit a quantity from my mother, and I expect your mother will . . ."
"So in a few years' time you'll be tottering under the weight of Rockley and Ramage jewellery. Me? I'll just have a hundred guinea sword to hang on the wall ..."
"At least you won't have to spend your prize money buying me shiny baubles. You'll be able to pay a cutler to keep your sword sharp! Anyway, you must write and tell the Committee when you can go to London. And your officers," she reminded him. "Southwick will enjoy this as much as you. He thinks of you as a son."
"Grandson," Ramage corrected, "but in fact if anyone deserves a sword from Lloyd's, it's Southwick."
"I seem to remember he has a sword of his own the size of an oar. It's big enough for Father Time to use as a scythe!"
"And that's just how he uses it. He whirls it round his head, bellows like a bull, and charges along a French ship's deck. The bellow paralyses 'em with fear and the blade slices 'em in half."
Sarah shuddered and then said: "Yet he always puts me in mind of an old bishop: the kindly round face and all that flowing white hair."
"Like a mop drying in the wind!"
"Yes, but it looks very distinguished. Think of his sword as a crozier, and he has a very rich voice: I can just imagine him in a pulpit preaching to his flock."
"Tell that to Paolo Orsini! The poor boy still makes silly mistakes working out sights, and Southwick still hollers at him. I'm sure Paolo would reckon that by comparison a bull's bellow would sound like music!"
"Apart from Southwick, which of your present officers were with you at Diamond Rock?"
Ramage's brow furrowed. Diamond Rock ... so much had happened since. Sarah, for instance. Diamond Rock was long before they had met and were married. Yet already he found it hard to remember a time when he was not married to this tawny-haired woman whose body made those Greek statues seem clumsy, whose sense of humour kept them both laughing, and who understood his moods almost better than he did himself.
"There's Southwick, and young Paolo," she reminded him.
"Yes, and Aitken. Wagstaffe was there, but he's gone to another ship. Rennick, of course: one can't forget the Marines! And Bowen, the surgeon. Two of the lieutenants were Baker and Lacy: good youngsters, but neither with me now."
Sarah was keeping a check as Ramage did little more than reminisce. "So you must write to Aitken, Southwick, Rennick and Bowen and Orsini. Well, I know all of them well enough. Any others?"
Ramage shook his head. "No, my present three other lieutenants all joined the Calypso long after the Diamond business ..."
"Very well, that's five of them you have to write to. And the Committee of Lloyd's. And your parents - they'll be excited. Do you think I could bring my parents? They'd be so proud."
"Proud? I'm sure the Committee of Lloyd's would be proud to have the Marquis of Rockley and his wife present at their dinner. He must be one of the most powerful men in Parliament, and I'm sure Lloyd's always likes to have friends there!"
"Well, they're getting good value with your father," Sarah pointed out. "He may not have the Admiralty in his pocket, but the new First Lord listens very attentively when he speaks, and that would be a help to Lloyd's."
"The Committee of Lloyd's are only concerned with getting even more frigates to escort even more convoys," Ramage commented. "Still, a hint over a glass of sherry often does more than an official letter."
"Your officers and your parents, and my parents - so much for the guests. Do we post up to London? Which is the post road?" Sarah asked.
"From memory that starts at Folkestone, and you get fresh horses at Hythe, Ashford - where we'd join - and then Lenham, Maidstone, West Malling, Wrotham Heath (you need fresh horses as well as an extra pair to climb that dam' long hill), and then Farningham, Swanley - and after that I get mixed up. The most important thing, according to Raven, is that there are no turnpikes on that road! There are plenty on the Dover, Canterbury, Faversham, Sittingbourne, Rochester and Gravesend road, though."
"I hope that doesn't mean the Ashford road will be in poor condition. We haven't had much rain lately. Does that mean we breathe dust the whole way?"
"My dear, don't think that turnpike tolls mean good roads! The people who own the land and establish the toll gates put that story about." He thought for a minute or two, staring at the flames dancing in the fireplace. "You know, Raven hasn't been to London for a long time - Uncle Rufus hated cities - and I don't like having to borrow father's carriage every time we want to go out. And we both hate posting . . ."
"So why don't we take Raven and our own carriage?" Sarah finished the sentence for him. "Yes, and let's not hurry. I don't know Kent, so why don't we take a week or two, staying at whatever inn takes our fancy?"
"You've had one honeymoon, you know," Ramage said teasingly.
"Yes, I vaguely recall it, but that was in France and, if you remember, it started the war going again ..."
CHAPTER TWO
The long and jolting journey to London by carriage in the lee of the Downs was enjoyable only because of the sunny weather, and because each night a brisk shower just before dawn laid the dust, although the two horses still kicked up enough at times to set them all coughing and make a cursing Raven slow down from a trot to a walk.
Day by day they skirted the North Downs, the great ridge lying on their right hand and deeply scarred with the white of the chalk showing through grass closely cropped by flocks of sheep. Once past West Malling the Downs began to curve round to the southwest across their path, and just as their road met the steep hill Raven reined in at Wrotham Heath.
"Better hire a couple of extra horses here than wait till we get to Wrotham village," he explained. "Often as not they've none left, or they want an extra couple of guineas fo
r 'the last pair in the stable'."
The ride up the hill was spectacular: in climbing the side of the North Downs, with Raven stopping frequently to rest the horses, Ramage and Sarah would get out and look back over the rest of Kent spread out to the east and south of them, a green table with church towers and steeples sticking up like stubby pegs on a lawn, each surrounded by a huddle of houses and barns.
But Sarah seemed preoccupied, and when Ramage pressed her admitted she was saddened by the tablet they had seen at the foot of the hill back in Wrotham village. "Near this place," it said, "fell Lieut Colonel Shadwell, who was shot to the heart by a deserter on the morning of the first day of June 1799." Four lines carved below in italic added cryptically: "The Assassin with another deserter his companion were immediately secured and brought to justice."
"Three men dead," Sarah said. "They all intended to fight the French - well, obviously the deserter and his companion changed their minds - but all three have ended up in graves here at the foot of the Downs. Colonel Shadwell - was he a young man eager to fight the French? Or did he buy his commission to get away from a nagging wife?"
"Was he serving in one of the regular regiments of foot, or simply a wealthy landowner here, soldiering on Sunday mornings in the local yeomanry?" Ramage murmured.
"Oh, darling, you are spoiling the whole thing. Here I am thinking of a young colonel with a brilliant future ahead of him -"
"And belonging to one of the fashionable regiments!"
"- and you conjure up a portly farmer . . ."
"Your imagination is running wild. Why did the soldier desert? Where did he get the pistol to fire a fatal shot - or was it a musket? Who was his mysterious companion - another soldier, or a trollop he'd picked up? Was it at night? Did the colonel call upon him to halt? Or was the colonel leading a column of men?"
"If it wasn't such a steep hill, I'd insist we go back to Wrotham and ask some local people," Sarah said. "It happened only a few years ago, so they'll remember the details."
"We'll inquire on the way back," Ramage promised. "Come along - Raven is sitting on his box, so the horses are rested enough."
As they approached the city the road gradually became busier. After reaching Farningham they went on to Swanley (by which time they were looking for an inn to spend the night), and carts, carriages and coaches were passing each way, either on their way to the coast or bound for London. Everyone, Ramage noted, seemed to be in a hurry; Raven's leisurely progress, he realized, would probably be the only time until the war ended that Ramage would ever travel this road so slowly: every time he had previously left London for Dover, or had travelled the parallel road to the Medway towns to join a ship at Chatham, the horses had always been in a lather.
Raven still remembered where the house was, having brought his late master there a few times, and, as he pulled up with a clatter and a loud "Whoa, there!" intended to warn the earl's butler, Sarah sighed.
"How nice to be back in Palace Street. I think I prefer travelling by ship, though: you don't have to keep on packing and unpacking at post inns!"
"We must persuade father to get a house on the Thames side at Greenwich, and we'll sell Treffry Hall and buy a place near Dover. Then we can sail round when we want to see them!"
"We've come to see the gentlemen at Lloyd's," Sarah pointed out as a grinning Hanson let down the steps with a crash, opened the door of the carriage and, pushing his spectacles back up again, blinked and welcomed them. "Your father is just coming, sir. Leave the luggage to Raven and me."
Admiral the Earl of Blazey, hook-nosed and white-haired, came to the front door just as Sarah reached it. In his usual courtly fashion he kissed her hand before giving her a fatherly hug.
"We guessed you'd be here today: your father and mother are calling this evening." He shook hands with his son. "Your mother is busy with her dressmaker but she'll be ready as soon as you've washed off the grime of London. We could do with a shower of rain to lay the dust," he grumbled, looking up at the clear blue sky.
Ramage followed Sarah up to their rooms on the second floor. These two rooms had been his since he was a child and father had bought the Palace Street house: a bedroom and what had first been a nursery, then a playroom and finally a study. Finally, that is, until Sarah arrived: now with a third change of furniture it was their dressing room.
Undressing room, he reflected. In three or four minutes Sarah would be standing there naked, washing herself with a grace and ease of movement that always left him breathless. How often, in boyhood and bachelor days, he had spent hours lying on his bed, his head a whirl of wild fantasies and furious longings.
She walked across the room, undoing the ribbon of her bonnet and running a hand through her long, tawny hair. She checked that the jug on the marble washstand was full of water and that there was soap in the black alabaster container that Ramage recognized as one of the half dozen his mother had bought at Volterra many years ago when they had lived in Italy.
There was a knock at the door and Hanson's wife called: "Two jugs of hot water: I'll leave them outside the door, ma'am."
While Ramage collected them and used the contents of one to fill the basin, Sarah undid the silver clip at the neck of her pearl-grey travelling cloak, took it off and hung it in one of the two large wardrobes.
"Oh, I feel grimy," she said. "Help me unbutton this, or that water will be cool before I'm ready."
Undressing her was still one of the most erotic sensations he had experienced and, noticing it, Sarah smiled. "What will I do when you no longer enjoy helping me undress?"
"Refuse to push my wheelchair," Ramage said cheerfully, lifting off her dress and then beginning to unlace her drawers. "Do you begrudge me a look at those bosoms?" He cupped one in his hand and kissed the nipple.
She pushed him away. "Stop it, you're making me think of other things -" she gestured towards the dark-blue curtains of the four-poster bed which could be seen through the door, "- while that water is getting cold."
As she began washing, he stripped off his clothes. How comfortable it was, not to be wearing uniform. The stock round his neck was tied lower and less tightly than demanded with uniform; his waistcoat had shrunk compared with the bulky fashion of ten years ago and did not ruck up under his coat. And, despite the protests of his tailor, the breeches were cut with a comfortable fullness, so he could sit down without the feeling that he was cutting off his legs at the knees and, more important, take them off without assistance.
Tailors are more conservative than North Briton fanners and they have a more nose-in-the-air attitude than the wife of the most recently knighted nabob. A much shorter waistcoat, more comfortable breeches, less padding in his coat... the damned tailor would have continued protesting if he had not been afraid of losing the custom of the son and heir of the Earl of Blazey who was, in his own right, not unknown as a frigate captain.
"My back," Sarah said, turning towards him and offering soap and flannel. "My, you look so fierce!"
"Pure lust,"Ramage said. "No, I was having an imaginary argument with my tailor."
As Sarah turned slightly when he took the soap and flannel, she gave a slight sniff and Ramage chuckled, guessing what she would say. "Darling, one doesn't argue with one's tailor."
" 'Argue' wasn't the right word, but I've heard you and your dressmaker bickering over where to put a plaquet or a pleat or a couple of buttons. And as for hats ..."
"That's enough," Sarah said, holding his hand. "That's not my back. Now please rinse off the soap and dry me."
While Sarah and Hanson's wife unpacked their trunks, shook the creases out of clothes and hung them in the wardrobes, Ramage went down to the sitting room and found his father reading the Morning Post, having finished The Times.
"It seems odd, having you back and a married man," the earl said. "This Lloyd's business is long overdue. You should have had half a dozen presentation swords by now!"
"One is quite enough," Ramage said. "Imagine all this presentation
business ... it was so peaceful down in Aldington!"
"Ah yes, how did you get on with that lawyer? Did Rufus leave everything in good order?"
Ramage nodded. "Yes, and with handsome bequests to his staff, whom I'm keeping on anyway."
"That fellow Raven," the earl said. "He's a good chap but mixed up with the Marsh smugglers, you know. Rufus told me."
"He helped me get to France that time - you remember? I don't think anyone knows the Marsh better."
The earl laughed dryly and said: "Who better than a poacher to guard the pheasants!"
The old admiral thought a moment and then said gruffly: "This probably isn't the right time to mention it, but now you're married I've got to make another will to take care of Sarah - the family jewels and that sort of thing, quite apart from when you start a family - so I have to ask you this: how are you treating Treffry Hall?"
Ramage looked puzzled. "How do you mean, father?"
"Well, you know you inherit the St Kew estate. That's a dam' big house and fifteen thousand acres of Cornwall. It's not the lush land you have in Kent, though: more rocks than blades of grass. But when I've gone over the standing part of the foresheet, will you keep open both places - and this house here?"
Ramage shrugged, not because of indifference but because he did not want to contemplate his father dying. "It won't arise for a long time! You look as if you'll weather a good many more years yet!"
"Don't be squeamish," the admiral said impatiently. "I've got to go sometime - although the way you get yourself into scrapes, I may well outlast you. But I've got to draw up a new will which allows for me outlasting you and you outlasting me - and covers Sarah."
"Backing the horse to win and lose!" Ramage said lightly.
"Exactly. If you don't, lawyers get rich, and there's no better goldmine for lawyers than the probate court: give them a disputed will and they dig away until there's nothing left of the estate."
"I see your point," Ramage said. "What exactly do you want to know?"
