For the next three days, Giles and Daphne spent as much time as they could together, finding endless subjects on which to converse, both of great import to themselves and their future and also of the most trivial but delightful nature. They were only interrupted by the need for formal dining with their family members. The Countess arrived in high good spirits, Daphne having won her over completely on her previous visit. Daphne’s brother and sister-in-law arrived on Wednesday evening, accompanied by their children. Her sisters came the following morning, also with children and husbands. The pre-nuptial dinner was a large and lively affair, as various members of each family cautiously sounded out members of the other family, luckily finding that they could not only approve of them but also like them. Somewhat to Giles’s surprise, both his mother and his half-sister were on this occasion more affable than haughty. He found that Daphne’s siblings were intelligent and open minded. This finding came as a relief since he was more used to the pattern where some relatives could not endure others.
Saturday, dawned cloudy and windy, threatening rain, but it started to clear soon after dawn. Giles and Bush, who was supporting his former captain in this most momentous of events, entered the church through a side door. Giles was as nervous as a flea as he waited for the ceremony to begin, desperately hoping that nothing would mar the perfection of the day for Daphne. He vaguely noticed that the church was packed, but thought nothing of it.
Daphne’s arrival was heralded by a loud cheer, a sound that did surprise Giles. He knew that many of the servants and tenants of both estates might have gathered for the wedding, but he had not expected such vocal exuberance from them. Daphne appeared with her father to walk down the aisle. Giles hardly noticed that she was wearing a yellow dress, very elaborate in its decoration. What he did notice was that she appeared to be radiant.
Just before his brother, Lord David, who was officiating at the ceremony, pronounced Giles and Daphne man and wife, there was a surprising shuffling among the congregation. As Giles and Daphne turned to leave the church and Daphne took his arm so that they could walk down the aisle, the organ broke out with a triumphal march from Handel and the church bells began to ring changes to celebrate the wedding in the uniquely English fashion. The surprise came for Giles when their progress reached the church door. There they emerged to find that they had to pass under a long arch of swords held out by naval officers. Giles recognized them as men with whom he had served over the years. Beyond them, he found not only his and Daphne’s tenants but also most of his crew from Patroclus. He could not imagine how in the world their arrival for the ceremony and their presence at Dipton had been kept a secret from him. He was very touched to realize that his crew members had decided to use part of their precious leave to honor him.
The next surprise for the newly married couple was to find that the horses had been unhitched from their cabriolet and their place taken by stalwarts from Patroclus. Men who were used to hauling cannon up a sloping deck and breaking the anchor out of thick mud had no problem pulling the carriage on the short trip to Dipton Hall. That was also a surprise for Giles, for he had thought that the wedding breakfast was to be held at Dipton Manor. He hadn’t known that Daphne, having been informed by Carstairs about the extra guests, had moved the wedding breakfast to Dipton Hall as being better equipped to handle the larger numbers of guests than originally planned. The only difficulty in arranging the switch was to prevent Tisdale, who had known Daphne all her life and believed it was his right to supervise her wedding breakfast, from coming to blows with Steves, who was gloating over the change. In the end, she had resolved it by putting Tisdale in charge of all the outdoor activities while Steves could supervise the indoor ones. Since the outside arrangements were harder to organize than the indoor ones, a reluctant truce had been achieved.
Dipton Hall was packed. Both the main and the small dining rooms were in use and Steves had had to make still further provisions so that all could be seated. He and Tisdale had also secured additional servants from other houses in the neighborhood whose masters had been invited to the wedding. Daphne had sent invitations to everyone of quality with a fifteen mile radius and since she was well liked and respected, even though she was thought to be a bit odd and lacking decorum, almost all of them had accepted.
Giles and Daphne spent most of their time circulating among the guests, receiving congratulations and making introductions. Daphne knew none of the naval officers and was happy to realize how they all seemed to be delighted that Giles had found his mate. Giles was astounded to overhear, as they approached groups with whom he had served, that there had been lively speculation on whether he would get married at all as well as when. He even learned that the odds had been five to four in favor of his remaining single. Giles also had to be introduced to many of his neighbors, who were all very curious about the hero who had come to live among them, and were delighted for the couple, even if Daphne had spoiled the hopes of some of their daughters...
When the time came for the married couple to leave the festivities, Giles realized that he had not thought ahead about where they would go when they left the wedding breakfast. They could hardly have the carriage driven down the drive only to turn around and come back. He should have known that Daphne would have planned for this part of the ceremony as well as all the rest.
“Where are we going?” he asked her as they settled into the open carriage.
“To Brighton,” she replied smoothly. “I have rented rooms for us there.”
It was only after they had passed through Dipton and were rolling along through fields which on each side of the road belonged to one or other of them that Giles asked, “How were you able to secure rooms in Brighton at such short notice?”
“It wasn’t at short notice. I took them for three months when I realized that we couldn’t plan our wedding far in advance.”
“Three months?”
“Yes, husband – oh, I love calling you ‘husband’ -- I wanted our wedding to be as perfect as possible and the expense of holding the rooms didn’t matter if it would guarantee that we would start our life together in a good place. I had noticed this house where our rooms are located as being particularly fine when I visited Brighton with my father, though I never thought I would begin married life there. In fact, I didn’t expect ever to have a married life.”
“I am very glad, wife, that you changed your mind on that subject.”
Author’s Note
This is a work of pure historical fiction. The main characters did not exist in reality and their actions did not take place. In particular, there was no French frigate, whether pirate or tolerated by the French governments seizing British frigates and merchant ships during the Peace of Amiens. Neither side developed ships with major fore and aft armament, possibly for reasons having to do with the ships not being constructed so that they could sustain the sudden loads that such armament would impose, but more likely because of the hide-bound nature of the naval authorities. It is curious that such weapons were not developed, especially for ships of the line where the relatively new tactic of splitting the enemy line would have been made easier if the attacking ships could have mounted significant fire as they approached the enemy, while the defending ships would have been in a stronger position if they could have replied directly as they were being raked. But whatever the reason for the absence of such armament, Giles has been lucky to have had the opportunity to employ this fictitious weapon.
Readers have remarked that some of the concerns and activity around Dipton remind them of Jane Austin. I hope no one thinks I have drawn overly on her very special works. She was describing life very close to the social strata of the principal characters in this tale during much the same period, the exception being that titled members of the cast who participate in the actions at Dipton are more grand than any whom Austen described. It is perhaps worth remembering that Austen had two brothers who were indeed engaged in the naval war of the period, even though that war appears only ob
liquely in her novels. Indeed, that in itself is strange for there is ample evidence that the war, especially when the threat of invasion was serious, engaged the interests of the class of people with which Austen deals.
I hope that readers have enjoyed this volume. Giles, Bush and Lady Daphne Giles, née Miss Daphne Morehouse, will have challenging as well as rewarding lives as the war stretches on for another decade.
I would like to receive your opinions of the book, either positive or negative. You may email me at [email protected] or through Beach Front Publishing House at [email protected]
A New War Page 24