by Dudley Pope
'What a wonderful way to start the day! The man of the house has eaten his breakfast in peace and quiet and read enough newspapers to be fully informed about what is going on in the world. Don't go back to sea, caro mio!'
'Someone has to defeat Bonaparte,' he said lightly, knowing he was joking about a dangerous subject.
'Leave it to the others,' she said airily. 'You've done enough already -' She broke off as Hanson came in with the large tray, and after one look she said firmly: 'No oysters, Hanson! Take them away and keep them for the Admiral.' The butler's face fell as he walked to the table, carrying the tray with the forlornness of a man trying to sell bruised apples in Covent Garden market.
'Do you like oysters, Hanson?' Ramage asked innocently. The butler glanced nervously at the door, as if fearful his wife was waiting outside to pounce on him, and then shook his head expressively.
Gianna sat at the table and motioned Ramage to a chair opposite her. 'What have the newspapers to say today?'
'It seems My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have given Lord Nelson a new job.'
'As long as Their Lordships don't find one for you,' she said sharply. "The Admiralty must let you have a holiday,'
'I have a month's leave,' he reminded her.
'But only eleven days are left.'
Ramage's eyebrows lifted. 'You keep a tally?'
'Yes,' she said quietly, 'though I don't know why: you can't wait to get to sea again and leave me all alone, and-'
'If there's no ship for me, I'll be able -'
There'll be a ship,' she interrupted angrily. 'You are famous now! Why, even your father says you should be made post very soon. "Captain Ramage" - how does that sound? And you'll wear an epaulet on your right shoulder, and after three years you can put one on your left shoulder as well. You see,' she said, her eyes sparkling, 'I'm learning about naval etiquette. I've read the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions, and the Articles of War, too. Soon I-'
'The change of Government,' he said soothingly, alarmed at the way her voice was rising and startled at what she had been reading. 'Lord Spencer is no longer First Lord of the Admiralty ...'
'But the new First Lord knows you well - why, Lord St Vincent was your Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean when Lord Nelson was still only a commodore.'
'He'll have forgotten me - there are hundreds of lieutenants in the Navy!'
‘Thousands!' a voice boomed from the doorway. 'All of them scoundrels, with a girl in every port!'
The Admiral strode into the room, a tall man with aquiline features and silver-grey hair. He had the same deep-set and penetrating brown eyes as his son and the stance and walk of a man used to exercising authority; the lines on his face showed that he laughed readily and frequently. 'Good morning to the pair of you,' he said, noting Gianna's tight lips and wondering what they had been quarrelling about. 'You've already eaten, Nicholas?'
'Hours ago, sir,' Ramage said lightly.
'Left some oysters for me, I hope.' He saw Ramage's expression. 'I forgot you don't like 'em. Pity - oysters and cold tongue; the finest breakfast there is. Don't you agree, m'dear?'
'No,' Gianna said flatly, 'oysters sono horribile.'
The Earl grinned cheerfully as he sat down and rang the bell. 'You know, Nicholas, I've noticed that Gianna always lapses into Italian when she's on the verge of mutiny. Ever have the same trouble with Italian seamen?'
'Only that fellow Rossi - I was telling you about him.'
'But he's a Genovese!' Gianna exclaimed.
'Good seamen come from Genoa. Anyway, he helped save your life,' Ramage pointed out,
'And yours, too!'
The Admiral rang the bell again. 'Children, stop bickering.'
'I'm not bick -'
'You are out of fashion, though,' Ramage interrupted, raising the newspapers. 'At least, according to the Morning Post.'
Gianna glared at him, knowing he was trying to keep her off the subject of him getting a new ship. 'Let me see.'
He passed over the newspaper. 'Yellow muslin trimmed with black lace, scarlet spencers, and little round hat with deep veils .. ,'
She read for a few moments and then sniffed. 'Rubbish - that's for innkeepers' wives. Anyway,' she added less emphatically, 'it's for walking-dress.'
'The feminine fashion is to copy the military,' Ramage murmured to his father.
'Ha!' the Admiral snorted, 'I can just see the ladies stamping along in heavy boots, leather crossbelts, and battered shakoes. Most becoming!'
'Tea, my Lord?' Gianna asked sweetly. 'You notice,' she added when he nodded, 'that the ladies are copying the Army, not the Navy.'
'Should think so, too,' the Admiral retorted. 'You'd look dam' funny in white knee breeches, frock coat and a cocked hat. You ought to borrow one of Nicholas's uniforms and wear it to the Duchess of Manston's tonight. New fashion - why, you'd set London by its ear!'
'Board 'em in the smoke,' Ramage said. 'Father will lend you his best dress sword.'
'What are you going to wear?' she asked icily. 'You haven't seen your tailor for years, so it'll be something old-fashioned and dowdy. Russet and green, no doubt, and everyone will take you for a gamekeeper.'
Ramage said: "The newspapers say the King will not be there: the Queen is ill, and he's staying at Windsor. Anyway, I'll be wearing uniform.'
Gianna looked disappointed at the news of the King's absence and then exclaimed: 'Uniform? Oh, Nicholas! Please wear something more elegante.'
'He has no choice, my dear,' the Earl said. 'Lord St Vincent will be there, and he's very fussy about that sort of thing.'
‘This Manston,' she said with the disdain of the head of one of the oldest families in Italy, 'who is he?'
'A comparative newcomer,' the Earl said lightly. 'His father was of some service to the present King's father.'
'Political service,' Ramage added. 'Rather a clever politician.'
‘The Duchess,' Gianna said darkly. 'I hear strange stories about her.'
'Quite so,' the Earl said hurriedly, 'but one mustn't believe all one hears.'
'Makes for jealousy, too,' Ramage said, winking at his father.
Gianna tossed her head scornfully and picked up her cup. 'Even if one does believe, that woman hasn't achieved in a lifetime what some Roman women I know accomplish in a week. Why, the Duchess of Ravello had -'
'Gianna!' the Earl said sternly, 'no more of your detailed stories of light women - not at breakfast, anyway!'
'Later, then, when you feel stronger,' Gianna said nonchalantly. 'I don't know what has happened to Hanson.’ She rang the bell and pointed to the big silver urn. 'More tea? It will be cold in a few minutes.'
The Earl moved his cup towards her, and when a distant clatter in the kitchen startled both men, she noted how physically alike they were. The sudden noise made them both turn, reminding her of hawks poised to attack. They resembled so many of those forebears whose portraits hung from the walls of the St Kew house. Both had the Ramage face in full measure: high cheekbones and a thin nose (how did they say it in English? Aquiline?) and eyes like brown chestnuts and deep-set under almost fierce eyebrows. Full mouth, hands with long fingers . . . In one or two of the portraits the artists had managed to catch that elusive look of amused detachment with which the Ramages had apparently surveyed the world through successive generations and which, in Nicholas, alternately infuriated her and made her want to hug him.
The look was a pose, a mask which hid their true feelings, because she knew Nicholas was far from detached. Nicholas could (and did, for she had seen him a dozen times) stand on the quarterdeck of his ship, apparently concerned only with the trim of the sails and the course being steered, and surveying the men as though they were sheep. Later he would speak to Mr Southwick, who was usually the Master, and ask if a particular man had hurt his arm, or another seaman's leg was troubling him, and suggest they should be given lighter duties. Often Southwick, as kindly an old man as she had ever seen, would be startled
by his captain's sharp eyes, since he had seen nothing and the man had not reported to the surgeon. Lord Ramage - or Lieutenant Nicholas Ramage, as he preferred to be called in the Navy - was far from detached, and she loved him and was terrified when he went to sea. The Admiralty deliberately chose him for absolutely impossible and dangerous tasks - and she was going to tell Lord St Vincent so when she saw him that night - because he usually managed to do the impossible, although sometimes at a terrible cost of life and limb.
As he watched her pecking at her food, Ramage tried to guess her thoughts: she had become strangely, almost ominously quiet. Perhaps she was upset that he would be wearing uniform that evening instead of being rigged out in whatever sartorial idiocy passed for male fashion at this particular moment,
There must be some vast philosophical conclusion to be drawn from the fact that today both newspapers devoted more space to news of the military influence on feminine fashion than Bonaparte's invasion plans and Britain's defences, though he was damned if he could think what it was. A display of confidence in the nation's safety, perhaps, and therefore better than printing shrill alarms? A crude gesture of defiance? Or was it a genuine disdain of Bonaparte's plans, which was dangerous because it went hand in hand with apathy?
Merely being on leave was a change of fashion for Lieutenant Ramage! After months at sea it was a comfortable change to be sitting at a table in a room with ten feet of headroom instead of the few inches over five feet usual in the captain's cabin of one of the King's smaller ships. Instead of his uniform he was dressed in pearl grey breeches, pale blue waistcoat - although he disliked the fancy silver thread embroidery, it was one of Gianna's favourites - and a relatively comfortable dark blue coat which Gianna scorned as more suitable for an unfrocked priest.
Women were traditionally the slaves of fashion, but men were just as bad, with politics thrown in for good measure. Some of Mr Pitt's supporters were wearing scarlet waistcoats and Mr Fox's buff without their womenfolk laughing them out of court, and he had heard that the Tory ladies were now sporting patches on the right side of their foreheads while the Whig ladies stuck them on the left. The doxies of the revolutionaries from the London Corresponding Society presumably wore them on the tips of their noses ...
Still, he was thankful that wigs were becoming less popular, because they were still devilishly expensive. It was hard to find scratches or bob wigs for less than twenty shillings, and good grizzle majors and grizzle ties cost a couple of guineas and often more.
CHAPTER TWO
With his head thudding inside a tight band, his mouth dry and his feet swelling so much it seemed they must burst out of his new shoes, Ramage took Gianna's arm the moment the orchestra finished playing and began to steer her off the ballroom floor. 'Let's sit and watch the next one,' he said.
The ballroom in Manston House was said to be the largest in London, and he could well believe it: dancing round it once must equal a circumnavigation of Hyde Park. The Duchess had recently had it redecorated in pale blue and cream, with the complicated ceiling patterns picked out in gilt. There were so many chandeliers it was a wonder the weight did not pull the ceiling down on their heads, and the light was brilliant, emphasizing all the colour and gaiety of the women's dresses and bringing a sparkle to tiaras and bracelets. But all the scores of candles made the great room as hot as the Tropics, and Ramage longed for a cool breeze.
Gianna finished her survey of the hundred or so other women waiting with their partners for the orchestra to strike up again. 'Oh, Nicholas,' she pouted, 'four dances and you're exhausted! Yet you dance exquisitely.'
'Out of practice,' he said, holding her arm firmly and leading her towards a settee. As he walked he watched a young naval lieutenant in uniform come into the room, pause a moment to whisper something urgent to the major domo, and then hurry off in the direction the man pointed to, weaving through the waiting dancers to reach a group of ministers talking at the far end of the room.
‘The orchestra is wonderful' Gianna protested as the music started.
‘The orchestra is wonderful, you look wonderful, and it's a wonderful ball, but I feel as though I've been in action for three hours!'
'Well, I don't,' Gianna said crossly, reluctantly sitting on the settee. 'Let's watch the Duchess dancing,' she said, arranging her flowing skirt. 'She must be at least thirty, but what energy!'
'At least thirty,' Ramage said gravely. 'She’ll be a grandmother soon.'
'But she has no children!'
‘Then she'd better hurry,' Ramage said vaguely, turning to watch the lieutenant reach Lord St Vincent, open the small leather pouch he was carrying, and hand over a letter. ‘The Duke will want a son and heir,' he added lamely, realizing that Gianna was staring at him. 'It's only natural . . .'
'Is she pretty?' Gianna demanded.
'What - the Duchess?'
'Don't be exasperating! The woman you keep staring at'
'I was watching that officer delivering a dispatch to the First Lord,' Ramage protested, turning to face her. 'Anyway, if there was a woman here more beautiful than you, I'd look at her out of curiosity, but since there isn't you can relax and stop stabbing me with those hatpin looks.'
She gave him a conspiratorial smile. 'You Englishmen tell lies so gracefully. Still, you're forgiven and I'll act as lookout to save you turning round. How do they say it - Deck there, masthead here: Lord St Vincent is reading the letter . . . Ah, he waves to Lord Nelson, who walks over to join him . . . Lord Nelson reads the letter - and hands it back: it must be a short one . . . They talk together, both frowning. Bad news? The poor lieutenant - ah, Lord St Vincent waves him away. They keep looking over their shoulders - making sure no one can overhear, I suppose. Lord Nelson may have only one arm, but he waves it about a lot!'
She paused and clapped politely as the orchestra stopped and, almost without pause, swept on to the next tune. As the dancers resumed, Ramage noticed that Gianna had suddenly tensed. 'What's the matter?' he said in alarm.
She made a placatory gesture with her fan. 'It's nothing. Lord Nelson waved, as though referring to someone over here, and now Lord St Vincent is quizzing everyone. He looks so stern!'
Ramage shrugged. 'Half the King's ministers are here tonight . . . Perhaps they've just received a dispatch saying that Boney's coming!'
Gianna shivered. 'Don't make jokes about it!' She began reading the card that she had taken from her tiny handbag. 'Ah, for the next dance my partner -'
But Ramage was not listening; instead he turned again and watched as the First Lord spoke abruptly to a tall and elegant young post captain, who then began walking round the edge of the ballroom after a quick glance in Ramage's direction. He took a short cut across the corner of the floor, where there were few dancers, and Ramage saw that both Lord Nelson and Lord St Vincent had deliberately drawn apart from their group and were waiting impatiently.
Perhaps this was a common occurrence at a great ball attended by more than half the Cabinet: the sudden arrival of an urgent dispatch requiring some equally urgent decision and action. He turned back to Gianna and envied whoever was being summoned to the First Lord's presence; it might spoil the rest of the ball for the fortunate man and make him unpopular with his partner, but it would mean employment. At sea with a good ship and orders for detached service.
'I'm a dull fellow at a ball,' he said apologetically to Gianna. She was not listening but staring up at someone. He glanced up too and was startled to find the post captain looking down at him.
The man bowed gracefully to Gianna and after a perfunctory 'By your leave, Ma'am,' said to Ramage: 'Lord St Vincent wishes to speak to you for a few minutes: his Lordship told me to remain with the Marchesa.'
'Most necessary, sir,' Ramage said, nettled by the man's disdainful manner, 'it says on the map, "Here be lions,"' He turned to Gianna, childishly gratified by the puzzled look on the captain's face. 'If you'll excuse me - I'll hurry back.'
Gianna smiled politely but she said firmly: 'No
ship. Not for another eleven days, anyway. You tell him.'
Lord St Vincent had not changed in the two years since Ramage had last seen him: he was still the ramrod-stiff figure with a bowed head who spoke as crisply and as frankly as he wrote.
'Ah, Ramage, 'fraid I have to interrupt your social life for a few minutes. Pity the King isn't here tonight; intended to present you. His Majesty likes to meet the young officers he reads about in the Gazette. Still, there'll be another opportunity - as long as you don't blot your copybook, eh?' His Lordship gave a wintry smile. 'You understand me, eh?'
'Aye, aye, sir,' Ramage said, and realized the First Lord had a better memory than he had thought.
'Mr Ramage!' the First Lord said sharply, raising his voice above the orchestra, which had reached an exuberant passage, 'that's a very knowing smile you've rigged across your face. I've read all the correspondence concerning your recent actions. You're a brave and resourceful fellow, but make no mistake; I know you'd sooner disregard orders than obey 'em. Once in a thousand times that's justified - perhaps once in a lifetime. You've done it half a dozen times already. Remember that - and remember that the Navy List is full of brave and resourceful young officers.'
Only a fool would disregard the warning note in what was, for Lord Vincent, a long speech. 'Aye aye, sir,' Ramage said, hoping those three normally safe words would not get him into more trouble.
'My compliments and apologies to the Marchesa,' St Vincent said gruffly. 'Looks as beautiful as ever. Going to marry her?'
The First Lord was famous for his often stated view that the moment he married an officer was lost to the Navy, and Ramage was thankful he could answer honestly: 'It's never been discussed, sir.'
Lord St Vincent snorted and said suddenly: 'Just remembered something his Majesty mentioned. He noticed that they don't use your title in the Gazette.'
Ramage was not sure if it was a statement or a question, but Lord Nelson, who had been standing quietly in the background, moved closer and nodded a greeting as he said: 'I think it goes back to the Lieutenant's early days in the Navy, sir. Makes a pretty problem for a hostess seating her guests - does Lieutenant Lord Ramage take precedence over Rear Admiral Sir John Smith ...’