by Dudley Pope
“Nicholas,” she said quietly, “you are without doubt le plus grand bumpkin I’ve ever met. Why I should fall in love with you I don’t know. But if ‘Everything’s all right,’ then please kiss me!”
Fifteen minutes later, by which time she had bathed her eyes and powdered her face in an attempt to hide all traces of both tears and kisses, she called the maid back and Ramage left to find the Duke.
He was sitting in the large drawing-room playing chess with Yorke and watched by the Count de Chambéry. The moment they saw Ramage all three men stood up, looking at him questioningly.
Ramage grinned sheepishly. “I’ve just seen Maxine. I didn’t realize that—”
When he broke off the Duke said: “Was your visit to the Admiral—ah, satisfactory?”
“Very. I get a new ship and I have a month’s leave.”
“I should think so,” Yorke said. “Does that mean Sir Pilcher is abandoning his friend Goddard?”
Ramage nodded. “If I get the ship, it means that Goddard has been abandoned very publicly.”
“A wise man, Sir Pilcher,” the Duke commented. “So perhaps the vendetta is over now.”
“I think so.”
The Duke picked up the black knight from the board. “The knight’s move, two ahead and one to the side … that sums up Goddard’s way of life: he can do nothing directly. But, like the knight, he cannot change his moves.”
Ramage suddenly remembered the convoy conference on board the Lion at Barbados: the canvas covering the cabin floor had been painted in black and white squares, chessboard fashion, and Goddard had reminded him of the knight and Croucher of the bishop.
“By the way,” the Duke said, “one of the guests at dinner last night offered us the use of a big estate house up in the mountains: it belongs to his brother, who is away in England for a year. It is very beautiful up there, and cool.”
Ramage’s face fell. He wondered whether some of Maxine’s tears had been shed at the thought of their early separation …
As though he had read Ramage’s thoughts, the Duke said: “We were planning to leave tomorrow. The Admiral has given you a month’s leave—will you spend it with us?”
A month in the mountains with Maxine. A few weeks ago he was fighting a hurricane; a few hours ago he was being court-martialled; a few minutes ago he was manoeuvring with the Commander-in-Chief. It was hard to take it all in …
“You’ll have to put up with my company, too,” Yorke said blithely. “I’ve been invited and assured that the shooting up there is splendid!”
Could they be interpreting Ramage’s silence as reluctance to accept the invitation? He bowed to the Duke. “Thank you,” he muttered.
“Good—my wife and daughter will be delighted,” the Duke said. “We did not accept the offer at once because we wanted to be certain that your affairs at Admiralty House had been arranged to everyone’s satisfaction.”
The slight emphasis on the word “everyone” told Ramage that there had been pressure on Sir Pilcher from Government House. The Duke’s influence, combined with a knowledge of all the facts, had been enough to mobilize the Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney-General.
“I’ll leave you to finish your game of chess,” Ramage said, and went back to his room to wash and change.
A month in the Jamaican mountains with Maxine! The house would be crowded—the Duke and Duchess, Chambéry, Yorke … It might be the most tantalizing month of his life, with no opportunity to see her alone. It might be the most glorious….