Frederick did not comment that he would also find himself far from assistance in a single ship while the Spanish had fleets based on the Philippines and the coast of South America; no doubt he would discover that for himself.
A discussion of mutual acquaintances and of the parts of the world where they were currently to be found and then Forshaw rose to take his leave, insisting that he must not tire Frederick – the constitution of the older man so vulnerable to a wound of such grave nature.
The butler led Forshaw to the door and returned to enquire whether the gentleman was to be a regular caller and if Sir Frederick wished to be at home to him.
“He tipped me sixpence as he left, Sir Frederick!”
The expression of outrage was too comical for Frederick, left him in paroxysms of laughter.
“Honestly? Sixpence? Oh dear! And you had to take it for the sake of courtesy! I am so sorry, but, you know, naval captains are not always men of breeding and fashion! Captain Forshaw has never before graced London with his presence, and his next commission, commencing in a very few days, will be of four or five years in duration. If he saves very hard, he may well be able to afford you a shilling when next he visits.”
“I am, of course, delighted to discover that, Sir Frederick.”
Elizabeth, who had been out making morning calls herself, came back to be regaled with the tale.
“Sixpence! Oh dear! Will we see more of Captain Forshaw, my love?”
“Hopefully not. He is bound for the Great South Sea and then the west coast of the Americas. That should keep him out of sight and mind for a few years!”
They dined their fashionable guests and were even more glad that Captain Forshaw was not among them; he would not have been at home in their company.
Discussion was mostly confined to the King and his little problems, and to the Prince and his much larger ones.
“He will, of course, wish to be freed of his debts, Sir Frederick. They are not small.”
Lady Jersey rolled her eyes heavenwards with the comment. Lord Turner took her up.
“Three hundred thousand pounds at the last computation, my lady. That was taken a month ago and will be at least twenty thousand short by now – he has increased his state on the retirement of his poor father. Rundell and Bridge, the jewellers, are making requests of him, very politely, to reduce the account he holds with them, it being well into five figures in itself. They are perhaps the single largest of his creditors, but there are many more owed four-figure sums and close to bankruptcy as a result. I am told that his candle-chandler in Brighton is owed two thousands for lights for the Pavilion; I calculate that to be fifty thousand wax candles, which might be regarded by many as excessive.”
“Think of the honey-bees whose hives have been robbed to provide so many, my lord!”
They laughed, but only half-heartedly.
“One could build and fit out eight first-rate ships of the line for three hundred thousand pounds – and there are those who would suggest that might be a better use of Parliament’s money!”
“Precisely, Sir Frederick. What is to be done, do you think?”
Mr Critchel had been silent except for ordinary courtesies, now chose to join the conversation, knowing that his words would be circulated generally, probably without attribution, and particularly to the Prince himself, almost certainly with Critchel’s name mentioned.
“The debts must be paid by Parliament, and soon. The Prince must then control his excesses; he has already promised to do so, of course, rather frequently! On this occasion, he must understand that he has much to lose if he breaks his word again. He is to remain as Prince of Wales for at least two years; if he has shown responsible during that time, then he will be made Regent, as he so greatly desires. I believe that he is sufficiently clever to be aware that he may rule, but he will not govern. He has demanded places for his louche favourites, and he will get them, for they are insignificant little beasts as a general rule, but he will not make policy and nor will he appoint the government of his choice. Parliament will control this country, ma’am, and if he should attempt to alter that, then he has a brother who may supplant him.”
Lord Turner nodded his agreement and caught Frederick’s eye, smiling slightly.
It occurred to Frederick that Mr Critchel must be very sure of his own power in the land to be offering so overt a set of threats to the Prince. A very good friend to have, he was certain.
Major Paget, sat opposite his lady wife - a necessary accessory in any Embassy, for one must entertain the foreigner - widened his eyes in amazement. He had been only very few weeks in London, was still relaxing after his years in Stamboul, not the easiest of postings for a Western diplomat, even a Military Attaché qualifying as such. The Ottoman Empire was losing all power and significance in the world and was as a consequence standing much on its dignity, taking offence at every perceived slight. Major Paget had endured several tedious interviews with the Ambassador after complaints made that he had offered insult to the Sublime Porte; in each case he had been advised to cultivate tact and tolerance for the lesser mortals of the world. Now, finally at rest in England, he was being made accomplice to lese-majeste at minimum.
Lady Jersey laughed, told him not to worry – Prinny would not set a foot astray for the next year or two, he had waited too long to ascend the throne, would not throw the opportunity away now that it had finally come.
“What is next for you, Major Paget?”
“I am to purchase, ma’am, and believe that I shall be sent out to Portugal as a colonel, to keep the peace there, placating our ally and softening General Beresford’s lack of tact. He is a fine soldier, and is, I am told, already making a great difference to the Portuguese Army, but show him a toe and he must tread upon it.”
Lady Jersey eyed Major Paget speculatively, could be seen to decide that his wife was a determined lady in her own right, and would not look kindly on sharing her husband for even a very few nights. She turned her attention to Frederick.
“One is given to understand that you are to be employed on an early day, Sir Frederick. Such devotion to duty does you credit, sir.”
As she knew, Frederick was wholly unaware of the plans being made for him. She dearly loved to be first with any news.
“There is mention that the shores from Poole to Bridport are to be pacified, Sir Frederick. They are, I am reliably told, lawless and much given to smuggling, to the running of guineas, and even, it is whispered, to the occasional indulgence in wrecking! Such excesses are to be curbed, under the command of a notable local naval gentleman.”
Frederick smiled ruefully, said that he had been told nothing of this, but, while he was not expected to go to sea, then he could not refuse the command.
“I never have refused to serve, ma’am, and I am too old and set in my ways to change my habits now – but I could wish for a more easily capable task than the one you have outlined! The first solution that comes to mind is to place every able-bodied man along the coast under arrest; having put those fifty thousand away, then one must discourage their womenfolk from taking their places.”
“Truly? Does the Sheriff’s Writ have no sway there?”
“None at all, ma’am! In Poole, the whalers riot drunkenly for their amusement when they are in port and the smugglers command the streets when they are not. Elsewhere, the farm labourers are so ill-paid that they depend on their work of the nights for their very survival – and will fight all comers to protect the Gentlemen.”
Mr Critchel suggested his favourite solution – the country needed a police force, a constabulary that would enforce order on the land. All decried this answer – it was not consonant with the liberties of the free-born Englishman.
Elizabeth was not best pleased; she was in fact vocal in her displeasure. Frederick remained silent for the first twenty minutes of her reasoned exposition of just why he should not accept the offered command, then ventured to suggest that it would not be till spring, that he would certa
inly have the better part of three months of convalescence, would be suffering the tedium of the rural existence before then.
“As well, Elizabeth, the state of the countryside is a national disgrace! There is smuggling, you will remind me along the Sussex and Kent coast as well, though almost none in Hampshire because of the proximity to Portsmouth of the Isle of Wight, Spithead and Solent alike closed to criminal activity. But Dorset, fortunately distant from London, has no control upon it at all and is now the wildest of lands on the whole South Coast. We do have a duty to take some action, you know.”
“I seem to remember, sir, the creation of a force known as Sea Fencibles when last you were wounded. Those gentlemen were armed and sent to sea in their own small craft and instantly turned smuggler themselves, organising the trade most effectively and leading to the present state of affairs! How do you propose to prevent a repetition of that sequence of events?”
Frederick had forgotten that unfortunate turn out, was inclined to laugh. Elizabeth was not amused, promised herself to return to the topic at a later moment.
“We should travel to Abbey next week, sir. I believe that you should send Kavanagh ahead to arrange accommodation in advance, thus ensuring that your comfort is protected. Looking at the roadbook, and discovering the best highways, then I suggest a journey of four days rather than our normal direct route. The Great West Road to Newbury; thence to Winchester; the third day to Poole; then to home, over the poorest roads of all. With a little of good fortune, no more than six or seven hours in any day.”
“Two chaises?”
“Can Mr Aggers be asked to share with Bosomtwi and Olsen, and your cook, whatever his name is, Frederick? I am sorry, I forgot Plowman, your valet. Quite ineligible, he cannot make a fifth, and we do not really wish him to sit bodkin, making a third in our chaise, facing towards us for the whole journey. Has he kin in England, do you know?”
Frederick felt rather guilty – he did not know. He asked Aggers later if he had family to visit.
“A brother, sir, who is an attorney in Fareham. He could not provide for me on half-pay, having a family of his own, but will no doubt he happy to see me for a week having discovered my present enviable state. I have exchanged letters with him, telling him that I am now part of your retinue, and he has offered his sincerest congratulations, delighted with my good fortune.”
“The possession of a few guineas in prize-money will no doubt please him too, Mr Aggers.”
“We are all but human, sir!”
“A rare lawyer if he can make that particular claim, Mr Aggers! Would you wish to make your visit soon? We shall close Mount Street next week and it would be logical for you to travel to Abbey by way of Fareham, both being on the South Coast.”
All was arranged, avoiding the vast expense of a third post-chaise and preserving Mr Aggers’ dignity.
Frederick called Olsen to him, to satisfy his own conscience. The boy was so much alone, possessed no friends in England.
“Do you have any family, Olsen? Is there any person in England has a claim on your affections?”
“Other than you, sir, none! Foundling, sir. Nobody at all until you looked after me, sir.”
“It is good of you to say so, Olsen. You know that you have your place here forever, if that is your desire. When we leave the sea, then there will be work still in the household, and a cottage of your own if ever you take a wife.”
“Are you going to leave the sea, sir, begging your pardon, that is?”
“The war will end one day, Olsen, and the navy will get smaller.”
“I didn’t know wars ended, sir. I thought we was always at war. We always ‘ave been that I remembers, sir.”
“There is such a thing as peace, Olsen. It will come again, one day. Perhaps. We are off to Abbey next week. If you have purchases to make in London, you should do so in the next few days.”
“Don’t need nothing, thank’ee, sir. Got all I want, sir.”
Elizabeth had entered the room mid-way through the conversation, now watched the boy leave, eyes brimming.
“Poor little fellow, Frederick! He has nothing, but is happy in his lot, it seems. We must protect him, must we not?”
“No choice! There is a place until the day he dies. We must ensure that Iain is aware of the obligations he will one day inherit.”
“I suspect he knows, Frederick. The lad has a sense of duty. Perhaps too much so for one of his age. He is so proud of you, is concerned that he must never let you down by word or deed. He is unhappily certain that he can never step into your shoes, for being a lesser man than you. I have tried to tell him that he must be himself, but I do not know that I have convinced him that he is to be his own man, not merely your successor.”
Frederick had been unaware of that particular problem, and could not immediately discover a solution, other than to bring the boy much more into his confidence.
“I do not know the estates as well as I should, but I believe Iain to have ridden them all of his life and to be far more at home than me. Perhaps I can persuade him to show me round, valuing his knowledge and advice. It will be a start.”
Elizabeth agreed that it would be good for the boy to think himself a man, and to be recognised as such by his father.
“I shall have a word with Lord Alton before we leave London, my dear. I am not so happy about this idea of going off chasing smugglers.”
Elizabeth smiled, said she was sure he was making a very wise decision; better to quietly work behind the scenes so that the offer was never made to him.
Travel on English roads was not a happy experience.
The Great West Road, the route to Bath and Bristol and one of the busiest in the Kingdom, was as smoothly surfaced as any highway to be found, but in winter was still muddy and bumpy. The post chaises, all built to a pattern and leased normally to the proprietors of the companies that ran the different parts of the country, were known as ‘Yellow Bounders’, from their standard colour and their poor springing. Tolerated by those in a hurry, they were a penance to ordinary travellers who were forced to cross the country on their day-to-day business; all that could be said for them was that they were less uncomfortable than the Mail or, Heaven forbid, the stagecoach.
Frederick found that if he sat in the right-hand corner, leaning against the door frame, he could protect his left arm and stump against the incessant jolting, but he was weary at the end of the first day, with three more to follow. Kavanagh had been efficient in ordering rooms in advance, and forewarning the landlords of the posting inns of Frederick’s injury; bedrooms and private dining and sitting rooms were open and warmed by blazing fires against their arrival, staff watching out for them. It was not unpleasant to be greeted by name, to be sat tenderly into a comfortable chair, fresh-made coffee to hand within minutes, waiters and maids running to his every command.
The first evening set the tone, the landlord bowing low as he ventured to address so great a man.
“Dinner, Sir Frederick, my lady – Cook has chickens on the spit, and a roast of beef and a leg of lamb, with potatoes, both boiled and roast, and parsnips and greens and beans, sir. A tart of apricots and almonds with fresh cream, well whipped, sir, in the Continental style, being as there is a man from the Low Countries – Wallonia, he says – what fled here and has graced my kitchen these fifteen years. As well, sir, there is a dried pea soup, and brown soup besides. As far inland as we are and at this time of year, no fish, sir. In the season there is always trout from the rivers, but not in December, sir. Should you have a fancy for a beefsteak, sir – it can be put to hand, or indeed a shoulder of pork – you have but to say the word!”
Lady Harris intervened, saying that she could not imagine roast pork to be right for her husband quite yet.
“Right you are, my lady – your man did say that Sir Frederick was sorely wounded – as can be seen and was, indeed, reported in the newspaper together with the tale of his victories! Such an honour, sir, that you grace my house! But for pork �
� Cook did offer it on her menu, but, ma’am, I took the liberty of striking it off, for not being the thing in Sir Frederick’s condition!”
Frederick thought of saying that he might quite fancy a slice of pork, but it would have been ungracious, in the extreme – they were concerned for his well-being and had no other motivation. How churlish it would have been to gainsay them!
The road from Newbury to Winchester crossed the South Downs, interesting and attractive countryside under a summer sun, but chill and windswept in winter, open to the ordinary westerlies, and the occasional bitter easterly coming all the way from Russia and its frozen wastes. Frederick remembered that it was an easterly that had finished off his poor elder brother so many years before, enfeebled as he had been. He had no desire to go the same way and wrapped himself as warm as he could, layer upon layer of woollen blanket over a fleece jacket; he was ashamed of himself when he realised that Elizabeth had wound one of her covers around him as well, but she refused to take it back no matter how much he protested.
“It is not really so cold, Frederick! I am comfortable.”
They changed horses once before Winchester, taking a hot drink and a slice of bread and beef to refresh them. The post-boys were blue with cold, Frederick saw, crowding into their waiting room and the fire to recover for an hour or two. The boys would return to Newbury that day, taking the next change on its way north, boys from the south straddling the horses that would pull them to Winchester. Frederick felt in his pocket, came up with four crown pieces, two each, to slip into their hands; their life was hard, he believed, especially as they would lose their places as they grew to man’s size and became too heavy for the job. If they were lucky, they would become grooms, but the unfortunate were sometimes to be seen as landsmen at sea, sent off with the quota for being surplus to requirements in their parish.
They reached Winchester early in the afternoon, the journey from Newbury being of little more than thirty miles. Half an hour to warm up and Frederick suggested that they might wish to pay a call upon Abrams the jeweller; Elizabeth had thought it not impossible that he might do so when she had arranged their itinerary.
Shores of Barbary (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 12) Page 2