The Gathering Storm

by Peter Smalley

  'I think you will not, monsieur. Please to put the chair down, and be seated upon it.'

  James saw the futility of further resistance, and did as he was told. But he did not like it, and his face said so.

  'Yes, Henry Tonnelier. Perhaps they thought in London that it was a logical name for you, a man born in England with a family background in France. But when we removed your wig, and shaved off your grey-dyed beard, we saw at once that you were not a man in middle life, but a much younger man – in disguise. What is your real name, monsieur?'

  'I have nothing more to say to you.'

  'I confess I am disappointed. I had thought M. Mappin would send to me a more experienced emissary, wide versed in the art of deception and therefore able to acquit himself well under close questioning. You disappoint me, Lieutenant Hayter.' Uncocking the pistol.

  'Eh?'

  'You may think you are brave, but had the wrong people took you on that beach you would not have stood up at all well. You would have been broke, and you would have given us away.'

  James gave a bitter little chuckle, and:

  'The irony is, monsieur, whoever you are – that I know nothing at all, because I have been told nothing.'

  'M. Mappin gave you no detail of our business?'

  'I have been told nothing, and I propose to say nothing.'

  'Ah. Then I must say to you: give me the password.'

  'Password? It is ... deus ex machina.'

  'Welcome to beautiful France, Lieutenant. And now, we have work to do. Madame Maigre has come to us this morning, and you must meet her.'

  The relief in James's breast gave way to returning anger, and bewilderment.

  'But why was I kept blindfolded, if you knew who I was all the while? Why was I made captive, and dragged about the countryside? Why have you treated me so shabby?'

  'All will be made clear to you in due course, monsieur, after you have met Madame Maigre.'

  'Is Madame Maigre the lady that came in the black carriage?'

  'You have seen her? How?' A frown, then: 'Ahh ... you saw her from the window.'

  'I did indeed, yes.'

  Something in the way James made this brief reply caused the other man to look sharply at him.

  'She is very beautiful, no?'

  'Very beautiful.'

  'That must be the least of your concern, monsieur. We are here on profoundly important business, and there can be no foolish distraction of purpose. You understand?'

  'Very good, monsieur. I shall endeavour to keep that uppermost in my mind, and take notice only of what the lady says to me, when we meet.' With a degree of polite irony. This produced a coldly fierce response:

  'Listen to me, Englishman. You are here on sufferance, because my superiors have been persuaded of the need, in our present circumstances, to accept England's offer of help. I remain sceptical. I remain reluctant. Why should we trust the English, a duplicitous race – insular, piratical, uncivilised? What is the reason for your sudden willingness to oblige, to be charitable, and kind?'

  'I do not feel in the least charitable, monsieur. Nor do I feel disposed to be kind, neither.' Stung to intemperance.

  'No? No, I think you do not.' Holding up a hand as James was about to speak: 'You see, what puzzles me is why M. Mappin would send to us such a clumsily inept and impetuous fellow, with the acuity of a cowherd. Whose disguise would not deceive a dullard child. Whose experience in this exacting field was so obviously ... off. Could it be that M. Mappin's heart does not after all beat so very strong in this cause? I wonder.'

  'What cause? If you are its representative, monsieur, it can have little hope of survival or success, since you will certainly poison it from within.' Further stung.

  A long, cold, hostile stare, and:

  'You will meet Madame Maigre. She must decide. Her intuition is infallible?'

  'Thank you, I look forward to it. Will you tell me your name, monsieur? I will always like to know who my enemies are.'

  'I am known as – Félix.'

  'Monsieur Félix. I shall remember that.'

  'You will do well to remember it, monsieur. We shall see each other again.'

  Another cold stare, then he nodded to his companion by the door, who opened it wide. M. Félix swung out of the room, the door was closed in a rush of air that swept over James's face, and the lock turned. Retreating footfalls. Silence.

  NINE

  As she had proceeded south along the coast, Expedient's leak had grown worse, and soon the duty of survey – or the pretence of it – began to assume a very low priority in Captain Rennie's mind. He called together and spoke to his officers in the great cabin, briefly leaving the ship in the hands of the master's mate Mr Dangerfield.

  'Gentlemen, I have decided that we must abandon our duty of survey, and return to Portsmouth. Mr Adgett and Mr Tangible have both told me that the pumps are scarce able to hold their own against the increasing flow of water into the ship, and Mr Loftus is of the firm opinion that was we to encounter more bad weather along this coast we might very probably founder. We will therefore set a course for England, and there undergo urgent repair. It cannot be managed at sea. Mr Leigh.' A glance at his second lieutenant.

  'Sir?'

  'Assemble the people in the waist, and I will say a word to them.'

  'Very good, sir.' Departing.

  'Mr Souter. You are quite recovered now, are you?

  'I am, sir, thank you.'

  'Very well. Y'may return to your duty as officer of the deck, and relieve Mr Dangerfield.'

  'Sir.' His back very straight. His hat on as he left the cabin.

  'No wonder he suffers costiveness, the fellow.' Not aloud. 'His arse is so tight never even a fart could escape.' Turning to Lieutenant Makepeace: 'Now then, Tom. I could see you wished to say something. You have a question?'

  'Well, sir – I have.'

  'Go on.'

  'Are we to leave Mr Tonnelier altogether behind in France?'

  'Nay, nay, my duty is to return and take him off at the Pointe de Malaise on either the twentieth or the twenty-first day of this month. However, I cannot do so if my ship sinks under my legs. I will make my best endeavour to repair and return by that time, but if I am unable to do it – well, I am confident Mr Tonnelier is a resourceful fellow, and will discover some other means of coming out of France.'

  'D'y'mean – that he would hire a vessel of his own, sir?' Puzzled.

  'I do not know that. Perhaps he may go independent to a port, and cross in a packet-boat, I do not know. I hope to take him off in Expedient. I will do my best for him.'

  'May I say one word more, sir?'

  'Well, Tom?' Raising his eyebrows.

  'With great respect, sir, I wonder if there ain't more to this than simply putting a man ashore, and taking him off again. I was foxed the night you introduced me to Mr Tonnelier, I admit – and was ashamed of myself afterward. Since then I have the strong sense that Mr Tonnelier ain't a silk merchant at all. My feeling is that he is employed official, that he is acting in some distinction for government interest, and not his own – and that is the true reason we came to France, and not the survey, that is no more than sham.'

  Rennie looked at him a long moment, then turned away and was silent.

  'In course you may very likely say to me that I should mind my own business, sir – but if I may continue ... ?' Finding no response: 'Mr Leigh, after his experience in the launch, is also of the opinion that Mr Tonnelier never was in the silk trade, and is in fact—'

  'Yes yes, well well,' Rennie, over him, and he turned to look at him again. 'Ye've expressed your view, Mr Makepeace. I have allowed it, to a point. But I think ye'd better keep your opinion to yourself, from now on. And so had Mr Leigh.'

  He took up his hat, and his sword.

  'We will go on deck.'

  *

  HMS Expedient, frigate, 36, returned to Portsmouth, increasingly by the head and sluggish in answering the helm, so that she gave Captain Rennie great anx
iety in the four days the journey took, and he was always waiting for the first signs of a storm, keeping the deck two and three watches together. By the urgency of her signals as she reached Spithead she was given permission to stand in to the dockyard, where dockyard officers came aboard at her mooring number. She was straightway examined, and the officers, including the master shipwright, allowed that she must be got out of the water and into a dry dock without further delay, and her copper prised up to discover the extent of the difficulty. Her people went into a hulk, and the work began.

  Admiral Hapgood was not pleased. He summoned Captain Rennie.

  'This is a very dreadful commission, sir.'

  'I can assure you, sir, that I have every wish—'

  'Nothing goes right with it. You was delayed an unconscionable time. All kinds of troublesome people came and went from London. I was told nothing. And now you return with your duty not accomplished. Nothing accomplished but further delay and expense, and failure.'

  Rennie did not see how failure could be an accomplishment, but he did not say so. He thought it best to say nothing at all.

  'Well?' The beetling glare.

  'I am as cast down as yourself, sir.'

  'Cast down! D'y'say y'are moping, sir, like a damned snivelling maidservant? This ain't a scullery, Captain Rennie, it is a naval port, where sea officers must conduct themselves in a manner befitting their rank and duty.'

  Etcetera, etcetera. It was all very vexing and tedious to Rennie, but he bit his tongue and bore it, and came away to the Marine Hotel.

  Mr Mappin appeared at the Marine Hotel, where Captain Rennie had been tenderly and joyfully reunited with his wife. He sought an urgent interview. In fact he came direct to their rooms and demanded it. Rennie, in his shirtsleeves, was disinclined to be amiable, his ears still ringing as they were with Admiral Hapgood's round abuse.

  'Mr Mappin, I am not ready to see you just now, you know. Ye've called at an incon—'

  'You will oblige me by coming to the coffee house in ten minutes.' Mr Mappin, over him, his cane and gloves held tight in his hand. 'Do not fail me.' Abruptly turning on his heel and going away downstairs.

  'Christ Jesu ...' A great sigh. 'Have not I enough to deal with? Bloody dockyard men, and my ship took from under my legs, and bloody Happy Hapgood?'

  'Never mind, my darling William.'

  'I do mind, though. I must go away from you, just when we ...'

  'You will come back very soon. And I will be here.'

  He put on his coat, allowed his wife to tie his stock, kissed her, and went out.

  He met Mr Mappin in the coffee house, and:

  'How did y'know I was at Portsmouth, Mr Mappin? I have only just arrived this morning.'

  'I have been much at Portsmouth in recent days. Nearly all the time. Why did not you remain in your ship, sailing along the French coast as instructed, after you had put Mr Tonnelier ashore?'

  'Mr Who-is-he? Do not you mean – Lieutenant Hayter?'

  Mr Mappin regarded him a moment, and: 'How long have you known?'

  'From the first moment he came into the ship.'

  'He told you? He was given very specific instruction never to—'

  'He said nothing. I recognised him at once.' A sniff, then mildly: 'Look y'here now, I have known James Hayter many years, as shipmate and close friend. He is as familiar to me as my own face in the glass. What persuaded you I would not see through his damnfool disguise before he had even opened his mouth? Hey? Good heaven, man. And speaking of my ship, evidently you have not heard of her condition.'

  'Condition?'

  'She leaked badly following a storm at sea, and the leak got worse and worse. I was obliged to bring her home for repair, else she—'

  'Didn't Mr Tonnelier – Lieutenant Hayter – ask you to wait for him? Until the twentieth of June?' Over him.

  'He did. But I repeat – my ship was sinking under my legs. I had no choice but to return to England.'

  'Had you no thought for your passenger, Captain Rennie? Had you no thought at all for him, and what he had been required to do?'

  'Ah, well, I do not know what he was required to do, you see. I was never told. I did my duty and put him ashore, at very considerable risk to my ship and my people. In fact we lost a man out of the boat. A man was drowned, Mr Mappin, in carrying out my orders.' Holding up a hand before Mr Mappin could again interrupt. 'Before you say anything more to me, I will like to remind you of what I said last time we spoke. That if I discovered you in a lie, or a deliberate attempt to hoodwink and confuse me, I would make you answer for it.'

  Mr Mappin, usually so moderate in his speech and manners, now had to make an effort to be calm. He shook his head, drew in a breath, and:

  'Captain Rennie, above all else you must return to France at the appointed time, the twentieth of June. You must.'

  'I can promise nothing, I fear. In course I will not like to leave Mr Hayter stranded in France, and I will naturally do my best for him, and for you, in attempting to return by the appointed time. But I cannot work miracles. We may well be delayed here at Portsmouth two or three weeks.'

  'Three weeks! That cannot be permitted.' Leaning forward urgently. 'Listen now, what I wish you to do—'

  'It ain't a question of what you wish, sir. Fact is fact. When Expedient lay in Ordinary her bow timbers had rotted, part of the wale planking in the region of the cant frames and breast hooks, and the corruption was not discovered at the time of her refit. In truth we knew nothing of it at all until the ship began to leak very bad at sea.'

  'I know little of the work of shipbuilders, nor of repair. They are not pertinent now. You must take another vessel. I will arrange it. It is vital you return to France by the twentieth. You have little more than a week until that date, given the time you have wasted in returning—'

  'Take another ship ... ?' Rennie, staring at him.

  'Yes, another ship. I will arrange it with Their Lordships, without delay.'

  'Mr Mappin, you have tried my patience very far, sir, and now I will permit you to try it no further. What you propose is out of the question.' Hands flat on the table.

  'Captain Rennie, I must tell you something more.' His voice very low and emphatic. 'Lieutenant Hayter will not come out of France alone. He will bring with him a party of persons, who must be got out of France on that date. Brought away without remark, nor any attention drawn to them, quietly, discreetly, carefully. You will go there, in the vessel I shall arrange for you, and you will bring them away.'

  'Well well ... I knew nothing of this before, Mr Mappin, nothing at all. You see what happens to fellows like you, when you do not trust honourable sea officers, and keep things from them? You get yourselves in a very pretty fix, and then you expect the Royal Navy to get you out of it. I cannot sail to France in another ship. I am commissioned in Expedient.'

  'Even if Their Lordships order you to take another ship, you will not obey?' Angrily incredulous.

  Rennie sighed. 'Another frigate? Is that what you suggest? How will you arrange that, pray? Do you intend to bring a particular frigate out of Ordinary, refit her and make her ready for the sea, all in a week?'

  'There are other frigates here at Portsmouth, lying at anchor. One of those will—'

  'Aye, and all of those are commissioned, you know, by and to appointed post captains, just as I am commissioned in Expedient. Their Lordships will not take a commissioned ship from under her captain's legs – just like that. Not even the Prime Minister can do it – just like that.' Snapping his fingers in Mr Mappin's face.

  Mr Mappin seized Rennie's arm in a powerful grip, and looked right into his eyes. Low and hard:

  'The Prime Minister can, and will, and does. I act upon his authority, direct.' He released his grip, and stood up, dropped coins on the table, and: 'Come with me.'

  'Eh?'

  'We must talk further, and we cannot talk safely here.'

  Before an astonished Rennie could ask a single question, Mr Mappin was already
away to the door. Rennie hastily took up his hat, rose and followed.

  Rennie caught him up and walked with Mr Mappin briskly along the parade toward the fortifications, the castle against the sky in the east. The day was pleasantly sunny and warm, and there was a light topsail breeze. Ships lay moored. A sloop dashed down the harbour, and heeled toward Spithead. Portsmouth had never looked finer or more naval, thought Rennie as he glanced at the flag flying from the tower in the afternoon light. Presently, at the stone wall, Mr Mappin turned and spoke, and within a very few minutes Rennie had been made to understand. He stared at Mr Mappin as that gentleman finished speaking, nodded decisively, and:

  'We will not need another ship, Mr Mappin, now that you have made everything clear to me. To take another ship when so much is at stake would be tempting fate beyond all sense. If I go at once to the dockyard and put things in motion, and lift everyone to his duty urgent, we can be ready for sea in a very short time indeed. I will make it so.'

  'But if Expedient ain't—'

  'I will do it, I give you my word. We shall return to France by the appointed date.'

  'You are certain ... ?' Frowning at him.

  'As certain as I have ever been about anything, by God. I know my own ship in every distinction, great and small. I will get her ready, put to sea, and complete this task. You have my word on it.'

  'Well ...' Still doubtful.

  'There ain't a moment to lose.' Before Mr Mappin could demur, or make further objection. 'Good day to you, sir.'

  And Rennie set off down the line of fortifications at something like a run, clutching his hat to his head.

  *

  Close to, Madame Maigre was even more beautiful than James had thought when he first observed her from his window high in the château roof. He was now aware of the name of the house, Château de Châtaigne – after the large forest of chestnut trees that lay on the estate. M. Félix had not volunteered this information, nor any information. Madame Maigre had told James herself. Their first meeting had been formal, and brief. He had not been taken down to meet her, in one of the grander rooms. She had come to his room, with M. Félix and another gentleman who was not introduced to James, but simply stood clear and waited.