In the Commodore's Hands

by Mary Nichols

  ‘Good, because here is our first test.’

  There were two lines at the barricade, one to enter the city and one to leave. There was only a perfunctory search of those coming in to make sure they were not carrying forbidden imports like tea, coffee, tobacco or sugar, which could command ridiculous prices from those who could afford to pay. Vehicles waiting to leave the city, from handcarts to grand carriages, were thoroughly searched for aristos fleeing the country, taking gold and jewellery with them. Both were against the law and punishable by death.

  They sat waiting their turn, moving up as the people at the front were either allowed through or taken away. Jay looked at Lisette and squeezed her hand. ‘Don’t look so apprehensive, my love. You must appear relaxed.’

  She smiled at him as they jerked into motion and found themselves at the head of the line. A guard opened the coach door and put his head in. ‘Out, if you please,’ he said.

  ‘I do not see the necessity for that,’ Jay said haughtily.

  ‘I need to search the coach.’

  ‘I am an envoy of his Britannic Majesty and I refuse to be treated in this fashion. I shall inform your superiors.’

  ‘Nevertheless…’ the man began.

  ‘Oh, let us humour him,’ Lisette said, smiling at the guard. ‘We have nothing to hide and the poor man is only doing his duty.’

  ‘Thank you, madame.’ He was disposed to be polite.

  They left the coach while two guards pulled out all the cushions and two more opened the boot and inspected their luggage. They even bent to search under the vehicle in case anyone should be hanging there. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, they allowed the travellers to return to their seats.

  ‘You may go,’ the first man said. ‘Bon voyage.’ And with that he waved them on.

  Lisette let out a huge sigh of relief and Jay laughed. ‘You continue to surprise me, madam wife,’ he said. ‘Suggesting so coolly that we humour the man left me with my heart in my mouth.’

  ‘But it worked. He was polite and waved us on our way when he might have delayed us for hours while he sent someone to check on us.’

  ‘Yes, but I am glad they did not find the livres I had hidden in the false bottom of my trunk.’ He let down the window in the door and put his head out. ‘Once we are clear, Sam, tickle the horses into a gallop. I shall not breathe easy until we are well away from Paris.’

  ‘You expect to be pursued?’ Lisette asked as he settled back into his seat.

  ‘Yes. It will not take them long to realise who is responsible when they discover they have neither Giradet in custody.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘I would not like to be in Wentworth’s shoes.’

  ‘Jay,’ she said slowly. ‘We have a long ride ahead of us, so do you not think that now might be a good time to tell me about Mr Wentworth?’

  He put his arm about her shoulder and drew her to him. ‘It is not a pretty tale and not one I am proud of and I suppose I should have told you before asking you to marry me. You might have refused me under the circumstances. If you want to change your mind when I am done, I shall understand. It will break my heart, but I will not hold you to our engagement.’

  ‘It would take something very dreadful indeed for me to do that,’ she told him. ‘I am convinced Mr Wentworth was lying.’

  ‘Not altogether,’ he said. ‘But I will tell you everything and you may be the judge.’

  She took his hand and cupped it round her cheek before kissing the palm. ‘Go on, I am listening.’

  So he told her everything. How Marianne loved life, how she attracted people round her like moths to a flame, how she loved company, going to the theatre and balls and card parties, that he ought to have known from the outset that she would not like the quiet life at Falsham Hall, especially when he was away at sea and she could not indulge her fancies. ‘She took a lover,’ he said.

  ‘Wentworth?’ she queried, half-guessing what he was going to say.

  ‘No, he came later. This was a stripling of an earl’s son who had more money than sense. His father put a stop to the affair when he heard of it, threatened to cut him off without a groat. He was followed by a baronet she met at a hunt ball.’

  ‘You knew about it?’

  ‘Not at the time. That came to an end when the baronet died suddenly. Then came Gerald Wentworth, the second son of Earl Wentworth and prodigiously rich. I was away at sea at the time. She left our home and our children to live with him.’

  ‘Oh, Jay, how dreadful.’

  ‘There was the most awful scandal. They didn’t seem to care about it. I could not let it pass, so I challenged him.’

  ‘He told me that. He said he spared your life.’

  ‘I spared his. I cannot kill another human being, Lisette, not even when I am as angry as I was then. In a battle at sea it is different, it is done in the line of duty and I rarely saw my enemy at close quarters. Wentworth and I were well matched and the fight went on some time, but then I managed to knock his weapon out of his hand and he fell to his knees. I had him at my mercy, even held my sword above him, but I could not bring myself to plunge it into him. I threw it down and turned my back on him, expecting him to finish me off, but there were too many witnesses for him to do that. He has hated me ever since.’

  ‘And your wife?’

  ‘I left her to him and went back to my children.’

  ‘But she died.’

  ‘Yes. From time to time I heard that her life was not happy, that he treated her cruelly.’

  ‘Would you have taken her back, had she asked?’

  ‘No. Any love I had for her had died, but when a messenger came to tell me she had had an accident and I was wanted, I could not ignore it. I rode to Wentworth Castle, but I was too late, she was already dead. All I was needed for was to remove the body.’

  ‘Oh, Jay, I am so sorry.’

  ‘I have no one to blame but myself. I should have stayed at home with her, then perhaps she might have settled down.’

  ‘Do you really believe that?’

  ‘No, I do not think I do,’ he said slowly. ‘I realise now it was always in her nature to be wild.’

  ‘Then you are not at fault.’

  ‘Oh, Lisette, do you still say you will marry me?’

  ‘Of course I do.’

  He laughed and kissed her again and went on kissing her until they were both almost carried away by their passion. They might have been if the coach had not come to a stop.

  Chapter Twelve

  It was broad day and they had covered over a dozen miles and the horses needed to rest. Sam had driven off the road into a clearing in a wood, where stood a little cottage with smoke issuing from its chimney. They stirred their cramped limbs and, while Sam saw to the horses, Jay and Lisette went inside to be greeted by a tiny old lady with a clay pipe clamped between her lips. Jay introduced himself and presented Lisette.

  ‘The young man told me to expect you,’ she said, referring to Joe, who would have been flattered to be described as young, but to the bent old lady he probably was. ‘Did all go well?’

  ‘Yes, but later than we intended.’

  ‘You will be in some haste, then. I’ll pack food for you to take with you while your man changes the horses. I have obtained a spirited four for you, but they are not well matched. I hope your driver can manage them.’

  ‘I am sure he can. You may have a visit from three maréchaussée shortly who will not be all they seem. Do not be alarmed. Their leader calls himself Harry Portman—’

  ‘Oh, I know that gentleman of old. He always stops here on his way to and from Paris. I never know what guise he is going to adopt next.’ She cackled and took a kettle off the fire and poured boiling water into a pot containing tea leaves.

  ‘If anyone else asks after us…’

  ‘I shall send them in entirely the wrong direction. You may trust me, monsieur.’ She poured tea into tumblers for them and for Sam who came in to say the new horses were ready to go. A few minutes later Jay and L
isette took their seats again, each clutching a package of bread, cold chicken and ham. Sam climbed on the driver’s seat and they were off again.

  The horses had never worked together before and the ride was an erratic one and Sam had to work hard to keep them in line. Lisette clutched Jay, who put his arms round her. They laughed, glad to be together and free and they did not care how rough the ride was. But they were slower on this section than they had been on the last.

  ‘They should have caught us up by now, surely?’ Lisette said. ‘You do not think something dreadful has happened, do you?’

  ‘No, my darling. They may have been held up at the barrier, but you may trust Harry to see them safely through.’

  ‘Supposing Michel became ill and could not ride? He was starved and beaten in prison and is very weak.’

  ‘He is stronger than he looks. Be patient.’

  ‘I remember you saying that to me before.’

  ‘Yes, but this time you are going to heed me because you have learned to trust me, is that not so?’

  ‘Yes, Jay,’ she said meekly, making him laugh.

  Their second stop was at a posting inn where the proprietor laughed at their horses until the tears ran down his face. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ he said. ‘Where did you find those beauties?’

  ‘In a field,’ Jay said. ‘Ours were spent. You should have fresh cattle for us, bespoken by my servant, Joe Potton.’

  ‘That I do. You are late.’

  ‘Are you surprised?’ Jay said, nodding towards the horses that were being unharnessed.

  ‘That I’m not. Do you want to eat? Boiled fowl and onions, very tasty it is, too.’

  Jay looked at Lisette. ‘What do you say?’

  ‘Yes, let us rest a while. It might give the others time to catch up.’

  ‘Not only our friends,’ he said.

  ‘Can’t we risk it? We are a long way from the capital.’

  ‘Very well. Landlord, we will have some of your fare.’

  They were sitting down with Sam in the dining room when they heard horses galloping into the yard. The landlord went out to greet the newcomers, while the three diners looked at each other, hardly daring to breathe. Jay reached out and put his hand over Lisette’s.

  ‘How goes it, Jean, you old rogue?’ The voice was undoubtedly Harry’s and the listeners broke into broad smiles of relief. The next minute he came into the room with his arm about the shoulders of the landlord. They were followed by Nat and Michel.

  Lisette ran to embrace her brother and dragged him to sit beside her at the table where they were joined by Harry and Nat.

  ‘What happened?’ Jay asked Harry as the landlord brought more food. ‘Did you have any trouble?’

  ‘Only from the mob. The news is all round Paris. The King is going to be put on trial for treason. It’s all to do with that Armoire de Fer business. Even those who were against trying a monarch have come round to the idea. The population, or at least the noisy half of it, is ecstatic. They are out on the streets, singing, dancing, looting and carrying effigies of Louis and models of a guillotine. We could not get through. And when the crowd saw our uniforms, they crowded round and wanted to know if we had been at the Temple, guarding him.’

  ‘He told them we had,’ Michel put in. ‘He made up a tale about how Louis had received the news weeping into his beard.’

  ‘They wanted to drink our health,’ Harry went on. ‘What could we do but comply?’ He laughed suddenly. ‘If I had wanted to create a diversion to cover our tracks, I could not have chosen a better one.’

  ‘So we have been forgotten?’ Jay queried.

  ‘Not entirely. By the time we had extricated ourselves, the authorities were rounding up anyone who had ever had any contact with Louis to force them to give evidence. I heard Michel’s name mentioned, but not that he had escaped from gaol.’

  ‘When they do find out, you may be sure they will soon know who was responsible,’ Jay said. ‘Wentworth will be all too ready to tell them.’

  ‘Wentworth is no more, Jay. The vain fool went out in all his finery and the mob took offence and strung him up on one of the lanterns, after they had stripped him of anything worth having. I beg your pardon, Miss Giradet, I had forgot he was your uncle.’

  ‘I barely knew the man and certainly never thought of him in that way,’ she said. ‘He was a traitor, prepared to betray his countrymen, Jay and Michel too, for gain and hanging was a kind of justice.’ She paused. ‘Does that mean we are safe? No one will come after us and make us go back now, will they?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Jay said. ‘You will be my wife and your father and brother my kin.’

  ‘I thought that was a ruse to fool the French,’ Nat said, looking from Jay to Lisette and back.

  ‘So it was,’ Jay said. ‘But Lisette has promised to make it a reality. We are to be married.’

  This led to congratulations all round and Harry called for more wine to offer a toast. ‘We’ll stop at the next town and find a priest,’ he said. ‘We’ll have you married before the night is out, just to make sure.’

  Jay looked at Lisette. ‘What do you say, my love?’

  ‘I had dreamed of being wed at Highbeck with the children and family about us.’

  ‘We can still do that. Do you think being married twice to the same man will make the bond stronger?’

  ‘It could not be more strong than it is already,’ she said, realising that to return unmarried after all their adventures might set the tongues wagging and Jay had already had enough scandal to contend with. ‘But let us do as Harry suggests.’

  The next stage of the journey was made with the coach drawn by four good horses. ‘If anyone wants to know, we are escorting the British Envoy to his yacht,’ Harry said. ‘I hope Joe has managed to alert Lieutenant Sandford to be ready to sail as soon as we arrive.’

  Jay and Lisette were married at the ancient church of Notre Dame in Louviers, which they had reached very late that night. Harry knocked up the incumbent and induced him to perform the ceremony for a handful of assignats. The priest was anxious to return to his bed and it did not take above a few minutes. Lisette could hardly believe she was married. ‘I don’t feel married,’ she said to Jay as they returned to the coach.

  ‘Now isn’t that strange,’ he said. ‘I have felt married ever since our first night in France.’

  ‘But nothing happened.’

  He chuckled. ‘No, but you will never know how hard that was for me, lying beside you and wanting you and knowing it just would not do.’

  ‘As long ago as that?’

  ‘Yes. And now I can properly and legally make you my wife, we cannot stop. We are not safe yet and must ride through the night.’

  ‘Then let us make haste.’

  Two days and two nights later, poorer by thousands of assignats and several hundred gold livres, they arrived in Calais and there was the Lady Anne waiting at anchor. But they still had one more hurdle to overcome. Everyone’s passports were being scrutinised. Harry, Nat and Michel had discarded their uniforms and left them behind in a woodman’s hut. They were all English travellers returning home. It was then they learned that King Louis had been tried and found guilty on a whole host of charges and sentenced to death and those who had been loyal to him could expect the same fate. Not until they were safely on board and under sail did Lisette relax. It was over. They were going home.

  The vessel was crowded, but Jay and Lisette, ensconced in the main cabin, were oblivious of what the others were doing. ‘Now I mean to make up for lost time,’ Jay said, untying the lacing on her bodice. ‘I love you, Mrs Drymore.’

  ‘And I love you, Mr Drymore.’

  Her gown, stays, petticoats and stockings were taken off and thrown aside along with his coat and breeches, his waistcoat, shirt and cravat. Naked, they fell on to the bunk, locked in each other’s arms.

  Jay was a thoughtful and gentle lover, content to take her slowly and carefully, but when the time came t
heir union was consummated in an explosion of passion that left them both blissful and exhausted.

  They arrived at Blackfen Manor on Christmas Day to find the whole family gathered for the festivities: Lord and Lady Drymore, the Comte, who was frail but well, Sir John, Jay’s sisters and their husbands and children and, of course, Edward and Anne. All were overjoyed to see them safe and sound and there were hugs and kisses and not a few tears. What had been perceived as a muted festival on account of the absence of the loved ones became a joyous celebration. It was, so everyone said, the best Christmas ever.

  A week later Jay and Lisette were married again in Highbeck church, which was crowded with family, villagers and well wishers and afterwards there was a feast at the Manor. Looking at the loaded table, Lisette realised just how lucky they were compared with the people of France and she prayed the troubles of that country would soon be over.

  The next day they took Edward and Anne home to Falsham Hall. It was not the summer of her dream because it was snowing, but the house looked just as beautiful in winter as in summer, with its roof sparkling white and smoke coming from its chimneys in a kind of welcome.

  ‘Home at last,’ Jay said.

  ‘Home,’ the children said.

  ‘Home,’ Lisette echoed and felt unbelievably happy.

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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