"Norfolk, I believe, Sir Frederick."
"A good place for him to remain, I believe, my lord!"
"Home, in the morning, Bosomtwi!"
"Good thing too, isn't it, sir. Maybe we stay a year or even two, sir, from what they say to me."
"For the whole of the peace, that is for sure."
“Good, sir. We lose too many men this time. Ablett see a splinter as long as his arm miss he ear by an inch, no more, and Jean the same – he almost killed. All of us, we can take a rest, isn’t it, sir.”
“You do not have to go to sea ever again, you know, Bosomtwi. You could stay home.”
“My place is at your shoulder, isn’t it, sir. Time you stay home, I do too!”
“A year or two, at least, but when next the call is made, we must go. The next war must be very short – this last was nearly ten years, a ridiculous length of time! Another war will see Russia and Prussia and Austria smash the French in very short order while England takes all of her colonies. It cannot be long drawn-out.”
“They say that every time, sir, isn't it.”
“Then sometimes they must be right, man!”
Elizabeth was waiting at Long Common, had been since the peace, expecting Trident to return to Portsmouth.
“A very short commission, sir. Will you be sent to sea again?”
“The First Lord assures me that I shall not. When the peace ends, which it appears may be sooner rather than later, then I will be given a command, but not until then. It would seem that both parties are happily acting in bad faith, getting their breath back and seeking to build and break alliances. France and Britain alike will be making offers to St Petersburg and Vienna, and probably threatening Prussia and the German states. Denmark and Sweden will be bribed, I suspect, though the Danes cannot have any love for us. The Ottomans will, I am assured, remain neutral, due in part to your husband’s great heroism and ingenuity – and very good luck!”
“A year, my love?”
“Two, perhaps.”
“Are all of our people well, sir?”
“By luck, yes. Young Fox took a splinter wound in an embarrassing location, but he can sit comfortably now.”
She giggled.
“The others of us were untouched, though Ablett and Jean had very close calls. My premier, Mr Backham, was made and has his own sloop, still in commission and at Malta, but the rest of us were sent home, Trident remaining in the yard at Malta.”
“Heavily damaged in action, sir?"
Frederick grimaced and nodded. He had hoped that she might not notice that fact, might not put two and two together
"What of Kent’s boy?”
“Backham has taken him – he had a space for a youngster and knows the boy’s quality. He is a good lad and I shall be pleased to tell his father so. Fox is also able, but younger, and stays with me and will go to sea when I do if I cannot find a place for him sooner. A Mr Davidson may well come knocking at the door, by the way – if he does I shall invite him to stay for a month or two. A young lieutenant who did very well – father is a sixty pound curate with daughters, so he needs a ship and could benefit from a few weeks without living expenses.”
She noted the name, she must know all of her husband's people.
“What of Abbey, my dear? Is all well there? I received no letters, of course!”
“Very little has happened in so short a time – you were away for barely six months, sir!”
“It does not feel so short to me. A great deal happened in these last months and I was very lucky, I think – though not in the area of prize money. I cannot imagine that we will see five thousands all told. One battered frigate; commodore’s eighth on one sloop and captain’s share of another; three eighths on the ships and military stores of a small convoy; head and gun money on two destroyed national ships – which will take forever to argue with the Admiralty. And all to be sold at peacetime prices! Oh, and this thing as well, which is probably worth more than all the rest put together, but I must not sell it.”
He produced the Turkish decoration for her approval.
“That must be worn on ceremonial dress – high days and holidays only!”
"What, exactly, might it be, sir?"
"A decoration from the Turk - it may be representative of an Order of Chivalry, or it may be simply a damned great bribe, a political prize. Whichever, I am told it must be displayed when the occasion arises."
"It would seem that Ottoman taste is not ours, sir!"
"Not at all! Are the children with you? Are they well?"
"Both of them thrive, my love, but are at Abbey still. I did not know how long I would have to wait for you."
"Visits to my parents and to the Pagets, then off to the Abbey, I believe."
The London papers arrived two days later and Frederick discovered himself, to his own surprise, to be a hero once more. The First Lord had made a very thorough job of his puff. Sir Frederick was the man who had secured the Mediterranean for Old England, who had drubbed the French yet again, and had waved the Union Flag under the nose of the Turk. Where a Russian fleet had failed, Sir Frederick in a single ship had saved the Republic of the Seven Islands, wholly destroying a French invasion. While the Ottoman had dithered, the Hero of the Hercule had evicted the French from the neutral island they had barbarously usurped; then, massively outnumbered, he had fought the French to a standstill - comparison was made with Grenville's Revenge.
"If only I had had the good taste to die like Grenville then I could have been immortalised - an interesting paradox, my dear."
It was not a conceit that amused Elizabeth.
"What does it all mean, my love?"
"That the government would like to secure my uncle's votes, or at least cause him not to actively oppose them in some measure they have before Parliament at present. I could have been court-martialled and my uncle would have received a delicate whisper that he might hold my fate in his hands, but as it is they must simply ladle the jam onto my plate. I shall write a letter to Mr Russell, begging that he might consider paying us a visit, if you approve? He will be au fait with all of the gossip and know exactly what is happening behind the scenes."
A note arrived from Lord Alton, making his congratulations and assuring him that the Prime Minister in person had spoken favourably to him. His tone was wryly amused. Alton was known to have had a deal of respect for Mr Pitt, and an equal and dismissive contempt for Mr Addington.
Next day came the first dozens of many hundreds of billets from the fashionable, and of simpler missives from numbers of the lower orders of society, almost all unknown to him but moved to offer their applause - in most cases.
David LeGrys found all of the mail on his desk.
"Be so good as to sort through them for me, David. Where a simple note of thanks is appropriate then write it for me to sign. We must reply to the great bulk of them, it is only courtesy."
A few of the letters, and the most entertaining, came from projectors, 'businessmen' who had come upon infallible prescriptions for garnering great wealth. If Sir Frederick would merely send them a thousand, or two perhaps, then they would certainly turn it into ten in very short order, all out of the goodness of their admiring, patriotic hearts.
"Gull-catchers, David!"
"Very obviously so, sir - yet it must work for them sometimes, they must actually make a profit from these schemes. There must be folk so unwary as to dispense money to them."
They marvelled together at the credulity of the common run of people.
A number of religious enthusiasts had been moved to put pen to paper, some to inform him that his actions would have certainly opened the Gates of Heaven to him, but more to suggest that he had but to adhere to their denomination to achieve the salvation he so surely deserved. Some of the devout condemned him to the Other Place, generally because they believed in the admonition, 'Thou Shalt Not Kill', but occasionally because he had left Atheistic French or Mahometan Turks still alive in dereliction of his duty as
a Christian.
A very few missives, most of them anonymously penned in block capitals, abused him in grossly obscene terms, quite why was generally unclear but no doubt satisfactory to the author.
"Interesting, sir - I had thought it impossible to misspell 'Sod', and 'Bugger' is surely sufficiently commonplace to be known. Perhaps they were too much moved to be careful of their English."
"Why, I wonder, do they do this? Do they send to every soldier or sailor who becomes known publicly?"
David had no answer.
"Burn them, please, David. I would prefer that they did not come to the eyes of her ladyship."
Letters from the Society Dames had to go to Elizabeth, and she offered some interpretations for his benefit.
"The Bollings have children of an age with ours, three of them daughters. It makes sense for a prudent mama to look to their future, to strike up an acquaintance and exchange house visits, just on the off-chance that a friendship might grow which could blossom in another fifteen years. Iain will inherit a baronetcy, and a very large landholding, and there is a good chance of an Irish barony, after all. He will be a great prize in the marriage mart in his day."
That was to look many years into the future, but while there were three girls for every male born to the aristocracy, as had been the case for the past three or four decades, then the scramble for an eligible husband was of vital importance and must be pursued unremittingly.
"Talking of which, how does George progress in his courtship?"
"He has discussed matters with Papa, and I believe is to acquaint the good father with his circumstances in the very near future. He is very determined to marry Augusta, and I trust will be made happy by her."
"She has an affection for him, has she not?"
"She loves him desperately, I am certain, and will cling to him with all of the fervour her skinny body can attain. He could do so much better, you know, Frederick!"
"Forty thousands?"
"At the very least. Bridlington may come down with more than that, anxious as he is to move her on to so eligible a husband. George is only the heir to a very middling barony, but he is your brother and connected therefore to the Alton clan and he has ambitions for the son to become a Public Man."
"Is Bridlington's heir as intelligent and learned as his sister?"
"Not at all, sir. Very nearly as stupid as the horses he habitually rides, but, you know, surely, that an excess of intellect is not good ton - Froggish, in fact. The sort of thing foreigners get up to, being intelligent, don't you know!"
"He will do very well in the House of Commons."
"Certain to become a Cabinet Minister in any Tory government, and if at any time he is busy he may send his horse to attend meetings in his place, probably to improve the quality of discussion quite noticeably."
"When do you expect them to wed?"
"George is aiming for a marriage in the Little Season - there is much to be said for London as the venue. Easier than the whole family traipsing up to Yorkshire, particularly with winter coming in."
"We could venture that far ourselves, however. Next year, in late summer, perhaps, before the roads become impossible, provided we are not again at war by then. I have never visited Leeds, and you will wish to return at long last."
She allowed that she would like to do so, particularly if they timed the visit so that they could attend the Assembly - there were so many local worthies she would love to look down upon.
Frederick's father was becoming ancient, showing signs of decline. His eyes were yellow and his hands shook just a little, sufficient to make a tea cup rattle. His old man's pot belly was grown while his legs were thinner. The signs of impending doom were upon him.
The aged brain was still alert, however, and he showed intelligent interest in the reports in the newssheets - deprecating their excesses and seeking for the grain of truth that might hide behind the political rodomontade.
"I do not like to say this to you, my son, but this smacks of cover-up! Was you a committed Whig, then I would say that your people were anxious to present your best face to the public at large."
"The orders were given by a Pitt-appointed Tory First Lord, but his successor acquiesced in them, sir. Was I to be adjudged a failure then there would be questions raised. Why, if the objects of the orders were incapable of attainment by a captain with a reputation for success, were those orders not modified or wholly withdrawn? What was the underlying political aim that sent a ship out to certain failure? Was there an element of the underhand?"
"Was there?"
Frederick shrugged - he was not privy to the machinations of government.
"It is always possible, sir, and very often probable, in fact. I know, from all that my advisor told me, that there is a faction in the British government that wishes to see Greece a free country. There is another grouping that is much inclined to romanticise Islam - bulbuls and sherbet and dalliance in the harem and sheikhs on rampant stallions, one gathers! The merchant community wishes to continue to trade unhampered, and where there is money there is political influence. The professionals in government are determined to play their own games, some being for the Russians, some supporting Austria, and not a few in French pockets - traitors are always amongst us!"
"No support for the Ottoman amongst the diplomats?"
"None, sir, or so I am told. The sole unifying element is their wish to give away the lands currently occupied by the Turk. The Balkans are seen as prizes. If Russia will support one set then Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia can be offered as a reward at a Peace Conference. If Austria will be good, then Albania, Montenegro, Trieste, the Seven Islands are all available."
"And Greece?"
"Well... Britain must come out with something, sir!"
"Thus, rather than a military exercise yours was purely a political showing - but what was it to display?"
"My political man, intelligent in every sense of the word, assumed that the business was in fact aimed at Russia. There is a Russian fleet in the Mediterranean at the moment, though one trusts it to be homeward bound now that there is a peace. The Russians dearly want passage of the Dardanelles, access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, for their ships of war. They also are the protectors of Orthodox Christianity. It seems to the Tsars that they should be lords of a Slavonic hegemony - the whole of the Balkans subservient to them. I believe that I was sent essentially to suggest that the time for an expanded Russian Empire is not now."
"How does one frigate do that?"
"By showing the Turk that he is fragile, and that if he does not oppose Russia then the British will undo him. One frigate made trouble - a fleet convoying an army corps would do far more."
"All speculation, we will never know the truth. Whitehall itself probably does not!"
"There will be no single truth, I fear, sir. We shall discover just how close we are to reality over the coming month or two. If I am sent to linger in the outer wilderness of the provinces, then we will know that I did not achieve their true aims. If I am cosseted, begged to show my face at Court, then I will have served the interests of a dominant faction."
Frederick's mother was not alert to the nuances of the political existence, was talking babies with Elizabeth.
"Frederick! What is this of an outlandish piece of ornamentation presented by the Ottomans?"
"An ostentatious, and rich, diamond star, Mama! I will show it you when I remember to bring it."
"I have it with me, husband."
There was a hint of reproach in Elizabeth's voice - he should have known that his mother would wish to see the award made in honour of her son.
"Thousands of guineas, Frederick!"
"Taxes wrung from the peasantry to be wasted on vulgar display, ma'am. I do not approve! I must wear the thing if I am to show at Court, and I may well be expected to do so after this amount of fuss and feathers in the newssheets."
"Do you wish to be seen at Court, Frederick? All one hears suggests it to be an un
pleasant place currently."
"The wars will end, one day, ma'am. When they do I shall leave the sea, and then I will seek to become a Public Man, not as a politician, but as a senior servant on one or more of the Boards. There will be preferment for a busy man, and that will be to the advantage of the children. I have no wish to spend the remainder of my life cultivating my acres, however broad they may be."
"What did you think of my father, Elizabeth?"
"Your mother says that he is unwell. The doctor talks of a failure of the liver, of the choleric humours, of the lungs... In short, there is some underlying ailment and he knows not what. Winter is coming, Frederick, and I believe your mother has small hope that he will see summer again."
"He is not so old, I believe."
"Illness takes no concern for age, or youth."
"I could wish there was a more up-to-the-mark doctor to hand, but we cannot take him to London."
Frederick spoke to Squire Paget when they made their visit, in duty bound.
"There may be a practitioner in Winchester, Frederick. But I do not know of one by name who would certainly be better than our Dr Cattermole. I must say that I rely more on the apothecary in Bishop's Waltham; he is most learned in the herbs of the hedges and bushes and has any number of cures to his credit. He swears by foxglove tea, that I know, has helped many of the elderly with his infusion."
Frederick was aware that digitalis was said to be of great benefit to many cases, wondered if he might not beg the gentleman to visit his father. He would take further advice, he decided.
The weather was favourable, still dry, and they made their way to Abbey in less than a full day's travel, pleased with their progress. Country miles were far longer than their town equivalents and fifty of them could often take a week in adverse conditions.
All was well at Abbey, but that happy state of affairs was not expected to last.
"The thing is, Sir Frederick, that the war has ended."
Fortune And Glory (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 5) Page 14