A Continuing War_At Home and at Sea, 1803-1804

by John G. Cragg

  “What are you drawing?” Catherine asked.

  “Oh just some ideas I had. Nothing realistic,” Daphne replied in a voice that clearly indicated that what she had been doing was none of Catherine’s business and that her comments would not be welcome,

  “It looks like your drawing starts with what we can see from the window and then…I don’t know… it looks like some strange new landscape. Rather scary…not very realistic.” Daphne was even more annoyed. The unsolicited comments were all too true.

  “Are these the plans you have been talking about?” Catherine continued. Daphne had the plans laid out on the table where she had been trying to sketch what the finished grounds would look like, and Catherine was examining them. Daphne had been talking incessantly about the grounds at dinner, including railing about the stupidity of experts and also making clear, in very dismissive terms, that she didn’t welcome the ideas of the relatives she had acquired through marriage. She was about to order Catherine to stop looking at the plans when her niece spoke again, rather shyly.

  “These are very exciting. I love the way you have placed the pond. I suppose that the ground is rising on the other side of the stream, but you cannot really show that on the plans. Oh, you are certainly creating what will be an outstanding vista when it is finished, especially with the placement of the flower beds and the climax marked by the temple.”

  Daphne was stunned. Catherine was able to read the flat plans and imagine what it would look like, not as a bird’s-eye view but as it would really appear to someone standing on the ground.

  “Have you been trying to draw how it will appear from here?” Catherine asked.

  “Yes, but I don’t seem to be able to do it.”

  “Can I try?” Catherine enquired, rather tentatively.

  “If you like. My drawing is quite hopeless. You cannot do worse.”

  Catherine did not seem to be put off either by Daphne’s ungracious reply or by her aunt’s tearing up her own drawing and stomping out of the room. Instead, the young lady spent the whole afternoon working on her own picture. When she was satisfied with it, she went to Daphne’s work room.

  “I’ve finished my drawing, Aunt Daphne.”

  Daphne went back to the drawing room expecting to see something little better than her own attempt. Instead, she discovered that Catherine’s sketch corresponded closely to what she had intended. In places where the drawing did not match what she wanted, she found, in checking the plans, that Catherine was right and it was her own plans that failed to incorporate her intentions. All she had to do was revise the plans and Catherine would rub out the offending part of her drawing and then insert the new detail. Before long the two ladies had their heads together as they discussed the best placement of the various features and how to get the most harmonious whole. Even when the plans corresponded with her intention, the drawing revealed that improvements could still be made. Their work was only interrupted by Steves’s pointing out that tea had been laid.

  “Could you do this sketch again with all our changes in it?” Daphne asked before they broke off.

  “Certainly. And I could try to picture how the Hall will look from the bridge over the stream before it widens into the pond and of the whole layout from the temple.”

  “Oh please do! I want to send them to Captain Giles with the plans for his suggestions and, hopefully, his approval.”

  Tea and dinner became much less painful occasions than had been the norm earlier when the ladies dined by themselves. Daphne and Catherine discussed avidly the possibilities for the grounds, and the others were drawn into the discussion. Lydia had little to contribute, but Lady Marianne did have some sensible suggestions for Daphne to consider.

  When she came down to breakfast the following morning, Daphne realized that Catherine had risen extra early in order to work on her drawings. By noon she had produced all three. They did indeed bring to life Daphne’s ideas and for the first time Daphne felt really confident that her intentions could be successfully carried out. The drawings showed the flower beds in full bloom with a blend of colors in the rose beds and the perennial borders, just as they might appear in June. Daphne realized that she had not really visualized how the beds might be planted or how they would blend with the rest of the garden. Catherine had even drawn in two swans swimming in the pond. Further changes were agreed upon. Even some of Lady Marianne’s thoughts were included, and Catherine again committed to redoing her drawings to correspond to the new designs.

  Daphne had always regarded Catherine as a rather withdrawn and boring young lady. She had known that her niece made drawings, as so many young ladies did, but had never examined them. Catherine could play the piano adequately and she worked diligently at practising it while her needlework was exemplary. These were skills that were supposed to appeal to eligible young men though Daphne had never understood the reason for this supposition in respect to needlework. In her view, the skill were provided in anticipation of the long hours that married ladies seemed to spend with little to occupy them. Much more important, in Daphne’s mind, as a skill of use in courting was the ability to converse. Catherine had none of her sister’s ability to chatter charmingly and emptily. Her best hope for a suitor seemed to be someone as boring as Captain Hicks, but that would leave poor Catherine bored and disgruntled if she had to listen to the likes of that banker constantly.

  Catherine’s sure sense of landscape and of art made Daphne see her in a new light. If Catherine’s conversation lacked sparkle, maybe giving it substance might help. Catherine had never shown much inclination to read, partly, Daphne suspected, because the appropriate tomes that were supposed to benefit young ladies were serious works by the likes of David Hume or John Locke. She had, indeed, discovered that the best way to rid herself of a bore after dinner, when the men joined the ladies, was to ask the man what he thought of the ideas of John Locke. Daphne herself had never got very far into such works, but she had found that she enjoyed reading novels. In addition, the insights she gained from such books could be used to enliven conversation. Maybe the same would hold for Catherine. She would have to introduce her to the novelists whose volumes were not in the library. They were kept, inconspicuously, in Daphne’s room. Fanny Burney might be a good place for Catherine to start.

  Daphne’s next letter to Giles outlined again in detail the ideas for the grounds of Dipton Hall, but now they were accompanied by the explicit plans that Daphne had drawn up and the drawings that Catherine had produced. Now, there was something concrete to ask him. Did he approve of the general ideas? Did he have suggestions to make as to how they could be improved? Could she proceed with the initial work?

  It was now Daphne who was waiting as impatiently as Lydia for an answer to her questions about Lydia and about the grounds. However, when the next letter arrived, she at least had the consolation of hearing about his thoughts and his doings, even if the latter seemed to be very dull. She, of course, kept busy with all her other activities and was not bored even though she and Richard were apart.

  One afternoon, a few weeks after the sending of the plans, Daphne turned into the drive leading to Dipton Hall riding on Moonbeam with the groom trailing along behind her. She spied a coach at the portico and urged the mare into a canter so that she could discover what was happening. This was no hour for a neighbor to be making a diverting call, so something else must be afoot. She saw, while still some distance away, that a man was being helped from the carriage, someone with an injured leg who needed to have crutches given to him before he could walk. It was Richard! She urged Moonbeam on, then halted her without any preparatory slowing and was out of the saddle even as the mare skidded to a stop. Daphne only realized at the last moment that throwing herself into Giles’s arms would not be the best idea if he had an injured leg.

  “Richard!” she cried. “Daphne,” he responded and cast his crutches aside as he leapt one-legged towards her. Without the crutches and with his painful knee, he lost his balance and instead of
gathering Daphne into his arms, they fell in a tangle of garments to the ground. Both were unphazed by their collapse. Elsie, who had come to the front door when Steves cried that he thought the master was arriving, and Carstairs, who had been accompanying Giles, rushed to untangle the two and get them on their feet and into the house. Giles was very good humored about the incident, teasing Daphne, “You really don’t have to sweep me off my feet every time I return to Dipton, you know. I would be quite happy to greet you standing on my feet.”

  It was almost teatime and both Giles and Daphne needed to change. Giles could not climb the stairs easily, a problem that Carstairs solved by picking him up and carrying him upstairs to his dressing room. Daphne climbed the stairs behind them with Elsie trailing along after, but she did not go to her own room but instead went to Giles’s dressing room. They had far too many things that had to be said right away to go through the usual rituals of getting ready for tea, and neither felt the need to be reticent in front of either Carstairs or Elsie. Hardly had Daphne and Giles started to express their delight at being together than Daphne started to question Giles as to how he had been injured and how serious the damage to his knee might be. He tried, at first, to make light of it, to which Daphne replied that, if it were nothing, he would not have to use crutches. The story emerged that he didn’t actually know what was wrong, just that it seemed to be related to stumbling on a dead body in boarding a brig and slipping in a pool of blood. These facts did not emerge immediately. It took repeated questions from Daphne to establish that this was not just some normal, if unusual, shipboard accident, but instead was one picked up in the course of a desperate melee.

  Once the circumstances that led to the injury were established, including that there was no visible wound to be treated, Daphne summoned Steves to send for Mr. Jackson to come as quickly as possible, and to explain to the apothecary that the problem was a serious knee injury. That, of course, was not the end of Daphne’s questioning of Giles. She wanted the full details of the taking of the brigs. Giles complied, successfully minimizing what a desperate personal fight he had been in.

  Before turning to other matters, Daphne took mercy on Elsie who had been staring anxiously at the bandage on Carstairs’s head. The lady’s maid was somewhat relieved to learn that it covered a deep cut that had been stitched by the surgeon after he had poured rum onto it. Carstairs did admit that the treatment had hurt far worse than getting the wound. However, the wound seemed to be healing without any putrification.

  Mr. Jackson arrived at that point and shooed Elsie out of the room because he would need Giles to remove his trousers. He knew it would be futile to ask Daphne to leave, even if most people would have considered her staying somewhat improper.

  The knee, when it was uncovered, proved to have swollen to the size of a small squash. Mr. Jackson ran his fingers over it and then had Giles relax his muscles as he very gently moved the joint forward and back. This did not cause much if any pain, but the minute the apothecary twisted the leg just a little Giles emitted an unguarded yelp.

  Mr. Jenkins leaned back. “You have obviously injured your knee. I suspect something may be torn in it that will not heal quickly, if at all. I will know better when the swelling goes down. To get that to happen, use that knee as little as possible. I know that it is undignified, but have someone carry you up and down stairs, and between rooms. Do your best not to put any weight on your leg. Have someone help you out of your chairs and make sure that they steady you until your crutches are in place. I will be back in three days unless there is an emergency.”

  Daphne and Giles continued to talk all through tea time and were only persuaded to stop when it was pointed out that they must change because the dinner gong was soon going to be sounded. Before this break, Daphne questioned Giles about her letter concerning Lydia’s marriage. Giles had not received it, probably because sorters in the post office or aboard Penelope had put it in the wrong mailbag. Daphne quickly outlined what she had found out and what her recommendation had been.

  “I imagine that you will want to interrogate the young man before you make any decision, Richard,” she concluded.

  “I don’t think that is necessary, my dear. Your judgment on this subject is undoubtedly better than mine. The one thing I am dubious about is the dowry.”

  “Do you think my recommendation is too high? What about the original ten thousand?” Daphne replied huffily.

  “No, my dear. I was just wondering if I shouldn’t make it fifteen thousand. I take your point about not wanting him to be an MP. Even though your father and I can make sure that he will not be the member for Dipton, we cannot prevent him getting another seat in a pocket borough* which will lead him into even more dubious obligations. I think the higher sum should mean that he doesn’t have to try to sell his vote to maintain his family.”

  “I agree, of course. I just did not want to appear too extravagant. I imagine that we will have to provide the same dowry to Catherine, if she ever finds a suitor.”

  “I imagine,” Daphne continued, “that if you did not get my letter about Lydia, you also didn’t get my one about changing the grounds.”

  “I did receive that one. It found me when I met the Fleet on my way to Chatham. It was among the letters waiting for Mithradates to take to us.”

  “So what do you think about it?”

  “I think the plans are marvelous. We can go over them after dinner or tomorrow, if you like. Incidentally, did you do the drawings? They are superb!”

  “No, they are Catherine’s. I did do the plans myself.”

  “Well. Let’s talk about it later.”

  Dinner was a lively affair with Giles pressed again to tell the story of his battle with the brigs. Lydia was overjoyed to hear about the approval of her wedding. Giles left the news about the higher dowry until he could meet with her Mr. Dimster. Catherine was duly praised for her drawings. That led to conversation about her paintings and Giles even drew out of her some of her other interests. Daphne was delighted with Catherine’s responses. Previously, Catherine had tended to give some unintelligible mumble when her uncle asked her opinion. Maybe there was hope that she could land someone better than Captain Hicks.

  It wasn’t until they had retired for the night that Daphne finally broached the subject that had been highest in her mind after she had got over the surprise of seeing Richard at all, “How long can you stay?”

  “It depends on the Admiralty, of course, but several weeks at least. Impetuous was badly damaged in our fight and is needing a lot of repairs, not only because of the battle but also because she seems to have always had some serious defects. We barely made it back to Chatham. I don’t expect to hear about her state for several weeks. I can be here for the next part of the year. Maybe help with getting the stables underway and the improvements to the grounds and just get to know the area better. It is what I most want. If only this war would end, I would resign my commission so that I could spend full time here.”

  Daphne was overjoyed. She was all too aware of how little time they had spent together. There was so much to do and so much to talk about. Even Mr. Jackson had good news, from her point of view, when he examined Richard’s knee after the swelling had subsided almost completely.

  “Your knee is not as bad as I feared. There is nothing cracked in it nor are there any little bits of bone fragment that could lead to your leg being virtually useless. Your knee won’t recover completely. It will also hurt when it is over-used or used in strange ways. You should be able to walk with just a cane soon and be able to dispense even with that if you are lucky and do not become sedentary. But I would not recommend any more hand-to-hand fighting on shipboard!

  “Now, it will help if you use a knee brace. I have found that they work wonders in some cases like this. It is my own invention. It allows the knee to flex but not to twist, which is where most of your pain comes from. I have brought my assistant with me today. He will be the person making the device. He only needs to measure you
r leg and the brace will be ready soon.

  The brace did seem to work. Giles had tried riding before he received it and had found that the pain in his knee prevented the activity, and trying to ride had made the swelling return. After his knee returned to normal, he found that with the brace he could mount and ride with only minor pain. He also could walk some distance before his leg forced him to call a halt to that activity.

  Giles was more than contented. He would have a good, long break from Impetuous and the duties of being a naval captain; there were exciting projects underway at Dipton Hall and he could see them developing first hand rather than having to rely on Daphne’s descriptions in her letters; every day he realized more and more how fortunate he had been when she agreed to marry him. The child, which was on the way, fulfilled one of his unconscious dreams. In fact, one of his greatest pleasures occurred when she allowed him to feel the baby inside her kicking vigorously. Being at Dipton, he could help in planning the nursery and make sure that everyone knew how important it was to guarantee Daphne’s comfort in the difficult time when the birth occurred. He would have to sail again, of course: there was no question about it as long as Bonaparte threatened the independence of Britain and its way of life. However, he did not need to leave very soon and in the interim he would enjoy his riches.

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of pure historical fiction. The events included it in did not happen, though similar ones may have. In particular, the attack on Boulogne under Richard Giles should not be confused with the very real (and rather farcical) attacks under Admirals Nelson and Keith. Otherwise harassment of French preparations for invasion of the type in which Giles was involved was common.

  Some of the major appointments mentioned were real, but they are occupied here by different people. For example the admiral in charge of the North Sea Fleet was Admiral Keith and Admiral Gardner is completely fictional. The reason is to avoid controversy over the portrayal of the character and opinions of the real office-holders which are not without dispute among historians.