"You know this man, Fouché, then?"
Roger forbore to say that the mutual hatred between Fouché and himself was even deeper than that he bore Gunston, and nodded. "Yes; as Mr. Pitt's agent in France I have had to have dealings with most of these cannibals at one time or another."
"I fear I should have found your late occupation, to say the least, repugnant"
Ignoring the covert sneer, Roger asked: "What else?"
"There was one item of local interest in the despatch which arrived with the packet. It seems that although the Spaniards are our allies, their people in Santo Domingo are assisting the negro army against us by furnishing it with supplies and weapons; so my Lord Grenville has instructed our Ambassador in Madrid to demand that Don Garcia, the Governor of the Colony, should be recalled."
"I am glad to hear it; for I have recently been in that island, and had intended to inform Whitehall of the perfidy of the Spaniards."
Gunston began to mix them another drink, and while doing so said: "In the confidential news circular that accompanied the despatch there was much about the situation in Poland; but I don't suppose you would be interested in that"
"On the contrary. The ill success of the allied armies on the Scheldt and Rhine has been almost entirely due to the Prussians and Austrians both holding a large part of their forces in reserve, lest Catherine of Russia seize the whole of Poland whilst their backs are turned. So I am very interested indeed. Pray tell me of it."
"Strap me! I had no idea of that." The Colonel raised his ginger eyebrows. "Well, apparently, last spring the Russians, who were exercising a sort of protective custody m a large part of Poland, feared a rising aimed at driving them out; so they decided to disarm the Polish troops. Their attempts to do so put the fat in the fire. There was a lot of fighting in Cracow, Warsaw and other Polish cities, which ended in the Russians getting pushed out Then a Polish patriot named Kosciusko got an army together with the idea of liberating the whole of Poland; but he had the Prussians, who were occupying another sector of the country, on his hands as well as the Russians. They inflicted a severe defeat upon him and proceeded to invest Warsaw. But Polish partisans played the very devil with their lines of supply; so in September they were forced to raise the siege."
Roger already knew all this, but he waited patiently for his informant to go on. Gunston poured the fresh drinks and continued.
"The Poles weren't given the chance to remain cock-a-hoop for very long. An Austrian army had started to invade their country from the south, the Prussians were still to the west of them, and a new Russian army under a General Suvoroff was advancing upon them from the north. Early in October Kosciusko went out to try to prevent two Russian forces joining up and his army was utterly routed. He was taken prisoner, and in the first week of November, after a frightful slaughter, Suvoroff captured Warsaw. That put an end to the last hope the wretched Poles had of regaining their independence."
Then we may assume that Russia, Prussia and Austria are now squabbling over the bones of Poland's carcass. This explains why the French have been able to invade the Low Countries. Last spring my lord Malmesbury negotiated a pact with King Frederick William of Prussia to send 62,000 troops there in return for further subsidies from us and the Dutch. He will have taken the money and by now have gone back on his word."
Gunston gave Roger a puzzled glance. "You are right there. I recall now that in the confidential summary there was a passage to the effect that towards the end of October, on some trumped-up excuse, the Prussians had denounced a treaty with the Maritime Powers by which more troops were to be sent against the French. But how did you know of it?"
"I did not know it; but it is my business to judge what repercussions events in one place are likely to have in others. And now, if you will produce the most recent despatches from London, I will look through them for myself."
Having unlocked a cabinet Gunston handed Roger its key and a bundle of papers; then he said: "I gave orders this morning for the removal of my personal belongings to a house nearer the town. If you have done with me for the present I will go and see that my instructions have been carried out.
"By all means." Roger made him a semi-formal bow, then added: "But I should be glad if you would make arrangements for me to inspect both the fortress and its outlying batteries tomorrow morning. May I count upon you calling for me at eight o'clock?"
"By all means." Gunston grinned at him again. "As a civilian you can know little of such matters; but, providing you keep your mouth shut, the inspection you suggest may favourably impress the men." With this parting shot, and his sabre-tache banging on his thigh, the stalwart Colonel swaggered from the room.
He little knew the surprise that was in store for him. Less than a year previously Carnot, the greatest Minister of War that France had ever known, had sent Roger to inspect the fortifications of Brest and then Boulogne, and had complimented him on his reports. During his inspection next morning he kept up a running commentary of pertinent questions and picked upon every weakness of the defences with an eagle's eye that a senior General might have envied. Gunston was left amazed and breathless.
The inspection satisfied Roger that from a purely military point of view Gunston knew his business. The discipline was good, the troops were being kept up to the mark with frequent drills, exercises and practice in taking stations at an alarm; and, as far as the capital was concerned, the disposition of its garrison was sound. But he was appalled when he learned the number of men who had died since Admiral Sir John Jervis had captured the island and left Gunston there as its Garrison Commander, with two regiments of Foot and some auxiliary troops. He was, too, greatly concerned by the sick lists that he had demanded to see, and the fate of the several hundred men who now lay in hospital; the more so as on his ordering that they should all be dosed daily with an infusion of Cinchona bark, he learned that the plant was not grown in the island, and that the drug itself could be obtained only in small quantities.
Another matter that worried him was the hostile attitude of the island's inhabitants. As the garrison was small and much weakened by sickness, he felt that, as a temporary measure, Gunston's policy of repression might possibly be justified; but to maintain it permanently could lead nowhere. Henry Dundas, with his sound common sense, had said that if the captured islands were to prove real assets, rather than a drain on British resources, their peoples must be weaned from their old allegiance, and brought to realize that under the British flag they would enjoy more individual liberty, together with a greater security and prosperity, than they had done under the flag of France. Roger was fully in sympathy with the Minister's policy, and determined to carry it out.
As a first step in the one matter he instructed Fergusson to investigate and make a full report to him on the state of things in the hospitals; on the other, from lack of more promising counsel, he consulted Gunston, enquiring how best he might get a message to the people.
The Colonel said that his own method had been to have what he wanted to say translated into French, printed off and posted up in the principal towns of the island. Then if such fresh regulations as he had issued were ignored, he had a few people who had infringed them arrested and flung into prison, thus ensuring his orders a much wider publicity.
When Roger told him that this practice was anything but suitable for the object he had in mind, Gunston said: "Well, you can always try your luck with the Assembly. It is a collection of notables who m the old days used to make recommendations to the Governor. When Sir John Jervis took over it was decided that it should not be abolished, but remain quiescent, so that it could be summoned as required for any special purpose. On the few occasions that I've had its members called together I've found them noisy and truculent. But it's just possible that they might give you a hearing."
On this, Roger asked that they should be assembled in three days' time; then he gave considerable thought to composing an address, the keystone of which was the verbal message the King had giv
en him when he kissed hands, expressing his intention to have a good care for the interests of his new subjects in Martinique.
When the day came Roger had no reason to complain of Gunston's arrangements. A troop of Hanoverian cavalry had been detailed to escort his coach and British red-coats lined the approaches to the Assembly Hall. Gunston, the senior Naval officer m the port, the Mayor and numerous other French officials were gathered on its steps to receive him. Having acknowledged their greetings, he drew himself up to his full six feet, and, followed by them, marched into the building. He was directed to a curtained archway which led on to a dais at one end of the hall. Two footmen drew aside the curtains. Flushing with mortification and rage he halted between them. Every bench m the hall was empty.
For a moment he was utterly at a loss, then he turned about and marched straight back to his coach. As he got in, he beckoned Gunston to accompany him. He felt that he had been made a complete fool of, and that his bete noire was responsible. Now, white to the lips with fury, he snapped:
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Don't ask me," the Colonel replied quite calmly. "I had the notices sent out as you directed. But I did warn you that they are an unruly lot of bastards. I suppose they got together beforehand and decided to ignore the summons to attend you."
"You must have known that the hall was empty."
"How could I? It's not my business to act as usher to a crowd of Frogs and see them into their seats. I never went inside the building until I entered it behind you."
There seemed no reply to that; yet Roger remained convinced that Gunston must have known, or at least suspected, that he was about to be made the laughing stock of Fort Royal. He was, moreover, intensely annoyed by the thought that such an affront to himself, as the representative of his Sovereign, could not be allowed to pass without his taking some appropriate action.
Gunston suggested that the obvious course was to arrest some of the leading deputies and send them to cool their heels in prison until they learned better manners; but Roger was most loath to antagonize them still further. After some thought that evening, he penned a circular letter to be sent to each of them, which read as follows:
His Excellency the Governor appreciates that in every occupation, a new hand is expected to pay his footing, and should not resent-jokes played upon him. But the repetition of a joke deprives it of its humour.
His Excellency had intended to convey to the Assembly a message of goodwill from His Majesty the King, and also to announce the relaxation of certain restrictions. He therefore counts upon a full attendance of deputies when they are next summoned, for the betterment of relations between the Government and people of Martinique.
This, Roger felt, would not only save his face but evoke considerable surprise and discussion; and, in order that his good intentions might have ample time to become generally known, he decided not to summon the Assembly again until another week or ten days had elapsed.
Meanwhile he thought it would be a good plan to spend a few nights in St. Pierre, the oldest settlement in the island, which had since become a fine city and the centre of its commerce. It was only some fifteen miles away along the coast, but there was another Governor's Residence there; so he sent orders for rooms in it to be prepared for him, and despatched Dan and his new negro body-servant by coach in advance.
Gunston's two A.D.C.'s had automatically been transferred to him on his arrival. To one of them, a tall fair-haired youth named Colin Cowdray, he at once took a liking, but the other was a boorish Captain whose sole conversation consisted of grumbles that he was missing the fox hunting in England; so after a few days Roger had returned him to Gunston, saying that he would, in due course, replace him with another officer more to his taste. Accompanied therefore only by Colin Cowdray and a groom Roger set out on horseback late one afternoon for St. Pierre.
A Colonel Penruddock, who commanded the garrison there, received him with due honours and entertained him to an excellent dinner. Penruddock, a man in his late thirties, came of an old Cornish family which had fought for Charles I during the Great Rebellion, and Roger found him both efficient and congenial. The following day they made a round of the fortifications, and the next an excursion through ever steepening jungle-fringed paths to the summit of Monte Pelee, the great volcano five miles inland from St. Pierre, which one hundred and seven years later was fated totally to destroy the city.
On the third afternoon, pleased by all that he had seen, but much worried at having learned that the 57th Regiment of Foot, stationed in St. Pierre, was as severely stricken by Yellow Fever as the troops in Fort Royal, he took the road back. They had not gone far when Colin Cowdray's mare cast a shoe; so Roger told him to return and have her shod, while he rode on with the groom.
Presently he came abreast of a small but charming property; and, reining in, asked an elderly negro engaged on clearing out a ditch at the side of the road who lived there. To his surprise the old fellow replied that the house belonged to a Madame de Kay.
Dismounting, Roger gave the bridle of his horse to his groom and walked up the short drive. On a veranda before the house a coloured maid was laying a small table; so he told her who he was and asked her to request her mistress to allow him to pay his respects to her.
The maid went in but returned with the reply that her mistress begged to be excused, as she was averse to receiving the Governor in her house.
Roger frowned at this new evidence of the dislike with which the British were regarded, but sent the girl back with another message to say he would much like to talk to her mistress about her son William's early marriage to a Mademoiselle Tascher de la Pagerie.
A few minutes later a grey haired lady wearing a lawn mob cap, a tight bodice, voluminous black skirts, and carrying an ebony cane, came out of the house.
When Roger had made a leg to her curtsy, she said: "I am much surprised. Monsieur, that you should know aught of my son's marriage—if indeed it can be termed so, for it has long been regarded as invalid."
"That, Madame," Roger smiled, "I gathered from a handsome mulatto woman named Lucette, and it was she who recently told me of it."
"Then that limb of Satan is still alive?"
"Yes. And I was so intrigued by the youthful romance she related, in which she said she had played a part, that on learning that you lived here I felt I must find out how much, if any of it, was true. On second thoughts, though, I fear you must regard my curiosity as an impertinence, and the means I used to overcome your reluctance to receive me an aggravation of it"
Making a slight inclination of the head, she said: "You were announced to me as the Governor; so I thought you to be the brutish young Colonel who lords it in Fort Royal and rides rough-shod over all our susceptibilities."
He gave a rueful smile. "Alas, Madame, from what I have gathered there are good grounds for the antipathy you display towards him. I am the new Governor, and landed but ten days ago. As I have lived long in France and am accustomed to French ways, I hope before long to give people here cause to form a better opinion of myself."
Her face softened then, and she gestured with her long cane towards the table. "In that case, as I was about to partake of a dish of tea, perhaps you would care to join me?"
"Indeed I would; and for me it will be a treat, as tea is so hard to come by in these coffee islands."
As they enjoyed the brew he described how the Circe had been captured and how Lucette's duplicity, after she had made Bloggs second-in-command of the ship, had nearly cost him and his party their lives.
In turn she told him that she had lost her husband during a hurricane that had swept the island in '91; but that William was still alive and well, although he now lived for long periods in England. He had continued to be in love with Josephine, and she with him; but after she had sacrificed her feelings for her duty to her parents, and married according to their wish, he had been persuaded to secure the family fortunes by marrying Lord Lovell's niece. Josephine's aunt had f
ulfilled her promise to the de Taschers by finding a rich parti for her; and in '79 she had been wed to the Vicomte Alexandre de Beauharnais.
"Surely that would have been the General who was sent to the guillotine by the Terrorists in '94?" Roger put in.
Madame de Kay nodded. "Yes; and poor Josephine also came within an ace of losing her head. I still frequently see her parents, and when they learned that she had been thrown into prison they were greatly worried for her. Mercifully, like many other innocent people* she was saved by the fall of Robespierre, and through the good offices of a Monsieur Tallien restored to her distracted children."
With a boyish grin, Roger took the last scone from a plate that Madame de Kay had been offering him, and said:
"I pray you forgive my greed; but it is years since I have tasted scones the equal of those my dear mother used to make."
"She must, then," his hostess smiled, "like myself, have been born north of the Tweed."
"Yes; she was a MacElfic."
Madame de Kay nearly dropped the plate. "Mercy be! But I was born a MacElfic too. And did you not say your name was Brook? It was an English Naval officer of that name that pretty Marie ran away with. You must be their son."
"I am indeed. My mother, alas, died three years ago; but my father is still alive and is now Admiral Sir Christopher Brook. It seems, then, that you knew my mother?"
"Knew her, dear boy!" There were tears in Madame de Kay's eyes, and she laid her hand gently on Roger's. "Why, we were cousins, and in girlhood the closest friends."
For a moment Roger was thunderstruck; then he said: "I recall hearing my mother speak of a cousin named Margaret whom she would fain have seen again. But after her elopement with my father he severely wounded her brother in a duel; so from a double cause the two families remained permanently at daggers drawn."
Madame de Kay nodded. "There was also the original cause for ill-will, in that we had a passionate devotion to the Stuarts, while your father was hot in favour of the Hanoverian line. But it is over-time that old quarrels on that score should be forgotten."
The Dark Secret of Josephine rb-5 Page 28