by Lynn Bryant
“Accepted,” he said. “As it was the last time you made it, Major. You’re a good man and I’m told you’re an excellent officer. Will you take a piece of advice from one slightly older and a bit further up?”
“Yes.”
“Just learn to stop and breathe, for God’s sake. I understand you’ve got a temper and it’s probably an asset at times. As you climb the ladder it will matter less if you blow up at some piece of stupidity, but you’re not there yet. Honestly, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened to you before.”
“It probably should have. As a matter of fact there was an incident in Dublin just before I got my promotion…” Paul shrugged and shook his head. “It involved another captain and he’d behaved fairly badly himself. There were no senior officers around to see and he didn’t make a formal complaint. But he could have done.”
Hugh shook his head. “I suspect your officers and men spend half their lives covering your tracks, Major. You’re lucky to be able to inspire that kind of loyalty but it’s not fair on them and it doesn’t do justice to your undoubted talent. Learn when to let it go. You’ll be a better officer for it.”
“I’ll try. Thank you, sir.”
“Back to barracks now, is it?”
“My battalion is already there. I’m home for Christmas for a couple of weeks and then I am being sent to Yorkshire in temporary command of the 115th Yorkshire foot, a regiment which sounds as though it is in complete chaos. Wellesley’s penalty for pissing him off; it sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant assignment. But I shall take my medicine with reasonably good grace.” Paul smiled at Roseen. “Excuse my language, ma’am, I forget I’m in civilised company sometimes.”
“You’re excused, Major. I am currently living aboard a warship, I have heard considerably worse recently. Oh, Mr Durrell, do come in. You’ll remember Major van Daan?”
Durrell stooped into the room. He was getting better at it, Hugh thought. He was amused and slightly surprised at the expression of genuine pleasure in the young man’s eyes as he saluted.
“Very well, ma’am. Sir.”
“Did you need me, Mr Durrell?” Hugh asked.
“Just brought the log down for you to look over,” Durrell said, and Hugh masked a smile. He guessed that his lieutenant had seen the arrival of his guest and found an excuse.
“Well now that you’re here, why don’t you sit and have a drink with us,” he said, and Durrell’s face lit up to such an extent that Hugh felt a pang of guilt that he did not make the effort more often. He accepted wine and sat.
“I’m guessing you heard nothing more about the verdict?” Hugh asked Paul. The major shook his head.
“No. I talked it over with Wellesley and he’s as much in the dark as I am about why Captain Popham might have made a tactical withdrawal of his complaint about me. Wellesley claims there is some mad rumour that the Earl of Chatham wrote a couple of letters on my behalf, but I’m not convinced. I met the man twice when I was still a green lad and the obligation was on my side not his. I’m told his poor wife is very ill, there’s no reason he’d even remember me, let alone write to Popham or anybody else about me.”
Hugh shook his head. “You’ll probably never know, Major.”
“No, and I don’t mind not knowing. I just hate the idea of possibly owing a debt to somebody that I can’t…”
The major stopped suddenly, looking across the table at Lieutenant Durrell. Hugh glanced around in some surprise to find that his junior had gone very red and was looking down into his wine glass with studied indifference. Hugh was puzzled but since the younger man said nothing, he returned his gaze to Paul.
“Can you stay the night and have supper with us? We’ve space aboard or we can find you a room at the Queen Mary.”
“I’ve already bespoken a room at the Pelican, but I’d love to sup with you, thank you,” Paul said. The blue eyes were still fixed on Durrell. “Mr Durrell?”
“Yes, sir?”
“How do you know the Earl of Chatham?”
Hugh felt a jolt of astonishment but his lieutenant showed no apparent surprise. “I’ve known him since I was a boy, sir. All the family. The old Earl was my father’s patron and Lady Chatham was always very kind to us.”
Paul smiled. “She was kind to me too,” he said. “I was seventeen and hadn’t a clue how to go on in society and she was amazingly gracious; I had something of a tendre for her, to tell you the truth.”
Durrell looked up. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Sorry? Christ, what for? But how did you know…?”
“I didn’t,” Durrell said simply. “I honestly had no idea you’d ever met the Earl or Lady Chatham. When I heard what was happening…I know what you did for the men that day, sir. You and the captain, of course, but he would never even have known about it if you’d not gone aboard. And for Mrs Kelly, when she was so ill. And it didn’t seem fair that you were in so much trouble over trying to help.”
“So you wrote to him.”
“Yes, sir. I didn’t ask him to intervene personally, I know he’s so busy with his wife’s illness and the situation in London. I just begged him to pass my letter on if he could think of anybody who might have some influence, especially with Captain Sir Home Popham, since it seemed to me that it was his testimony that might get you convicted. I have read a great deal about military and naval law, sir, including numerous trial transcripts. It interests me.”
“Everything interests you, doesn’t it, Mr Durrell?” Paul said with a grin.
Hugh was shaking his head. “Mr Durrell, if I’d know you were so well placed I’d have invited you to dinner a bit more often,” he said lightly.
The boy shifted his uncomfortable gaze to Hugh. “I didn’t want people to know,” he said. “I wanted to do it myself. I know that my connections with the Pitt family helped me get this posting, sir, but I hate it when people assume that is the only reason I have been promoted. I can do my job well.”
Hugh had never heard his stiff-necked junior sound so sincere or so young. He had also never heard him speak in such short, comprehensible sentences and he looked over at the army major who was regarding the younger man with a faint smile.
“I understand, Mr Durrell, my hackles rise every time somebody implies that the only reason I have been promoted so young is because I can pay for it. It may be true, but that doesn’t mean I have not earned it. But you genuinely don’t need to worry about that, you’ll make captain very young on sheer determination combined with a good deal of talent and hard work, and the navy will be very lucky to have you. And if they miss the trick, my offer is still open.”
Durrell laughed a little shyly. “Happy where I am at present, sir. But thank you.”
“Thank you. At least I know where my debt is owed and I’m very comfortable owing it. But if there’s ever a way I can repay it, please let me know. Like the Earl of Chatham, I can always find time for a man like yourself. You have more nerve than I’d have had at your age, writing that letter to a man of his rank and age.”
“My father would have done it, sir, but he died last year. I felt it was my place now. I wasn’t sure how he’d receive it, but I had to try.”
“I’ll never forget it.”
Durrell rose and saluted, suddenly back to his old formal self. “You are very welcome, Major. Captain, I should be going, I need to see to the watch.”
“Thank you, Mr Durrell,” Hugh said. He watched as his lieutenant left, closing the door behind him, then refilled the wine glasses. “Something of a surprise.”
“It was to me. I’m surprised the Earl even bothered to reply, let alone do something about it, he must think a fair bit of that young man.”
“I’m not as surprised as I might have been,” Hugh said. “You seem to have a trick of charming the most unlikely people, Major, I would have sworn my lieutenant hadn’t a sympathetic bone in his body but an hour with you appears to have turned him into an admirer willing to take a considerable social risk on your behalf. Wha
t’s your secret?”
“It may well have been more to do with his concern for the men, Captain. I think it was about what I did rather than who I am.”
“Durrell? He’s so stiff-rumped he can barely speak to the crew!”
“That might be true, but he’s onto every problem with their welfare like a terrier at a rathole, I was talking to your surgeon about him. Dr Brown - who is a man I would personally get rid of at the first opportunity - finds him infuriating, since he checks up methodically on his work and whether he follows up on his patients. Which of course he doesn’t, the man’s a lazy arsehole. He also, according to Brown, interferes with the rations, the purser’s accounts, to make sure he’s not cheating them, and makes close enquiry into the activities of the schoolmaster and the daily chores of the midshipmen and cabin boys to ensure that they are properly carried out and not overly harsh. Brown thinks he’s an interfering young bastard who needs tipping overboard. I think he’s a bloody good officer whom I’d be glad to have serving under me. He’s just very young for his rank and very conscious of his own dignity and he doesn’t really have very good social skills yet. They’ll come.”
There was a very long silence in the cabin. Paul drank his wine tranquilly and Hugh sat thinking about Durrell and everything he might have missed.
Into the silence, Roseen said:
“I agree with you, Major.”
Hugh shot her a look. He was becoming accustomed to the blend of irritation and liking evoked by the young army major and he had a strong sense that he had just been put in his place again by a man younger and junior to him who seemed to have learned nothing from his recent experience. But he had not expected his wife to express an opinion.
Roseen looked back at him from serene dark eyes. “You must realise, Hugh, that he is always very nervous around you. It matters a good deal to him that you approve of him and think that he is doing a good job. He was very upset that you believed he had betrayed a confidence to Captain Popham. He had no idea that the Admiral would object to my presence aboard the ship, he said that most officers would have applauded your care for me.”
Hugh was astonished. “He spoke to you about it?”
“He apologised. I told him there was no need at all; I was very comfortable at Roskilde and made a new friend.” She smiled at Paul who lifted his glass in response. “Mr Durrell is very aware that most of the others think that he has been promoted because of his connections rather than his ability.”
“He was promoted because he had the necessary experience and had served enough years as a lieutenant,” Hugh said shortly. “It’s not as though I’ve not given the man his due. He is good. He’s just…bloody irritating!”
“Some of us are,” Paul said with grave sympathy, and Hugh looked at him and suddenly started to laugh.
“I am very surprised you’ve not been shot in the back of the head under cover of battle before now, fella!” he said feelingly and the major laughed.
“I am very careful who stands behind me,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, it’s none of my damned business. But I quite like the little bugger, although he definitely needs a few nights out with the lads to loosen him up a bit. It’s harder in the navy, you’re stuck aboard the ship with the same men week in week out, there’s no opportunity to get out of the way when somebody is driving you mad.”
Hugh was regarding him thoughtfully. “It’s not my job to be their friend, Major. I know you don’t seem to see it, but one of these days, your officers and men are going to take advantage of how easy you are with them.”
Paul van Daan looked back at him and there was suddenly a different expression in the blue eyes. “No, they’re not,” he said. “Not twice, anyway. Sir, I’ve overstepped the line here, I’m sorry. As I said, I like the lad.”
Hugh grinned. “You’re very good at being sorry once you’ve achieved what you want, aren’t you, Major?”
“Yes, sir. And you’re very good at recognising it.”
“That’s also my job, Major. But sometimes I do miss things.”
“Sometimes I do too,” Paul said. “But I’m luckier than you, I’ve officers to tell me when I’ve got it totally wrong. And that is their job. You’ve less room for opinions aboard a warship.” He glanced over at Roseen and grinned. “You should listen to your wife, though. She sounds as though she knows what she’s doing.”
They ate supper and sat late into the evening, relaxing into the lamplight and allowing the difference in rank and status to melt away into laughter and wine and shared interests and Hugh admitted to himself, watching the young major attempting to flirt with his wife across the table, how much he liked the Englishman. He was higher in rank than Paul van Daan but definitely lower down the social scale and he realised with some appreciation that Paul did not give a damn about either. Thinking about that, he smiled at Roseen and suddenly got up and went to the door.
“Brian - do you know if the officers have finished their meal?”
“Yes, sir. I mean, yes, they have.”
“Will you find Mr Durrell, please, and if he’s not busy, ask if he’ll join us for some wine.”
“Yes, sir,” Brian said, with obvious surprise. Hugh went back to his seat and neither Paul or Roseen mentioned the matter. Within five minutes there was a knock at the cabin door and Durrell’s long frame entered cautiously.
“Sit down, Mr Durrell, we’re ahead of you and you’ll need to catch up,” Hugh said, pouring a glass. Durrell seated himself with a smile that Hugh realised with a pang, was all nerves.
Paul smiled at him. “Mr Durrell, I’m glad you’re here, I’m in need of another opinion since your captain knows nothing beyond his ship and his wife is as uninterested in shopping as mine is. I need to buy my wife a gift before I set off tomorrow and I’ve no idea where to shop. Do you know of a good goldsmith in the area?”
Durrell’s eyes shifted to the major and Hugh saw, with a slight shock, the adulation in the young eyes. It was exasperating how easily Major van Daan appeared to have cast his spell over his young lieutenant.
“Barnett’s on Nelson Street, sir. I bought a gift for my sister there last year, it was her debut. Some very nice pieces…if that’s what you’re looking for.”
“It is exactly what I’m looking for. Captain, do you think you could spare Mr Durrell for an hour tomorrow to show me the way? After that, I promise I’ll be out of your hair, my wife will have forgotten what I look like.”
“Willingly,” Hugh said. “As long as he doesn’t come back telling me he’s accepted a commission in the army, I’d be less than pleased to lose him now that I’ve grown accustomed to a first lieutenant who knows what he’s doing.”
He saw the surprise in Durrell’s eyes and he avoided looking at Paul van Daan. The major was already arrogant enough.
“Are you travelling post?” he asked.
“I am, although I’m taking it slowly as I’ve a horse to take with me. I bought the young black from Hr Lund. He’s a beauty, Lund had no idea what he’s got there.”
“Really? How the hell did you get him back?”
Paul laughed. “I paid an extortionate bribe to the captain in charge of one of the troop ships to find them a berth; it’s why I’ve taken a while to set off home, I’ve been waiting for them to arrive.”
“Them?” Roseen said.
Hugh saw the major flush slightly. He met Roseen’s amused gaze and then laughed aloud. “I didn’t mean to admit that,” he said.
Hugh stared at him in astonishment. “Major, you aren’t telling me you bought that fat, ugly mare and paid to have her shipped to England?”
Paul was laughing. “I’ve two children, Captain, and she’s such a gentle soul.”
“And you could buy something similar at any horse fair in England for half the price. That animal is one step away from the slaughterhouse…”
He broke off, understanding, and then started to laugh. “Nobody could believe you were that soft!” he said.
“I would
,” his wife said. “Does Sir Arthur Wellesley know?”
“No, thank God. And I am not telling him, he will roast me for years. I paid very little for her; Lund couldn’t believe I’d offered anything.”
“He’s not alone in that,” Hugh said.
“With proper care she’s got a good few years left in her and she will be good for the children, she’s got the sweetest nature.” Paul shrugged. “I got attached to her.”
“Christ, fella, how do you bring yourself to kill the French?” Hugh said.
“Oh, I’m very good at that. I hate killing their horses though.”
Hugh returned to the cabin after seeing Paul to the boat to find Roseen seated before the mirror on the washstand brushing out her dark curls. He came forward to unbutton her gown.
“We really need to find you a maid.”
“I don’t need one, Hugh, you can do all that I need. It was a good evening.”
“With young Durrell eating out of the major’s hand.”
She laughed. “Give him a month or two, Captain, and he’ll be eating out of yours.”
“I’m not sure I could stand it.”
“You’ll get used to it, Hugh. He’s an asset. You should recognise that.”
She rose and removed her gown and he watched as she went to hang it up, thinking about how quickly he had become used to her presence aboard.
“You like him, don’t you?” she said.
“Van Daan? Yes, I do, the arrogant young bastard. He needs a smack around the head every now and then, but he’s a good man.”
“I like him too, there’s something about him.” She appeared to catch his expression and laughed, shaking her head. “Oh not that, although I’m not immune. I don’t imagine many women are - his poor wife. But I like how little he cares about where people come from or how wealthy they are…he reminds me of home.”
“Me too. Although don’t be fooled by that, Roseen, he’s very ambitious. He’s not even subtle about it. But he has an unusual way of going about it.”