Mary Nichols – In the Commodore's Hands (страница 6)

‘I have been perfectly safe with Sir John and Monsieur Drymore,’ Lisette said. ‘We have been talking of ways and means to free my father.’ She turned to Jay. ‘Hortense is my maid and she worries about me. I thank you for your escort, monsieur. I bid you bonsoir until tomorrow.’

She held out her hand to him; he took it and bowed over it. ‘Your servant, mademoiselle. I will be here at ten o’clock.’

He turned and left them. He did not look back, but heard the door shut behind him. The flame in the torch flickered and died, leaving the drive and the ghostly tree in darkness.

Striding along the country road back towards Honfleur, he mused about the task he had been set and the woman who asked it of him. She was not what he would call womanly; she was too tall and thin for a start, her features a little too sharp, but her blue-grey eyes revealed intelligence and a stubbornness which might cause problems. He smiled to himself, anticipating squalls. So be it, he was used to squalls and having his commands obeyed.

But could you issue commands to a woman? He knew from sad experience how difficult that could be. Marianne had objected to simple requests, to pleas to think of her children, to consider the consequences of her wilfulness, by simply laughing and going her own way, with tragic results. When she died, it was left to him to tell Edward and Anne, who had loved their mother and knew nothing of the secret and not-so-secret life she led. Naturally he could not say anything of that and they had been broken-hearted at her loss.

Comforting the children and pretending all had been well between him and their mother had been difficult and accomplished only with an effort of will that left him dour and uncompromising—he would not put them or himself through such an experience again. Lisette Giradet had brought the memories back with her questioning and he had found himself resenting it. He shook his ill humour from him; better to concentrate on the task in hand.

Instead of going back to his grandfather’s villa, he went to one of the town’s hostelries where he had arranged to meet Sam. It was a squalid place, low-ceilinged and dingy, but it had the advantage of being very close to the prison. Sam, who had spent the day exploring, was already there, sitting in a corner with two men in the blue uniform of the National Guard, who were apparently enjoying his hospitality. They had several empty bottles in front of them and were drinking cider from tumblers.

‘Ah, here is my friend, James Smith,’ Sam said in excruciating French, using the alias they had decided upon. ‘Jimmy, this is Monsieur Bullard and Monsieur Cartel.’

Jay shook their hands and sat down, pulling a tumbler towards him and pouring himself some cider. He took a mouthful, made a face of distaste and spat it out on the floor. ‘No better than vinegar,’ he said. ‘Sam, my friend, couldn’t you find anything better than this to give our friends?’

‘’Tis all this Godforsaken place had,’ Sam said in English, then added under his breath, ‘They are prison guards.’

‘What did you say?’ Bullard demanded. He was the bigger of the two men and he had a very red face and broken teeth. ‘Speak French, why don’t you.’

‘I am afraid my friend’s language skills are not up to it,’ Jay explained. ‘But I will translate. He is sorry that the Black Horse does not have anything better to offer you.’

‘It is good enough. Who are you to find fault with our cider? And how did two Englishmen come to be here?’

Jay laughed. ‘Trade, my friends, trade. I buy good Calvados to take home.’

‘Smugglers,’ Cartel said, laughing. ‘Even in these times it still goes on.’

‘Yes, more so in these times, when legitimate trade is difficult,’ Jay agreed. ‘How else are we to drink the good French brandy we are accustomed to? But I will not be taking any of this rotgut back home. I can get much better at the Château Giradet.’

‘Château Giradet! Why there?’

‘I am told it makes the best Calvados in the area and Comte Giradet will sell it to me cheap.’

‘What do you know of Comte Giradet?’

‘Nothing. He was from home when I called there. I spoke to his daughter, who told me he was locked up.’

‘Locked up!’ Both Frenchmen laughed uproariously. ‘Yes, he’s locked up and like to hang when Henri Canard has done with him.’

‘Not before I have had time to deal with him, I hope,’ Jay said. ‘His daughter is disinclined to sell to me without the Comte’s consent. She did let me have a couple of cases, but what good is that to my thirsty friends in England?’

‘When he is convicted his goods and chattels will be forfeit,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I must act before that. Tell me, who is in charge at the gaol?’

‘We are,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I have struck lucky.’ He looked round and called out to the landlord to bring Calvados to replace the cider. ‘You will let me see him, will you not?’

‘Hold hard, there,’ Cartel said. ‘What’s in it for us?’

‘Money, good sound louis d’or, not that new paper money.’

They gasped at this. The gold coins had been withdrawn in favour of the paper assignat, and they could not legitimately spend them, although there were always people who would take them. Cartel looked at Bullard and back at Jay. ‘It might be done.’

‘When are you on duty again?’

‘Tomorrow, all day,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I will come in the morning.’ He left his drink untouched and stood up. ‘Are you coming, Sam?’

‘No, I think I’ll enjoy the company a little longer,’ Sam said, winking at him.

Jay left him, glad to be out in the fresh air again and, making sure he was not followed, returned to his grandfather’s villa.

He found Sir John in his parlour waiting for him. ‘How did it go?’ he asked.

‘How did what go?’ Jay Was still thinking of the gaolers.

‘Your conversation with Lisette. Was anything decided?’

‘No. Until I have been to the gaol and seen what we are up against, I can formulate no plan. I have, however, made the acquaintance of two of the gaolers. They think I am a smuggler.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘But then, I suppose I am, although it is not brandy I’ll be smuggling, but people. If the Comte agrees to come, that is. According to Mademoiselle Giradet, he is no lover of the English.’

‘You cannot set him free simply to go home or even to go anywhere else in France. He will be picked up again in no time.’

‘I know. I am relying on mademoiselle to persuade him that he will be welcome in England. There are already hundreds of French émigrés making new lives for themselves there, they will not be alone.’

‘Lisette is a lovely girl, not the most handsome, it is true, but she is a good daughter and she and the Comte have been good friends to me, exiled as I am.’

‘How did that happen?’ Jay asked. ‘My parents never speak of it.’

‘No, they would not.’ Sir John laughed. ‘I am the black sheep of the family. I dared to side with the Pretender and voluntarily left the country shortly after the ’45 rebellion, but when the Young Pretender went to England to try to drum up support I went with him. It was a foolhardy thing to do and the only reason I escaped was because your father and Sam Roker helped me, and that on condition I never showed my face in England again.’

‘Sam Roker? You know Sam?’

‘Yes. He is the one who saw me safely on board ship.’ He chuckled. ‘Mind you, he had to knock James out to do it.’

‘Why?’

‘James was in King George’s navy and helping a fugitive would have gone ill for him had it become known. He was only prepared to do it for the great love he had for Amy, but Roker stopped him.’

‘Yes, he is a good man, a trusted retainer. I have brought him with me.’

‘I fancy he has no great affection for me.’

‘Perhaps not, but he will do anything for my parents.’

‘Your parents, they are happy together, are they?’

‘Very. Mama is one in a million and my father adores her.’

‘It has not been an easy exile,’ Sir John went on. ‘I settled here in Honfleur because so many English merchants used to use the port and I could learn a little of what was happening at home. Now, with the blockade, that doesn’t happen and I grow more homesick.’

Jay detected a wistful note in the older man’s voice and realised how hard life must have been in France when everyone he loved was in England. No wonder he had been glad of Lisette’s friendship. ‘Mademoiselle Giradet told me her mother was English.’

‘Yes. She was a Wentworth, daughter of Earl Wentworth.’ He looked up as a startled gasp escaped from Jay’s lips. ‘You know the family?’

‘I know of them.’ Jay pulled himself together. ‘Go on.’

‘The Earl was furious when she told him she wanted to marry Gervais and live in France. They cut her off without a penny, hoping it would make her change her mind, but Louise was made of sterner stuff.’ He chuckled. ‘In any case, money was not a problem because Gervais was as rich as Croesus. What he found so hard to bear, and he told me this many, many times, was that she was cut off from a family she had loved, particularly her mother, and though she never complained he knew she felt it deeply. We had that in common.’

‘And what about her daughter? Does she feel it too?’ The revelation that the woman he had come to rescue was related to the Wentworths had shocked him to the core. He felt again the fury that had engulfed him on coming home from a long voyage to find his wife absent and children alone with their governess. Miss Corton had said her mistress had been gone some days, but she did not know where she was.