'You obviously took pleasure from that.'
'The pleasure I had was derived from the chance to administer a warning to the others. A good flogging keeps the rest of the men in check for a month. If I'd been lenient with Hillier, it would have encouraged others to emulate him. Dozens of them would have been sneaking off at night to the nearest brothel. I had to make an example of him. Eighty lashes were justified.'
'It was a vindictive punishment.'
'What would you have done, Captain?' asked Cracknell with a sneer. 'Would you have docked his wages or simply given him a slap on the wrist?'
'I'd have taken the circumstances into account. He was a young man, new to the army, obviously cajoled by others into leaving camp without permission. It was his first offence. If he'd been treated firmly but fairly,' argued Daniel, 'he'd have learnt his lesson. But that wasn't enough for you, Major. You wanted blood. You've been persecuting Hillier ever since you discovered that he was Sergeant Welbeck's nephew.'
'I deny that.'
'Your conduct has been malicious and unwarranted.'
'I need no lectures on conduct from you, Captain Rawson,' shouted Cracknell, exploding with anger. 'While you've been cavorting off somewhere, it's been left to me and others to maintain a high standard of discipline in this regiment. It's the duty of officers to keep the lower ranks in order. Unlike you, I don't try to befriend them. It's a sign of weakness and they need a show of strength.'
'What they need is to be able to respect an officer.'
'It's the principle on which I operate.'
'No, Major, you confuse cold fear with respect. They're very different. How can anyone respect you for what you did to Hillier? You took a harmless lad and had him beaten to a pulp to gratify your own desires. Had anyone else been caught that night,' stressed Daniel, 'you wouldn't even have been involved in the punishment.'
'I won't be criticised!' yelled Cracknell.
'You deserve more than criticism.'
'Is that a threat, Captain Rawson?'
'Take it as you wish, sir.'
'You're talking to a superior officer.'
'No, I'm not,' retorted Daniel. 'I'm talking to a cruel, jealous, twisted, malevolent, self-important bastard who's a disgrace to the uniform he wears.'
Losing his temper, Cracknell lashed out wildly with a fist but Daniel dodged the punch with ease and pushed him away. He squared up to the major, hands bunched in readiness. He looked lithe, fit and determined. He was fired by the opportunity to take revenge on behalf of Hillier and to assuage his own hatred of the man. It was a moment for which he'd always yearned. But it never came. Cracknell's anger was replaced by a sulky wariness. Aware of Daniel's reputation as a fighter, he had second thoughts about taking him on. The major was forced to back down, glowering at him but making no move. They stood there for several minutes. The tension was eventually broken by the appearance of a messenger.
'Excuse me,' said the man, entering the tent. 'Lieutenant Ainley told me that you were here, Captain Rawson. You're to report to General Churchill at once, sir. He has orders for you.'
Daniel was reluctant to leave the camp on the very day that he'd returned to it. Orders from Marlborough, however, could not be ignored. A dispatch had arrived from Vienna, instructing him to join the commander-in-chief as swiftly as possible because he was needed as an interpreter. Evidently, Marlborough knew about the success in France. Letters sent from The Hague had only given him outline details and he was anxious to hear the full story from the captain's own mouth. After a series of farewells, Daniel set out with a small escort on the road to the Austrian capital. In the company of fellow-soldiers, he was able to move much faster than he'd done during the flight from Paris. By staying in the saddle longer, they covered much more distance each day.
When they finally reached their destination, he expected Marlborough to be staying in one of the Emperor's palaces. Daniel found him ensconced instead at the home of the English ambassador in Vienna. Marlborough had been careful to avoid the formality that would have been imposed upon him if he'd been the Emperor's guest. In a private house, he was not dogged by ceremony. Daniel was given an effusive welcome and, as soon as he'd had some refreshment, pressed to give a detailed account of his trip to Paris. Both Marlborough and Adam Cardonnel were avid listeners. Distressed to hear of Pierre Lefeaux' fate, they were agog when Daniel explained how the escape from the Bastille had been engineered. He also passed on the intelligence that Janssen had taken the trouble to confide in him. As on previous occasions when he'd talked about the escapade, the names of Amalia and Beatrix did not feature.
'We owe you thanks and congratulations,' said Marlborough. 'When we heard that Janssen had been imprisoned, we abandoned all hope of ever seeing him again.'
'We wondered if we'd ever see you again,' added Cardonnel. 'It sounds to me as if you had some narrow escapes.'
'We did, sir,' said Daniel.
'Rather more of them than you told us about, in fact.'
'I don't follow.'
'We have another report of what took place in France. It's a shade more fulsome than your own.'
'Yes,' said Marlborough, reaching for a sealed letter on the table, 'we had a missive from Emanuel Janssen. He's put much more flesh on the story than you. You've been too self-effacing, Daniel. You said nothing about your capture by highwaymen or the crisis you met when you tried to drive a coach across a river.'
'They seemed irrelevant details, Your Grace,' said Daniel. 'My orders were to get someone out of Paris and that's what took up most of my energy. It's not something to boast about. I simply did what I felt was necessary.'
Marlborough laughed. 'Do you hear that, Adam?'
'Yes, Your Grace,' replied Cardonnel. 'I've never known a soldier less willing to take credit for his achievements.'
'It can't all be put down to modesty, I think. Daniel's loss of memory is another factor to consider.'
Daniel frowned. 'I had no loss of memory, Your Grace.'
'Then why did we not hear about Janssen's daughter, not to mention his assistant and servant? You rescued four people. One of them in particular has been singing your praises.' 'Oh?'
'I refer to Amalia Janssen. According to her father, she reveres you in every way. Well,' he went on, holding out the letter, 'you can read what she has to say. This was written in her own fair hand and enclosed with the missive from Janssen.'
'Thank you, Your Grace,' said Daniel, taking the letter.
'Read it in private,' suggested Marlborough. 'Later on, I trust, when your memory has been sufficiently jogged, you can tell us what really happened during your escape from France.'
Notwithstanding his regrets at having to leave his regiment, Daniel was delighted with his new duties. In taking part in diplomacy as an interpreter, he was helping to further the war effort. He was intrigued by the way that Marlborough persuaded Emperor Joseph to commit soldiers to the next campaign even though he gave no details of how he would deploy them. It was only at his lodging that Marlborough talked openly about the strategy for the coming year. Daniel felt honoured to be present at the discussion, a sign that his opinion was valued and his discretion taken for granted.
'Italy is the key to the whole enterprise,' said Marlborough, pointing at the map that lay open on the table. 'We must transfer all our regiments there so that we can unite with Prince Eugene and save Savoy from being overrun.'
'What of the Dutch army, Your Grace?' asked Daniel.
'It can stay in the Low Countries and do what it always does.
Namely, avoid anything resembling a full-scale battle. They and the French are kindred spirits. Instead of going on the attack, they'd rather adopt defensive positions and stare at each other over the intervening territory without firing a shot.'
'Moving our entire force to northern Italy is taking a huge risk.'
'That's precisely why the enemy will never expect it.'
