and misunderstanding, as once he might have been: life could not be regulated as if it were a handy troop. He sighed and raised his eyebrows, though, for the muddle was unedifying. ‘So you will see that things are explained to her, and seen to, if she arrives after I’ve gone?’
‘Of course, sir. And as soon as you can fix for me an’ Caithlin to come out and join you—’
‘There is nothing I should like better.’
‘Ay, enough said, Mr Hervey —
‘I’ll be back right enough, Serjeant Armstrong; don’t you worry. It’s for the best. I know that’s what Lord George says. Grown-up stuff, you think? There has to be a time to leave the regimental nest, at least to flap around for a while.’ He did not sound wholly convinced.
‘Well just don’t shite on the Line, as some of them staff seem to like doing when they fly about!’
‘No indeed, Serjeant Armstrong,’ he laughed; ‘I shall be sweetness itself. And I
‘Ay, well there are going to be too many new faces for my liking — and all as ugly as them two greenheads from the depot just now. So long as Lord George stays commanding we’ll be all right, I suppose. But if he goes I’ve a mind to hand in me bridle.’
‘I should be more than sorry if you did that. And in any case, there’s bound to be promotion soon.’
‘Troop serjeant-major? By God I’d roust some of them corporals about!’
‘Just so, Serjeant Armstrong! I’ll wager you’ll have your crown by the time I get to India.’
‘Maybe, but I hear we’ll be dropping to four troops soon enough, and that’s not a bonny prospect. There are a few ahead of me still.’
‘In seniority, perhaps.’
‘Now as it’s peace, that’s the way things will go,’ he muttered, cocking an eye: ‘seniority tempered by merit, don’t they call it? Seniority tempered by dead men’s boots more like!’
‘Well let us pray not: that’s
‘Ay, perhaps so. At least it’s not seniority tempered by arse-licking, like in some regiments! To dead men’s boots, then,’ he added, thoughtfully, raising his tankard.
‘Yes,’ agreed Hervey, nodding and lifting his own. ‘To absent friends!’
Armstrong tapped it with his: ‘To ’Arry Strange.’
‘To Harry Strange,’ repeated Hervey, his voice muted; ‘and Major Edmonds.’
‘Ay, an’ all the others.’ Armstrong emptied his tankard, rose and placed it carefully on the table outside the canteen door. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, Captain Hervey, sir, I’ll get along to evening stables.’ He fastened the button of his collar flap, replaced his shako and saluted. ‘Good luck, sir. And don’t you worry about Miss Lindsay. She’s as good as on the strength now.’
* * *
The Duke of Wellington entered Colonel Grant’s office without formality and sat in the same chair that Hervey had occupied that morning. His face was a little flushed, as it always was when he had taken leave of Lady Shelley, and he had on a dark blue coat rather than uniform, for he was ambassador as much as he was commander-in- chief. ‘Well, how went things with young Hervey?’
‘Favourably, I believe, duke,’ replied Grant, pouring a glass of hock for him.
‘How much did you have need to tell him?’
‘He has his general mission and cover with the nizam
— he was much taken with it, too. As to the Chintal business, I told him only what he needs to know at this time.’
‘And you can trust this agent of yours in Calcutta? Bazzard, his name you say?’
‘Well, duke, you will not let me go there in person, so Bazzard shall have to do. And I’m sure he will: he has served me well in the past.’
‘You do not think Hervey is in any danger by not knowing all? He did us damned fine service at Waterloo: he doesn’t deserve to end as tiger bait — unlike a dozen I could name three-times his rank!’
‘I don’t see him in any danger, duke. All he has to do is go to Calcutta, and Bazzard will arrange the rest.’ The duke took a sip of his hock, and grunted. ‘Who
in heaven’s name would have thought a bit of dusty land in a place you’ve scarcely heard of should be such a thorn in the side! Those damned Whigs will have me if they possibly can, and since Warren Hastings’ impeachment there isn’t anyone safe who’s made the slightest profit in India!’
Grant raised his eyebrows in sympathy.
‘They’ll block any appointment of me to Calcutta however they can. And once I’m back from Vienna they’ll want me out of the way here too. Finding me with estates in India will be just what they need.’
‘Don’t be too cast-down, duke,’ said Grant, frowning. ‘The mood is swinging against the present administration in India. The calls for you to go back are being heard, I believe.’
The duke grunted again. ‘Well, perhaps so. But, in any case, I’m still unconvinced that anything can be done there without Haidarabad wholly in our pocket. And it will hardly do if I am seen to be in any way beholden to Chintal because of those jagirs — which, I might add, have barely kept me in decent claret these past five years!’
‘I have always believed that were Chintal in the Company’s pocket too, there would be greater room for manoeuvre as regards the nizam.’ Grant poured more hock and lit a cheroot. ‘A small place — yes — but the rajah sits on commanding ground. The nizam could scarcely forbear to take note.’
‘Just so,’ agreed the duke. ‘I should never wish to see Chintal fall to any but the Company. But then neither should I wish to undertake any enterprise against the country powers without the nizam at hand. We need both of them.’
Grant concurred.
‘And you are confident — even though we have not told him all — that Hervey will get those damned jagirs disposed of, and without trace?
‘There is no cause for disquiet on either count, duke,’ replied Grant, shaking his head. ‘The fewer who know these things the safer it must be: that has always been the principle on which I have worked. All he has to do is take a pleasant enough cruise to Calcutta, and then Bazzard will arrange things.’
The duke took another sip of hock before standing and making to leave. ‘And he knows he must make contact with your man before he begins beating about the country?’
‘Sir, he has his orders. The reason we chose him for this mission is that he has proved himself devoted to his profession. In any case,’ he smiled, standing to open the door for his principal, ‘
II. A STAR IN THE EAST
‘Captain Hervey, in my twelve years or more in one of His Majesty’s ships I have never heard the like!’
There was no reply.
‘Never before have I been asked to give passage to a horse!’
Still there was no reply.
Captain Laughton Peto, RN, struck the taffrail with his fist in a theatrical gesture of exasperation. ‘Confound it, sir, she is a frigate, not a packet!’
Captain Hervey smiled sheepishly. ‘Sir, you have aboard a goat and several chickens. And I hear that it is not
