A Regimental Affair

Hervey shook his head, then shrugged. ‘Oh… I just didn’t want to be about the barracks.’

‘Why ever not? Ordinarily it claims you stronger than I can.’

‘That is not true!’

‘Matthew, I am not complaining. You might not be quite so much the man if I had you all to myself!’

He frowned, then realized she was teasing him again.

‘What has sent you home then?’

He sat at the edge of her bed. ‘I went to see Hopwood — the dragoon who was flogged yesterday.’

‘Oh,’ she said, her face becoming less animated. ‘Do you want to tell me of it?’

‘Would you mind?’

She sat up and took his hand. ‘Of course I should not mind. Why should I mind your speaking of anything which is making you unhappy? Did you not listen to anything that Mr Keble said when we were married?’

He smiled sheepishly. ‘You carry the evidence, my love.’

They kissed, but she broke off and pressed him to what had made him return.

‘It was as if we had thrashed the very manhood out of him,’ said Hervey, shaking his head. ‘I can’t think that is right, even for his offence — even for twice the offence.’

She raised her eyebrows — a look that implied she might agree with him. ‘If I were a soldier I should want an officer who felt as you did. What do you suppose would be my chances of getting one?’

It was a curious way of putting the question. He wondered if she thought him alone in his sentiments. ‘My darling,’ he said, smiling gently at her, ‘you flatter me, but you must not suppose that mine is a lonely opinion. Since before I joined the Sixth they were known to be a regiment that did not flog. It was — if you like — a point of honour with the officers that we did not need recourse to it to prevent riot or desertion. No doubt there were some men who took advantage of it, but the regiment was never found wanting on campaign. And we were by no means unique. I’m sure that not one in four regiments of cavalry used the lash in the Peninsula. The point is, this business may have driven something of a wedge between the men and their officers. They assembled this morning to sing hymns outside the infirmary — hymns, of all things. And they sang most defiantly. It does not bode well.’

She nodded, and took his hand again. ‘What shall you do?’

He sighed. ‘I had a word with Strickland after seeing Hopwood. Do you know he is on the point of leaving? He’s continually subjected to insults for his religion by Lord Towcester.’

Henrietta said that she did not know. Barracks gossip had yet to establish its conduit to her, other than by Johnson, who so far seemed inclined to allow only a trickle. ‘And what did you say?’

‘I told him I had a mind to go and see Lord Sussex. That the colonel ought to know about the unhappy state of affairs generally. But he begged me not to.’

Henrietta looked hesitant. ‘I am very glad that he did. Do you really suppose it would do any good?’

‘It is Lord Sussex’s regiment.’

‘Yes,’ she conceded, frowning. ‘But a man such as Towcester will not be without wiles. And how do you suppose things will turn out if Lord Sussex is unable to take your word against his? Lord Towcester has put a deal of money into the regiment. You said so yourself.’

‘I don’t think that would affect Lord Sussex’s judgement.’

‘Not his judgement, Matthew. I am sure Lord Sussex would know that what you said was the truth. But his judgement might be that the greater evil could come of taking action against Lord Towcester.’

Hervey saw her point, and sighed again. ‘In any case, I had already decided against it.’

‘What have you decided instead? Or have you not?’

He paused, as if thinking how to explain. ‘I spoke with Serjeant Armstrong. We are going to try to get Hopwood’s wife to come here from Australia.’

‘And that will repair things?’ she asked, doubtfully.

‘The troop want to buy his discharge for him. But that won’t restore his pride. That we shall have to do by degrees when he returns to duty.’

She nodded again, in agreement with his reasoning. ‘Has Serjeant Armstrong said anything else?’

‘About Hopwood?’

‘No. About Caithlin.’

‘No. He’s reconciled to her leaving the school. She’s to find some other work, I think. Something in the town, perhaps.’

Henrietta knew that already. She had shared a dish of tea with her in the Prince Rupert only yesterday. ‘I mean that she is with child too!’

‘No! He said not a word!’

‘She is only surprised it has not happened before now.’

Hervey almost observed that a serjeant’s quarters did not provide the same opportunity that they enjoyed. ‘Do you know, my love,’ he said instead, smiling, ‘Armstrong a father — it is a very serious thing. He may never be inclined to a headlong charge ever again!’

CHAPTER TEN. THE LANDING

The Sussex coast, 1 September

The downpour was so heavy that Hervey’s reins kept slipping through his fingers, and he had to wedge his insteps in firmly to save losing his stirrups. Driven almost horizontal by the wind, the rain lashed his face viciously, and no matter how he bent his head, water found its way down his neck and inside his tunic shirt. How the carbine locks were faring he could only hope. The men had bound them with oilskin before leaving the billets, but that had never been entirely proof against damp, and this storm on the downs was as bad as any he could remember in the Astorgias. And he had to keep his head up because the night was so black he could see next to nothing beyond his charger’s ears. He would have dismounted and led, had the gelding not somehow been able to maintain a better pace on the rough road above the cliffs — perhaps because the chalk gave him a trail, perhaps because the sides rose two feet.

Behind Hervey were thirty dragoons; or rather he trusted that they were there, for he couldn’t see them and he certainly couldn’t hear them. He could trust, though, because Serjeant Armstrong was at the rear. Had the other half-troop not been at Lewes for the assizes he would have taken them as well, and then at least he would have had two officers. If, that is, the lieutenant colonel had let him.

Lord Towcester had raged like a wounded beast when the revenue men had come to his orderly room. ‘Coast duty? Coast duty? I’ve not paid thousands for new jackets and shakos to have them ruined chasing smugglers! I shall protest to the Prince Regent himself!’

But the chief officer of His Majesty’s Excise had been unmoved. ‘I regret the inconvenience to your lordship, but it is not every day that intelligence such as this comes into my riding officers’ hands. We stand to apprehend contraband and owlers at one and the same time.’

Lord Towcester had not been in the slightest degree animated by the prospect, however; only by the cost in appearance of his regiment. The latter was not something to which Hervey himself was insensitive — nor the other officers — but it seemed to him to be a cost that could be recovered, whereas the revenue’s opportunity was not.

By now Hervey knew the downs quite well, having ridden out most mornings, first on Harkaway and then Gilbert; and he had been glad to do so, for the lieutenant colonel had been in a bate since they arrived a fortnight before. Lord Towcester had expected to be attending daily at the pavilion, but the Prince Regent had not yet come, sending word that Princess Charlotte was not able to travel, and that he felt it his paternal duty to remain in London until she was able. But now, a full two hours after nightfall, Hervey was becoming worried. They were supposed, by