something doing?’
‘No, not especially now. I just wanted to tell him I was intending to drive to Clipstone.’
‘I’ll send someone to find him,’ said Armstrong. ‘Lingard!’
Seton Canning’s groom came doubling. ‘Sir!’
‘Have you seen Johnson since first parade?’
Lingard looked sheepish.
‘What’s happening, Lingard?’ growled Armstrong.
‘Sir, I… Johnson’s in the feed store.’
Hervey took over the interrogation. ‘What’s amiss, Lingard?’
Lingard shifted awkwardly, evading Hervey’s eye.
‘Answer up, man!’ barked Armstrong.
‘Sir, Johnson is very upset.’
‘About what?’
‘Sir, if you please, I think it’s better that he tells you.’
‘Lingard!’ barked Armstrong again.
‘It’s his mother, sir.’
Hervey looked at Armstrong, puzzled. ‘But he doesn’t have a mother.’
‘No sir,’ said Lingard. ‘Sir, it’d be much better if it came from him.’
Hervey sensed he was right. ‘Very well, I’ll go and see him.’
‘I’ll keep the store clear,’ said Armstrong quietly.
Hervey found Johnson sitting on a bag of barley, head in hands. He sat down next to him and took off his forage cap. ‘Do you want to tell me what this is about?’
Johnson sat up. There were tell-tale streaks on his face. ‘M’mother.’
‘Yes. Lingard said. I thought—’
‘No, sir, that’s what I’d always thought an’ all.’ He wiped his nose with his sleeve. ‘I al’s thought she were dead. That’s what I were told, I’m sure it were. But she’s ’ere, in t’town.’
Hervey tried to keep a rein on his disbelief. ‘But how have you found this out? She wouldn’t have known any of the troop’s names.’
Johnson merely shook his head.
Only then did it occur to Hervey that tears were a strange reaction to such a discovery. ‘Have you seen her?’
‘No I ’aven’t. I don’t want to. I were ’appy enough as I were.’
Hervey stayed silent for several minutes. ‘But Johnson, even now, to know your mother is…’ He stopped when he saw the tears in his groom’s eyes, and on his cheeks.
Johnson gave a deep sigh and seemed to brace himself. ‘Sir, some o’ t’men met ’er in one o’ t’pot-’ouses.’
‘Yes?’
‘Sir, she’s been gooin’ wi’ ’em for over a week!’
Hervey felt a knot in his own stomach. Even the idea appalled. He put his arm round him. ‘I’m so very sorry.’
After a while, he got up and told Johnson to stay where he was for as long as he liked. ‘I’ll tell Serjeant Armstrong, and we’ll try to sort something out. Is there anything you want me to do?’
‘No, sir,’ replied Johnson, sniffing. ‘I’ll stay by meself for a bit longer, and then I’ll go and do Gilbert.’
‘All right then, but only when you’re ready.’
As Hervey left, Johnson stood up and turned his head after him. ‘Thanks, sir. I’m sorry.’
Hervey told Serjeant Armstrong Johnson’s news. ‘But how in heaven’s name he came to find out, I can’t begin to think.’
Armstrong had already questioned Lingard robustly. ‘He sang like a little linnet, did our Lingard. Seems they’ve all been lifting a leg in that part of town since we came. Anyway, one of these women gets talking and says how she’s got a son in the army but she’s never seen ’im since he was a bairn. She put ’im in a workhouse in Sheffield twenty-odd years ago, and never saw ’im since.’
Hervey frowned. ‘But that’s not very convincing evidence of motherhood.’
‘She knew he was called Johnson, and she’s got half a page from a bible that’s the testificate, or whatever it’s called.’
Hervey had heard Johnson speak of that before. ‘But even so…’
‘Even so, sir. What she needs to do is get that page matched up with the bit they keeps at the workhouse, and quickly.’
Hervey agreed.
‘Meanwhile, I’ll put this busy little doxy out of bounds. There’ll be no more ascension days for the troop with her!’
Henrietta learned of Johnson’s unhappiness soon after, and was very grieved for him. She knew at once what must be done, and reported as much to her husband.
‘But you cannot possibly go to that place and see her!’ Hervey protested.
‘I doubt she’ll be about her business in the morning. You said she lived in a cave. I shall go and see her there.’
‘Going to a hovel dug out of stone? To visit a…? It is insupportable!’ He admired her pluck, though he hesitated to tell her so.
‘Matthew, I have moved in society a very great deal, and in principle I should be doing nothing that I have not done before!’
It was a riposte so disarming that Hervey at once gave up any further protest.
Henrietta returned an hour later with the carriage blinds drawn, and told her husband that she was driving to Sheffield.
‘Why? Why must you go to Sheffield?’ demanded Hervey, so incredulous as to sound angry to her.
‘Because the sooner the testificate is verified, the sooner Private Johnson will know what to do. Mrs Stallybrass — his so-called mother — is inside the carriage.’ Her tone defied further protest, for the second time that morning.
When Hervey told Serjeant Armstrong at watering parade later, both men found themselves smiling. ‘Apparently Mrs Stallybrass would not give up the piece of paper, and so my wife had to take her with her. Then she went to tell Johnson, and he insisted on going too because he said he couldn’t allow her to travel with a woman like that!’
‘What a merry party they will be,’ said Armstrong, shaking his head. ‘How far is it to Sheffield?’
‘Twice as far as Nottingham.’
‘They’ll not be back before night.’
Hervey raised his eyebrows. ‘She spoke of returning via Chatsworth!’
Armstrong shook his head in equal dismay. ‘I’m not even sure as my Caithlin would have taken a fence like that!’
Hervey smiled again. ‘Oh, I think she would, Serjeant Armstrong. I think she would. When’s Caithlin coming, by the way?’
‘Tomorrow, all being well. I’ve found clean lodgings five minutes away, by the Southwell road.’
‘I’m glad of it. The latest from Nottingham is that the Prince Regent’s pavilion has closed for the winter already. So there’ll be no pull from the Prince to get us back to Brighton. We might well see out the winter in Nottingham garrison.’
‘Well, there’ll be plenty of firewood at least,’ said Armstrong with a grin. ‘I’ve never seen so many trees in all my life!’ Then he looked more serious. ‘If ever it comes to a chase, though, we’ll lose every time.’
‘But what a place it is for
Armstrong nodded. There was no doubting that.
‘Come and have a look at Hopwood’s map. It’s given me an idea.’
