‘I know that. Almost everything in it has been looted.’
‘Well, don’t look at me,’ said the old man, truculently. ‘We never steal from friends. Josette drove your wagon away. Speak to her.’
‘I already have,’ said Daniel, ‘and she wasn’t pleased to see me.’
The old man cackled. ‘Did she try to hit you?’
‘I didn’t stay long enough.’
‘Josette has fire in her belly — and with a belly that size, that means a real inferno.’
Daniel waited until the old man stopped shaking with mirth.
‘I’m trying to find something that was in my wagon,’ he said.
‘Then you may as well give up now.’
‘This is too important to give up.’
‘Listen,’ said the old man, screwing up his one eye. ‘Most of what was stolen has already been sold or eaten. You’ll never find it.’
‘I’m not after the provisions.’
‘Your horse has vanished into thin air as well.’
‘That doesn’t worry me either.’
‘Really — then what are you after, Gustave?’
‘The only item that I want back is a sword. It was hidden under the seat and now it’s gone.’
‘Oh?’ The old man was curious. ‘And why would you be carrying a thing like that?’
‘It’s a family heirloom,’ lied Daniel. ‘It belonged to my father and I promised to keep it for his sake.’
‘Did he serve in the army?’
‘Yes, he did.’
‘Which army was that?’
‘It was the French army, of course. He was a true patriot.’
‘What about you, Gustave?’ asked the old man, regarding him shrewdly. ‘Would you call yourself a true patriot?’
‘Yes, I would,’ affirmed Daniel.
‘You’d be willing to die for France?’
‘If it was necessary, I would.’
‘Then you’d better volunteer for the army,’ said the old man, ‘because that’s the only way you might get your sword back.’
Daniel’s eye lit up. ‘You know where it is?’
‘I might do.’
‘Then please tell me — I must know.’
‘Earlier today, I went for a walk along the stream.’
‘That’s where my wagon was left,’ said Daniel.
‘I know. I saw it. I also saw the soldiers who were climbing all over it. I took care not to get too close,’ continued the old man, ‘because some of them are too free with their bayonets. I watched them search all over and underneath the wagon.’
‘Did they find anything?’
‘Yes, they did. I didn’t get a proper look at what it was because they were all clustered together but I think it must have come from under the seat.’
‘It was my sword!’
‘If it was, the army has it now, Gustave. I daresay it’s been handed over to a senior officer. You may have lost it for ever.’
When they put their minds to it, Burgundy and Vendome could work effectively together. Their meeting that afternoon bordered on friendliness. They dealt with correspondence together, reviewed the latest intelligence and — should battle arise — discussed the deployment of their men. It was only when Vendome was about to leave that the commander-in-chief introduced a note of discord.
‘I’m pleased to see that you’ve come to your senses at last,’ he observed. ‘It’s very gratifying.’
Vendome tensed. ‘I’m not sure that I follow.’
‘Your mind is now centred on the task in hand, my lord Duke. It’s no longer befuddled by your obsession with a captain in the British army.’
‘It was not an obsession.’
‘Let’s not be pedantic. We’ll call it an undue interest, shall we?’
‘You can call it what you like, my lord,’ said Vendome, sharply. ‘I see it as a legitimate subject of concern.’
‘Then let’s leave it at that,’ said Burgundy with a patronising smirk. ‘Suffice it to say that you’ve learnt your lesson.’
‘And what lesson was that, may I ask?’
‘That it’s wrong to give priority to a single individual when we have a whole army to fight.’
‘Yet that’s exactly what you do,’ rejoined Vendome. ‘I’ve just spent a couple of hours listening to you repeating Marlborough’s name over and over again. You, too, it seems, have your gaze fixed on a single individual.’
‘Marlborough is their captain general.’
‘Captain Rawson is a valued member of his personal staff and is entrusted with missions that nobody else could accomplish. That alone makes him a person of exceptional interest.’
‘The fellow made you look like a fool.’
‘I see no fool when I peer into a mirror, my lord.’
‘Why do you keep arguing over my choice of words?’ said Burgundy, irritably. ‘Let me rephrase what I’m trying to say. You set a trap for Captain Rawson and he cleverly eluded it. I would have thought you’d be glad to forget about him altogether.’
‘I can’t do that,’ said Vendome.
‘Why go on scratching the itch of your complete failure?’
‘The failure was by no means complete. It was tempered with success. Even you were impressed at the way I contrived to get one of our ablest spies — Sophie Prunier — inside the British camp.’
‘That was a pleasing stratagem, I admit.’
‘Then you’ll also admit that the capture of Captain Rawson is a pleasing stratagem when I bring him before you.’
Burgundy sniffed. ‘It will never happen.’
‘Would you care to place a wager on that?’
‘I wouldn’t demean myself by doing so. Mademoiselle Prunier, I am sure, is a lady of immense ability but even she is not going to walk into our camp with the captain over her shoulder.’
‘I fancy that he’ll walk into the camp on his own, my lord.’
‘That’s a preposterous notion!’ said Burgundy, laughing.
‘It’s not too late to accept that wager.’
‘I don’t have the slightest interest in Captain Rawson.’
‘Well, you should do — your grandfather certainly will.’
Burgundy flicked a hand. ‘Be off with you!’
‘Very well, my lord,’ said Vendome, frothing at being dismissed in such a peremptory manner. ‘But I may be back before long and I’ll be ready to accept your apology.’
Turning on his heel, he swept angrily out of the tent.
When he joined his father at their wagon, Alphonse found the old man in a reflective mood. Nudged out of his reverie, he told his son about the conversation with Gustave Carraud.
‘I met him earlier,’ said Alphonse, ‘and told him what happened to his wagon. He was keen to speak to Josette.’
‘What did you make of him?’
