In the Commodore's Hands

But could you issue commands to a woman? He knew from sad experience how difficult that could be. Marianne had objected to simple requests, to pleas to think of her children, to consider the consequences of her wilfulness, by simply laughing and going her own way, with tragic results. When she died, it was left to him to tell Edward and Anne, who had loved their mother and knew nothing of the secret and not-so-secret life she led. Naturally he could not say anything of that and they had been broken-hearted at her loss.

Comforting the children and pretending all had been well between him and their mother had been difficult and accomplished only with an effort of will that left him dour and uncompromising—he would not put them or himself through such an experience again. Lisette Giradet had brought the memories back with her questioning and he had found himself resenting it. He shook his ill humour from him; better to concentrate on the task in hand.

Instead of going back to his grandfather’s villa, he went to one of the town’s hostelries where he had arranged to meet Sam. It was a squalid place, low-ceilinged and dingy, but it had the advantage of being very close to the prison. Sam, who had spent the day exploring, was already there, sitting in a corner with two men in the blue uniform of the National Guard, who were apparently enjoying his hospitality. They had several empty bottles in front of them and were drinking cider from tumblers.

‘Ah, here is my friend, James Smith,’ Sam said in excruciating French, using the alias they had decided upon. ‘Jimmy, this is Monsieur Bullard and Monsieur Cartel.’

Jay shook their hands and sat down, pulling a tumbler towards him and pouring himself some cider. He took a mouthful, made a face of distaste and spat it out on the floor. ‘No better than vinegar,’ he said. ‘Sam, my friend, couldn’t you find anything better than this to give our friends?’

‘’Tis all this Godforsaken place had,’ Sam said in English, then added under his breath, ‘They are prison guards.’

‘What did you say?’ Bullard demanded. He was the bigger of the two men and he had a very red face and broken teeth. ‘Speak French, why don’t you.’

‘I am afraid my friend’s language skills are not up to it,’ Jay explained. ‘But I will translate. He is sorry that the Black Horse does not have anything better to offer you.’

‘It is good enough. Who are you to find fault with our cider? And how did two Englishmen come to be here?’

Jay laughed. ‘Trade, my friends, trade. I buy good Calvados to take home.’

‘Smugglers,’ Cartel said, laughing. ‘Even in these times it still goes on.’

‘Yes, more so in these times, when legitimate trade is difficult,’ Jay agreed. ‘How else are we to drink the good French brandy we are accustomed to? But I will not be taking any of this rotgut back home. I can get much better at the Château Giradet.’

‘Château Giradet! Why there?’

‘I am told it makes the best Calvados in the area and Comte Giradet will sell it to me cheap.’

‘What do you know of Comte Giradet?’

‘Nothing. He was from home when I called there. I spoke to his daughter, who told me he was locked up.’

‘Locked up!’ Both Frenchmen laughed uproariously. ‘Yes, he’s locked up and like to hang when Henri Canard has done with him.’

‘Not before I have had time to deal with him, I hope,’ Jay said. ‘His daughter is disinclined to sell to me without the Comte’s consent. She did let me have a couple of cases, but what good is that to my thirsty friends in England?’

‘When he is convicted his goods and chattels will be forfeit,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I must act before that. Tell me, who is in charge at the gaol?’

‘We are,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I have struck lucky.’ He looked round and called out to the landlord to bring Calvados to replace the cider. ‘You will let me see him, will you not?’

‘Hold hard, there,’ Cartel said. ‘What’s in it for us?’

‘Money, good sound louis d’or, not that new paper money.’

They gasped at this. The gold coins had been withdrawn in favour of the paper assignat, and they could not legitimately spend them, although there were always people who would take them. Cartel looked at Bullard and back at Jay. ‘It might be done.’

‘When are you on duty again?’

‘Tomorrow, all day,’ Bullard said.

‘Then I will come in the morning.’ He left his drink untouched and stood up. ‘Are you coming, Sam?’

‘No, I think I’ll enjoy the company a little longer,’ Sam said, winking at him.

Jay left him, glad to be out in the fresh air again and, making sure he was not followed, returned to his grandfather’s villa.

He found Sir John in his parlour waiting for him. ‘How did it go?’ he asked.

‘How did what go?’ Jay Was still thinking of the gaolers.

‘Your conversation with Lisette. Was anything decided?’

‘No. Until I have been to the gaol and seen what we are up against, I can formulate no plan. I have, however, made the acquaintance of two of the gaolers. They think I am a smuggler.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘But then, I suppose I am, although it is not brandy I’ll be smuggling, but people. If the Comte agrees to come, that is. According to Mademoiselle Giradet, he is no lover of the English.’

‘You cannot set him free simply to go home or even to go anywhere else in France. He will be picked up again in no time.’

‘I know. I am relying on mademoiselle to persuade him that he will be welcome in England. There are already hundreds of French émigrés making new lives for themselves there, they will not be alone.’

‘Lisette is a lovely girl, not the most handsome, it is true, but she is a good daughter and she and the Comte have been good friends to me, exiled as I am.’

‘How did that happen?’ Jay asked. ‘My parents never speak of it.’

‘No, they would not.’ Sir John laughed. ‘I am the black sheep of the family. I dared to side with the Pretender and voluntarily left the country shortly after the ’45 rebellion, but when the Young Pretender went to England to try to drum up support I went with him. It was a foolhardy thing to do and the only reason I escaped was because your father and Sam Roker helped me, and that on condition I never showed my face in England again.’

‘Sam Roker? You know Sam?’

‘Yes. He is the one who saw me safely on board ship.’ He chuckled. ‘Mind you, he had to knock James out to do it.’

‘Why?’

‘James was in King George’s navy and helping a fugitive would have gone ill for him had it become known. He was only prepared to do it for the great love he had for Amy, but Roker stopped him.’

‘Yes, he is a good man, a trusted retainer. I have brought him with me.’

‘I fancy he has no great affection for me.’

‘Perhaps not, but he will do anything for my parents.’

‘Your parents, they are happy together, are they?’

‘Very. Mama is one in a million and my father adores her.’

‘It has not been an easy exile,’ Sir John went on. ‘I settled here in Honfleur because so many English merchants used to use the port and I could learn a little of what was happening at home. Now, with the blockade, that doesn’t happen and I grow more homesick.’

Jay detected a wistful note in the older man’s voice and realised how hard life must have been in France when everyone he loved was in England. No wonder he had been glad of Lisette’s friendship. ‘Mademoiselle Giradet told me her mother was English.’

‘Yes. She was a Wentworth, daughter of Earl Wentworth.’ He looked up as a startled gasp escaped from Jay’s lips. ‘You know the family?’

‘I know of them.’ Jay pulled himself together. ‘Go on.’

‘The Earl was furious when she told him she wanted to marry Gervais and live in France. They cut her off without a penny, hoping it would make her change her mind, but Louise was made of sterner stuff.’ He chuckled. ‘In any case, money was not a problem because Gervais was as rich as Croesus. What he found so hard to bear, and he told me this many, many times, was that she was cut off from a family she had loved, particularly her mother, and though she never complained he knew she felt it deeply. We had that in common.’

‘And what about her daughter? Does she feel it too?’ The revelation that the woman he had come to rescue was related to the Wentworths had shocked him to the core. He felt again the fury that had engulfed him on coming home from a long voyage to find his wife absent and children alone with their governess. Miss Corton had said her mistress had been gone some days, but she did not know where she was.

‘The children have been told she is taking a little holiday with friends,’ she had said. It had been left to his mother to tell him the truth.

‘I believe she has gone to live with Gerald Wentworth at his home in Hertfordshire,’ she had said. ‘They seem not to mind the scandal.’

How Wentworth had seduced his wife he did not know, but the man could not be allowed to go unchallenged. His mother had advised against it, telling him to let sleeping dogs lie, but he had been so furious, he would not listen. The duel had been fought in the grounds of Wentworth Castle, the choice of his opponent and a poor one for him because his adversary’s friends and family were there. Nevertheless he was the better swordsman and no one interfered until he was standing over the disarmed Wentworth, sword raised to deliver the fatal blow. He found he could not do it and had walked away in disgust, with the man’s threats ringing in his ears.

The gossip had raged for months; a man did not fight a duel and then refuse to deliver the coup de grâce when it was within his power. Many laughed at him, others said he was in hiding, fearing Wentworth’s revenge for the humiliation, for it was humiliating to lose and be spared simply because one’s opponent did not have the stomach to finish it.

None of that was Mademoiselle Giradet’s fault, he scolded himself, and ought to have no bearing on the task he had been set. Once he had accomplished it, they need never meet again.

‘Lisette?’ his grandfather said, in answer to his question. ‘A little, perhaps. I can only guess. Like her mother, she does not complain.’

‘What about her brother? What can you tell me of him?’

‘He is Lisette’s twin and has been in the service of King Louis ever since he finished his education, first as a page and then a gentleman of the bedchamber. I believe it took money and influence on Gervais’s part to obtain the post for him. After all, they are not the old nobility. It was an unselfish act on the Comte’s part; he was devoted to his son and hated parting from him, but he wanted him to make his way at court and encouraged him to go. Michel is loyal to the King and, according to Lisette, would not dream of deserting him. She worries about him, but is convinced the King will be able to protect him.’

‘Do you believe that?’

Sir John shrugged. ‘Who knows? The King embraced the new constitution and that pleased the people, but then he chose to try to flee, no doubt to drum up foreign support, and that sent his popularity plummeting. He might just as well be in prison himself. I suppose while the legislature is divided on what to do about him, he is safe enough and that goes for Michel too.’

‘So mademoiselle is content to leave him behind?’

‘I think it will be hard for her, she and her brother were close as children, but her first concern at the moment is to free her father.’

‘Then we must do what we can to bring that about.’

‘What would you like me to do?’

‘Nothing at the moment, except to put your affairs in order and gather together whatever you want to take to England, but bear in mind we cannot accommodate large or heavy items; everything will have to be carried aboard the Lady Amy and we must not attract undue attention. I shall tell Mademoiselle Giradet the same thing.’

‘You mean I am to be welcomed back?’

‘That is Mama’s wish.’

‘And it is mine. I will do anything to be reunited with my daughter. You may count on me.’

Lisette was ready for Jay the next morning, with the horses already harnessed to the carriage. She suspected she had been allowed to keep the equipage simply because no one had thought to take it from her. And the peasantry would not know what to do with it if they had it. Riding about in a carriage would be far too ostentatious and would bring down opprobrium on their heads. It was fashionable to be poor and dirty even if you were not. In deference to this and so she did not stand out in the crowd, she had donned the plainest gown she could find, a deep-blue cambric over which she had tied a scarf in the bright red of the Revolution. Unwilling to don the Phrygian cap with its Revolutionary cockade, she chose to go bare-headed, tying her thick blonde locks back with a red ribbon.

She met Jay in the vestibule when Hortense admitted him to the house. All the servants except Hortense and Georges had abandoned her. She dipped her knee in answer to his sweeping bow. ‘Good morning, monsieur. I am ready. And there is a case of our best Calvados in the boot. I hope that will be sufficient.’

‘It will do for the moment.’ He handed her into the carriage and climbed in beside her. ‘We may need more later.’

They settled in their seats for the short ride to Honfleur. ‘I have met two of the gaolers already,’ he told her. ‘They think I am a smuggler and buying brandy from the Comte to take out of the country. For a bribe, they will let me speak to him.’

‘The bribe being brandy?’

‘And money.’

‘How much money?’

He shrugged. ‘I have yet to discover their price.’

‘And then they will free Papa?’

‘Nothing was said of that. I am simply being allowed to speak to him.’

‘Oh.’ There was dejection in her voice. Why she had expected more of him, she did not know. To pay large sums simply to speak to him and leave him where he was did not sound like a good deal to her. ‘What happens after you have spoken to him?’

‘I have not yet decided. It all depends on what I discover.’

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Nothing for the moment. I do not want those gaolers to think we are in league with one another, it will make them suspicious. I suggest you do a little shopping after I have left you and then go home and wait to hear from me.’

‘Wait! Is that all? I am in such a ferment, waiting will be purgatory. Surely I can be of use?’

‘Later, perhaps. You will need money in England, so when you go home, collect up your most valuable items, gold and silver, all your jewellery, nothing too big, and pack it ready. And make sure the horses are fresh. We may need to move swiftly when we do.’

‘I will do that. We will not leave Hortense behind, will we?’ she asked anxiously.

‘Not if you do not overload the coach and she can be ready at a moment’s notice.’

‘We will both be ready.’

They had arrived at the end of the street where the prison stood and he called to Georges to stop the coach. ‘I will leave you here,’ he told Lisette. ‘Go and do your shopping, buy food as if you were going to be at home for the immediate future.’ He took the case of brandy from the boot and the carriage pulled away again, leaving a thoughtful Lisette to continue into the centre of the town.

Jay carried the brandy into the prison and deposited it on the desk in front of Bullard who was busy writing in a ledger. He looked up at the sound of the bottles clinking. ‘Ah, the Englishman.’

‘I said I would come. We made a bargain.’

‘Let us see the colour of your money first.’

Jay produced six louis d’or from his pocket and put them on the table where they gleamed golden in a shaft of sunlight coming through a dusty window. Before leaving London, he had obtained them from his bank, which had been taking them from émigrés in exchange for sovereigns. He guessed the banker was only too pleased to reverse the process. To these men, they represented undreamed-of wealth.

Bullard picked one up and bit into it, then he called Cartel and the other man on duty. ‘Seems he’s as good as his word,’ he told them, indicating Jay. ‘Do we let him have a few words with the prisoner?’

‘Can’t see it will do any harm,’ Cartel said, gazing hungrily at the money. ‘Philippe can take him through.’

‘I’ll have my share afore I do,’ the third man insisted, picking up two of the coins and stowing them in his waistcoat pocket. Then he beckoned Jay to follow him.

The prison was not large and contained only half-a-dozen cells. No doubt before the Revolution there was comparatively little crime in the town, but now it was full of political prisoners crammed together in squalor. Jay, who considered himself used to poor living conditions from his time in the navy, found himself wrinkling his nose at the smell.

The guard stopped outside one cell and shouted, ‘Citoyen Giradet, you are wanted.’

Nothing happened immediately and then there was a movement among the inmates who parted to allow a frail old man to make his way slowly to the bars. Jay was shocked by his appearance. He was filthy and in rags, his white hair a tangled mass. He had obviously not shaved since his arrest and his beard was lank. It was clear to Jay that he would be too frail to run, or even walk, and that getting him out and away was going to be more difficult than he had imagined.

‘Who are you?’ the old man croaked.

‘My name is James Smith. I am from England.’

‘Never heard of you. What do you want?’

‘I want to buy Calvados, but your daughter will not sell it to me without your consent.’

The old man’s tired eyes lit up. ‘You have spoken to my daughter?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is she well? They have not harmed her?’

‘She is unharmed and looking after everything until you can be reunited. But what about the brandy?’

‘Merde, is that all you can think of, you English, money and your stiff-necked pride?’

‘You know nothing of my pride,’ Jay snapped. ‘But I do have money to exchange for Calvados.’

‘Louis d’or at that,’ the gaoler said with a grin, which told Jay quite plainly that any money handed to the old man would be taken from him.

‘My daughter can do as she pleases and she knows it, so why come here to bother me?’ Gervais paused, peering up at Jay. ‘Unless you have a message from her.’

‘Only that she is doing her best.’

‘That’s enough,’ the gaoler put in. ‘You have the permission you wanted, the interview is at an end.’ He put his filthy hand on Jay’s sleeve.

Jay shrugged him off. ‘You do not need to manhandle me, man. I am leaving.’ He turned back to the Comte. ‘I will tell your daughter she may deal with me with your blessing, shall I?’

If the Comte understood what he was trying to say, he gave no indication of it. ‘You leave my daughter alone, do you hear me? I won’t have her going off with any damned Englishman.’

Jay laughed softly and followed the gaoler back to the office where the other two were already making inroads into the brandy. ‘Is that one of the richest men in Honfleur?’ he asked, jerking his head back towards the cells. ‘He is a sorry specimen if he is.’

‘He will be even sorrier before long,’ Bullard said. ‘His crimes are so great Henri Canard is having him indicted in Paris. We shan’t have the pleasure of seeing him hang. He will lose his head to that new contraption they call a guillotine. I haven’t seen it at work, but they do say the head lives on minutes after it has been severed from the body.’

‘When will he go?’ Jay asked, trying not to show his disgust at the casual way the man had spoken. ‘I hope it will not be before I have made my deal with the Comte’s daughter and taken delivery of the merchandise.’

‘We have to wait for the summons from Paris. Henri Canard has gone himself to get the necessary papers for his transportation.’

‘Then I will do my deal as soon as may be and hasten my own departure.’ He produced three more gold coins and put them on the table. ‘For your co-operation,’ he said and left them.

He strode back to his grandfather’s villa in a pensive mood. The Comte was barely more than skin and bone and much older than he had imagined. He had assumed that he had fathered Lisette in his twenties and, as she was surely no more than twenty-five or six, then her father would be in his fifties. But he was seventy if he was a day, about the same age as his grandfather. Sir John was hale and hearty, but the Comte looked as though a blow from a feather would knock him over. Had he been like that before he was thrown into prison or had prison itself aged him? How on earth was he to get two old men and a young lady out of France and on a boat to England without one or the other of them collapsing on him?

He found both Sam and Lisette with his grandfather. ‘I thought I told you to go home and wait,’ he said.

‘I did not choose to. I knew you would come back here and I wanted to hear what went on.’

Jay threw himself into a chair. ‘Nothing went on. I paid the dues and had a few words with the Comte.’

‘What did he say?’ she asked eagerly. ‘Did you tell him we were going to try to get him out?’

‘No, of course I did not. We had an audience.’

‘Then it was a waste of time.’

‘Not at all. I established that he is going to be sent to Paris for trial. Henri Canard is too impatient to wait for the summons and has gone to fetch it himself.’

‘Oh, no! We are lost. We will never get him out of a Paris prison.’

Jay heard the distress in her voice and found himself wanting to reach out to comfort her. The feeling was so alien to him, he was taken aback. He could not allow her to penetrate his reserve—sympathetic to her plight he might be, but that was all it was. Nothing would be achieved by becoming soft. He pulled himself together. ‘Pray, do not distress yourself, mademoiselle. If I have my way, he will never reach Paris. He will not leave Normandy, except on the Lady Amy.’

‘You have a plan to break him out before they come for him?’ Sam queried, his eyes lighting up.

‘I do not think breaking him out is a good idea,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘There are other ways, but I need more information. I need to know how the Comte is likely to be transported and when.’ He turned to Sam. ‘Do you think you can continue your comradeship with those gaolers?’

Sam laughed. ‘It is a good thing that my understanding of French is a deal better than my speaking of it, then. And I can hold my drink better than most.’

Jay turned to Lisette. ‘Now, mademoiselle, I will escort you home. You have still to make yourself ready as I suggested and keeping your horses out late is not going to help if we have the call tomorrow morning.’

‘I do not need your escort,’ she said haughtily, standing up and shaking out her skirt.

‘I beg to differ. I will see you safely home and I will repeat my instructions to your maid, then I may be sure they will be obeyed.’

Lisette did not answer, but marched out of the room, head held high. He shrugged and smiled at the other two men and went after her.

They had almost completed the journey in silence when she spoke. ‘Do you think it will happen tomorrow?’

Her voice was conciliatory and he smiled in the darkness of the coach. For all her defiance, she was a frightened girl and needed someone to lean on. Well, she could lean on him, that was why he was there, but only for as long as it took to get her, her father and his grandfather to safety. He was doing it because his mother had asked it of him and for no other reason.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘But we must not be caught unprepared.’

‘I will be ready,’ she said quietly.

He almost regretted his defeat of her. He did not like to see her spirit broken, but it was necessary if they were to succeed. ‘Good.’

The coach stopped, he jumped out and held out his hand to help her alight. She took his hand and stepped down. ‘You wish to speak to Hortense, monsieur?’