Ramage and the Renegades

'But Napoleon will arrest her the moment she sets foot in France!'

'I know, I know, and we've all told her that too. But will that fool Jenks? He's a poor specimen of a politician, and like any tradesman he'll tell her what she wants to hear.'

'You think he'll tell her it's safe for her to return to Volterra?'

'Yes, because scores of people are packing for visits to Paris. Rome and Florence. It's the first time they've been able to visit France and Italy for eight years. Jenks hasn't the wit to distinguish between the case of an English person visiting Italy and that of the ruler of an Italian state still occupied by Bonaparte's troops and deliberately omitted from the new Treaty.'

Both men heard a carriage stop outside the door and Hanson shuffled across the hall with his cry of 'Coming, my Lady, I'm coming.'

Ramage said: 'We could get her to see Grenville and ask his advice . . .'

Lord Grenville, who had resigned with Pitt and had been the previous Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was a shrewd man. 'Grenville would certainly give it, and we know what he would say. The fact is,' the old man said wearily, worried as if Gianna was his own daughter, 'she'll listen to whoever tells her what she wants to hear.'

'We may be wronging Hawkesbury,' Ramage said, with no conviction in his voice, and he sat down to wait for Gianna.

'Interesting orders?' the Earl asked casually.

'Not very, sir. Almost routine for peacetime, I imagine. There's just one unusual aspect that makes 'em secret.'

'Don't tell me any more; I was just interested to see how you regarded your first peacetime commission.'

'My own ship and my own men - the First Lord is being generous.'

'Yes, but you deserve it. How many Gazettes have you had?'

Ramage grinned and held out his hands, palms uppermost. 'I've no idea; they're usually published while I'm at sea.'

'Ask your mother or Gianna; they both collect 'em!'

They heard the front door open and Gianna's voice sounded gay as she greeted Hanson. Father and son glanced at each other; both guessed what Hawkesbury had said.

A moment later a bubbling Gianna came into the room, undoing the ribbon holding her hat.

'I can go!' she exclaimed. 'Lord Hawkesbury says there is no danger! He is going to ask M. Otto for a passport for me, and he says Bonaparte is sure to approve it.'

Ramage groaned as he helped her remove her cloak.

'Why are you so - so pesante about everything?' she exclaimed angrily. 'You are not sad at the idea of me leaving, because you are at sea most of the time!'

'I am so "heavy" as you put it, because I don't trust Bonaparte, and no one but a fool would listen to Hawkesbury -'

'Oh, so I'm a fool now!'

'- on such a matter. Yes, you are foolish if you believe Bonaparte is going to let you return to Volterra while his troops still occupy it and he's left it out of the Treaty. You might just as well expect him to allow a British army to land on the Tuscan coast and march to Volterra with bands playing and flags flying "to pay their respects" to the Marchesa.'

Gianna sat down with an angry thump. 'You know about the sea, and Lord Hawkesbury knows about diplomacy -'

'Very little,' Ramage interrupted bitterly. 'He's had the job only a few months and the Treaty shows all he can do is lose a peace. He's given back to Napoleon just about everything we won in battle. Why, Volterra isn't even mentioned.'

'Ah, that shows how little you know. Lord Hawkesbury explained it to me,' she said, her voice dropping confidentially. 'He has heard it direct from M'sieu Otto. Bonaparte is tired of bloodshed. He had to continue the war that the others started with the Revolution until he could arrange a fair peace that was honourable for France.'

Ramage sighed and his father said gently: 'Gianna, there isn't a labourer in England who would believe that. Bonaparte wants to rule the world. He'll start the war again as soon as his warehouses are full, and he'll fight until he rules India, Egypt, the Americas - the world, in fact.'

'That's not what Lord Hawkesbury says.'

'I don't doubt that,' the Earl said soberly. 'Would you listen to Lord Grenville? We can have him to dinner and you can talk privately to him.'

'What does this Grenville know? He's out of office; he had nothing to do with the negotiations for the new Treaty.'

It was the Earl's turn to sigh. 'My dear, Grenville probably knows more about French diplomacy and Bonaparte's intentions than any other Englishman. But did you ask Hawkesbury the question I mentioned to you?'

'What question?'

'Why - if he approved your journey - he thought Bonaparte would let you remain free while his army continues to occupy Volterra.'

'Well, no, I did not,' she admitted. 'It was - how do you say? - redundant. Lord Hawkesbury, His Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, says it is quite all right for me to go back to Volterra and he is arranging my passports so – allora!'

The Earl took a deep breath. 'My dear, we are only trying to protect you when we strongly advise you not to go to Volterra!'

'I know, caro zio, but my mind is made up. There will be so much for me to do in Volterra!'

'You'll find it very different from when you left. You may well discover that people you trusted have - well, behaved differently from what you expected.'

'Had a right to expect,' Gianna said, an unexpectedly grim note in her voice. 'This is another reason why I must go.'

'What can you do alone?' Ramage asked harshly. 'A dagger in your back would solve many problems for those with power.'

'You could take Paolo,' the Earl said, 'although it'd be a pity to interrupt his training.'

'No,' Gianna said emphatically, 'Paolo stays with Nicholas. Come si chiama? - not all my eggs in one basket!'

Ramage felt completely helpless. They had all argued the whole question since the first reports in the newspapers thata Treaty would be signed. From the first Gianna had said she would go; from the first the whole family had argued against it, refusing to trust the French. He had progressed through gentle reasoning to angry arguments; he had wanted to seize and shake her, refusing to believe she could be so stubborn.

His mother was probably right: very early on she had told Nicholas: 'She has a strong sense of duty. I am sure she understands the danger, but she feels she must risk it because she is the ruler of Volterra, and with the war ended she can at last return to her people. Noblesse oblige, my dear Nicholas. You men admire Lovelace for writing "I could not love thee dear so much, lov'd I not honour more", but when a woman says the same thing you do not understand.'

Clapping her hands, as if to signal a change in the topic of conversation, Gianna asked Ramage: 'And you - how did you fare at the hands of milord St Vincent?'

'We sail again as soon as the dockyard finishes the refit.'

'Back to the Mediterranean? That would be fortunate.'

The Earl interrupted to save Ramage from the risk of provoking an angry outburst from Gianna. She was clearly on the verge of one of her 'imperious' moods.

'His orders are marked "Secret" so we can't ask him. All I've been able to worm out of him is that it will be a long commission - six months or more.'

'There you are!' she said. 'You were expecting to be half paid!'

'Put on halfpay,' Ramage gently corrected. 'Yes, obviously the size of the Navy will be cut, and I expected...'

'Why would the government cut the size of the Navy if Bonaparte is not to be trusted?' she demanded.

'Because politicians are fools and optimists,' the Earl said contemptuously. 'They want to cut taxes to have everyone cheering and voting for them. They do not have to fight and die to correct their mistakes.'

'You can take Paolo with you?' she asked Ramage.

'Yes, of course - but whether or not he will want to come when he hears of your plan ...'