Running into the dining-room he held it high above his head and, with an excited shout, announced its contents. The girls embraced him; the men cheered, wrung his hand and slapped him on the back. While they were still crowding about him Dan produced champagne, and in the pink slightly effervescent wine of those times, they drained their crystal goblets to the health of His Excellency the Governor.
An hour or so later, when Amanda and Georgina had retired to the drawing-room, Roger went down to the cellar to get up more wine. In his absence his three men friends expressed their personal views on his appointment.
All of them agreed that, since this rich Governorship could have bought the support of some great landowner who controlled two or three seats in Parliament, and Roger was entirely without political influence, the gift of it to him was most generous.
Colonel Thursby added that, all the same, the Prime Minister's gesture showed his sound sense as well as generosity, as Roger was level-headed, firm, and high principled; and having lived in France for so long he was far better fitted than most men to bring tranquillity to an island that had until a few months ago been a French colony.
But the shrewd Droopy Ned saw even further, and poking his narrow head forward, he said with a sly smile: "I think you overlook one thing. Roger is the most gifted confidential agent who has served the Crown for many a long day, and Billy Pitt sets too high a value on him to lose him. This morning, having become temporarily sickened of his work, Roger freed himself from it, but tonight he is no longer free. By the gift of this Governorship he has been tied by a silken cord, and can be recalled at will. I will wager a thousand guineas that within a year Roger will once more be serving his master on the Continent."
chapter III
WESTWARD HO!
During the next few weeks Roger was very fully occupied. Having written to thank the Prime Minister, he next wrote to Henry Dundas, as Minister for the Colonies, to ask for an interview at which he might receive specific instructions regarding his Governorship. The business-like Dundas replied by return, inviting him to dine at his house at Wimbledon on the following Thursday, and suggesting that he should come early so that they could discuss affairs before the meal.
Roger both liked Dundas and had a great respect for his ability. The minister was then in his early fifties, a big raw-boned red-faced man who still spoke with the broad Scottish accent he had acquired in boyhood. He was notoriously foul-mouthed and drank like a trooper, but his potations had no effect upon his splendid constitution, and he had an extraordinary capability for despatching mountains of work with swift efficiency. India was only one of his responsibilities but he knew more about it than any other man in Parliament, and the genial good-humour, that Mr. Pitt so sadly lacked, made him an invaluable manager of their party. By invariably giving every post that fell vacant within his patronage to fellow countrymen, he ensured all the members from north of the Tweed loyally following him into the lobby, and his influence had become so great there that he was known as Harry the Ninth of Scotland.
Within five minutes of Roger's arrival Dundas was pouring him a glass of shrub in his study, and saying with a jovial laugh: "Ye've come ta see how much ye can get out o' me; an' dina ye pretend otherwise."
"I'll not," Roger smiled. He knew that, Martinique being a new post, no salary would yet have been fixed for it, and added cheerfully: "What say you to three thousand a year?"
Dundas sat back and roared with laughter. "Strap me! The impudence of it! Dost take me for the Inca of Peru? Nay, five hundred is nearer the mark, though t'was eight I had in mind."
Roger's face fell, and he protested: "Damme, Sir! I have been drawing twelve hundred from the Foreign Office."
"Aye, an' ye've earnt every nickel of it," Dundas nodded, suddenly serious; for he was as well informed as Mr. Pitt of the work that Roger had been doing. "There'll not be any blood-soaked guillotine awaiting ye in Martinique, though; but a fine idle life with puncheons o' rum to drink an' a plenty o' coffee-coloured beauties ta tumble in th' cane brakes."
"All the same, Sir, a thousand is nought but a pittance for the Governor of an Island."
"Weel; on account o' yer past sairvices I'll try tae get tha Treasury tae gi' ye twelve hundred."
"My expenses will be all of that," said Roger glumly. "Could you not ask for fifteen?"
"Nay." Dundas shook his head. "Twelve hundred I'll ask for, an' not a bawbee more. But listen, lad. Were ye not half a Scot an' desairved the post into the bargain, I'd ha' found a way tae ha' excused meself from confirming the appointment. As things are I'm glad for ye an' will instruct your innocence. Ye ha' but ta use the shrewd sense your MacElfic mother gied ye, tae line those fine breeks o' yours wi' West Indian gold."
"I had heard there were perks," Roger admitted, "but I can hardly suppose that they would amount to any really considerable sum."
"Why, mon, the patronage o' tha whole island will be yours! Ye'll need only a canny agent tae tip ye the wink wha' applicants for post can afford tae pay. Harbours, prisons, mails, barracks, customs; permits for this an' that: licences tae ships' victuallers, army sutlers an' privateers; all should bring grist tae your mill. Nair forget that many a mickle makes a muckle. Let not e'en the smallest fry get oot of ye something fer nothing an' ye'll return as rich as a nabob. Sie' practices are forbidden here, but providin' ye make no appointments that might prove detrimental tae th' ould country, they are winked at in tha islands; so ye've nought tae fret about."
Somewhat reassured by this, Roger pressed the question of money no further, and for a while they discussed the policy to be adopted towards the French planters; then their talk became more general and turned to the new Coalition. Dundas was by no means happy about it, as he believed that the Duke of Portland had deliberately put a misconstruction on the Prime Minister's offer in an attempt to rob him of his entire patronage. This was no question of making money from the sale of posts, but he maintained that it was impossible to keep a political party together unless one had plenty of places in one's gift So, rather than remain to watch Pitt's following fall to pieces, he had refused to take office in the new Cabinet. Pitt bad been so distressed at the prospect of losing his old colleague that he had dealt sharply with the Duke, and gone to the length of getting the King to write Dundas a personal letter saying that his services were indispensable. But the affair had left an unpleasant taste and did not bode well for the Whigs and Tories settling down together contentedly.
At four o'clock a coach arrived bringing three other guests for dinner. All of them were intimates of the small Pitt-Dundas circle and two of them, Pepper Arden and George Rose, Roger had met before. The first was a rather bumptious hanger-on of mediocre talents whose ill-directed loyalty, coupled with an almost noseless face that gave him a most comical appearance, at times made him the butt of the House. The second, with able and industrious devotion, handled the spade-work at the Treasury of the Prime Minister's brilliant financial administration; and within a few minutes of his arrival Dundas had jollied him into agreeing that Roger's salary should be twelve hundred a year.
Henry Addington was the third in their party.. He was a tall well-favoured man with charming manners and had been at Lincoln's Inn when Pitt was practising as a barrister there. It was Pitt who had drawn him into politics and had used his influence to get him elected as Speaker of the House in '89; but at this first meeting Roger thought him so modest and unambitious that he would have been greatly surprised had he been granted a glimpse of the future and from it learned that his new acquaintance was to become Prime Minister.