Roger smiled. "I thank you, Sir. I felt much apprehension in gambling so great a sum on Pichegru's good faith; but before I left Paris reports were coming in which seemed to indicate that he intends to earn the money. His failure to take Heidelberg can hardly have been anything but deliberate; and the possession of that city appeared to me to be the crux of the whole campaign, owing to the several communicating valleys that all converge upon it"
"Our military pundits confirm you in that; and for once the Austrians have not been slow to take advantage of an opportunity offered to them. General Jourdan's army is now dammed up behind the River Neckar, and as he is dependant on supplies from the distant Low Countries he must now either retreat or suffer defeat from his troops being weakened by starvation. Meanwhile the Austrians should be able to contain Pichegru in Mannheim; and even, perhaps, drive him out of it back across the Rhine. I would, though, that we were nearer to peace."
"I fear that as things are there is little hope of that, Sir."
"I know it" Mr. Pitt agreed unhappily. "Yet the nation needs, and is near demanding it On the 29th of last month His Majesty's coach was stoned when he was on his way to open Parliament by a mob yelling at him to make an end of the war. Such an occurrence, when he has for so long enjoyed great popularity with the masses, is indication enough of the state of public feeling."
Roger sadly shook his head. "That is indeed bad news. I only wish that I could have done better for you."
"Nay, Mr. Brook. You have done all that any man could. Were it not for you we should be in far worse case. The Austrians might have been compelled to sue for peace this winter. At least you have gained for them a breathing space until the spring; and that is much. Meanwhile it seems there is little we can do but continue to use our forces to the best advantage and hope for better times."
"You are then, Sir, agreeable to release me; so that I may return to Martinique?"
"Yes, if you wish. Though I would much prefer to have you nearer to me."
"That is hardly possible if I am to do justice to my Governorship."
"Harry Dundas tells me that you have done remarkably well there; so presumably you find such work congenial. But are you still of the opinion that a post so far from the centre of things will long content you?"
"Not indefinitely, perhaps," Roger admitted. "Yet it has great attractions for me, and for a few years I am sure I could be very happy in it"
Mr. Pitt frowned. "I wish that I could persuade you otherwise. However, should you tire of it you have only to let me know. Dundas will have no difficulty in finding a suitable man to replace you and pay you ten thousand pounds for the privilege. In the meantime I will instruct Mr. Rose to place five thousand to your credit, in recognition of the signal service you have rendered to the Allied cause."
'That is most generous, and I am deeply grateful, Sir."
'"Twould not go far in hiring foreign levies to much less purpose," smiled the Prime Minister, standing up. "Do you plan to return to Martinique at once, or first enjoy some leave in London?"
Roger, too, came to his feet. "I mean to sail by the first ship available. I have received news that my wife is due to bear a child within a week or so of Christmas. As it is our first I would fain be with her at the time. Given an early start and a good passage that should be possible."
"In that case I can aid you. A fleet with considerable reinforcements for the West Indies, under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who is to be our new Commander-in-Chief there, is due to sail next week. I will instruct the Admiralty to find you accommodation in one of the warships. Please convey my compliments and congratulations to Mrs. Brook."
Having expressed his thanks again Roger took his leave well satisfied with the results of the interview. Five thousand pounds made a handsome addition to the little fortune he had succeeded in accumulating during the past three years, and he was clearly more strongly established than ever in the good graces of his master.
On his return to England he had hoped to go down to stay for some nights at Stillwaters with Georgina, but the previous evening Droopy Ned had told him that she was taking the waters at Bath; so, unless the ship that was to carry him to Martinique sailed from Bristol, it now looked as if there was little chance of his seeing her. As a salve of sorts to his disappointment, he bought a number of expensive toys with which his godson was as yet far too young to play, men wrote a long letter to Georgina to be despatched with them.
In the evening he received a chit from the Admiralty. The Fleet was to sail from Spithead for Barbados on November the 18th, and accommodation had been found for him in the frigate Swiftsure. To go in her promised a safe and swift passage across the ocean, and there was plenty of local shipping plying between Barbados and Martinique which, given a good wind, lay only a day's sailing apart; so, little knowing what he was being let in for, he felt that nothing could have suited mm better.
The next three days he spent looking up old friends, and buying to take out with him innumerable presents for Amanda, together with a supply of beribboned baby clothes large enough to have clothed the inmates of a creche. Early on the morning of the 17th he bade farewell to Droopy Ned, drove down to Portsmouth with Dan, and that evening they went aboard H.M.S. Swiftsure.
On the Fleet's very first night at sea it was caught by a terrible tempest in the Channel and entirely dispersed. When Roger had recovered from the miseries of sea-sickness sufficiently to drag himself on deck he found that Swiftsure was well out into the Atlantic, but had lost her foremast. The jurymast rigged in its place meant a great curtailment of her normal sail so an addition of many days to her. voyage.
As she limped south-westward he could hardly contain his impatience, but fret and fume as he did that added nothing to the speed of the frigate. It was Christmas Eve when, without having sighted a single one of her late companions, she docked in Bridgetown, Barbados, and a good merchantman could have made the crossing in considerably less than the time she had taken. Within an hour of landing Roger had hired a schooner to take him on to Martinique, and it brought him into the harbour of Fort Royal soon after dawn on Boxing Day.
Leaving Dan to superintend the landing of his baggage, he went ashore at once and jumped into an ancient carriage that a sleepy negro had just driven on to the quay in the hope of picking up an early fare. He was driven up the hill to the Chateau, where, as it was now winter again, he felt sure that Amanda would be reinstalled. When he reached it the servants were just setting about their morning duties. As he ran into the spacious hall they stopped work and, taken by surprise by his unexpected appearance, stared at him for a moment as if he were a ghost.
Then a woolly-haired young footman, the whites of his eyes rolling, ran off down a passage. A dusky housemaid gave a squeak and flung her apron over her head; another negress fled upstairs, taking the steps three at a time.
Smiling at the commotion he had caused, Roger strode up the stairs after the flying housemaid, who shot round a corner on the second floor before he was half-way up the first flight. At the time he did not realize it, but she had gone to tell Madame de Kay of his arrival. As he reached the second landing a door slammed and that lady appeared in a corridor to the left. Her hair was still in curlers and about her she clutched a hastily donned dressing-gown.
With a laugh, he called to her. r'Am I in time? A cursed frigate should have got me here days ago, but we suffered every sort of delay imaginable."