"Calvi was then the only stronghold left to the French, and it justified the term, as its situation made it appear even more impregnable than Bastia. By then General D'Aubant had been replaced by General the Honourable Charles Stuart, who proved of a far finer mettle; but he was sadly handicapped by great numbers of his troops going down with fever; so once again it fell to Captain Nelson and his gallant men to haul the guns up to the heights. It was there, too, that he had the great misfortune to be struck in the face by stones thrown up on the bursting of a shell, and 'tis feared he will lose the sight of an eye. Yet so fine a man is he that he refused to go sick even for a day, and saw the business through to the end. It was near two months of bitter conflict before the job was done, but on August the 10th the garrison marched out; and Sir Gilbert Elliot, who had given great help and encouragement in every operation, formally took possession of the island in the name of His Majesty."
"It was Sir Gilbert's younger brother, Hugh, who played so fine a part in helping King Gustavus out of his difficulties while I was in Sweden," Roger remarked; but Amanda forestalled the possibility of his beginning to reminisce by asking for further particulars about the Corsican campaign.
The Admiral responded, and, before they collected their candles to go up to bed, had drawn a fair picture for them of the patriot leader Paoli; of his barbarous Corsican partisans, who had been of little assistance but, like human vultures, had plundered the French and British dead mdiscriminately; of what they termed the 'Lion' sun, which in summer made campaigning there more arduous than in Africa; of the fantastic crags, the great chestnut forests, and the off-shore marshes from which came the fevers that had decimated the British troops; and of the amazing devotion to duty displayed by the English jack-tars, although a high proportion of them had been brought in by the press-gangs.
He also spoke with considerable uneasiness of his recent enquiry into complaints from the lower deck, and felt there was good cause for them. Hardened as he was himself from many years of sea service to living in great discomfort, he regarded the conditions of the ordinary seamen as appalling, and the fact that men maimed in the King's service should be turned off without pensions to beg their bread for the rest of their lives angered him extremely. That their Lordships of the Admiralty should show little inclination to better matters he thought both reprehensible and short-sighted; for he feared, and as it transpired correctly, that unless reasonable reforms were soon instituted the seamen might be goaded into open mutiny.
The five days that Roger and Amanda spent at 'Grove' went all too quickly. It was the shortest visit they had ever paid, but the many arrangements they still had to make necessitated their hurrying back to Richmond. Dan, and Amanda's personal maid, little sloe-eyed Nell, were going with them; but their cook's husband was a respectable man employed in a local livery stable, so it was decided that he should move in and the couple be left in charge.
As a Governor's wife, Amanda felt that she ought to take out some young woman who could help her with her social duties and act as her companion; and for this they had selected her young .cousin, Clarissa Marsham. Clarissa was eighteen and an orphan. Since she lived in very straitened circumstances with a great aunt whose main preoccupation was the salvation of her soul, she had jumped at this chance to go out into the world as an unofficial lady-m-waiting, and was already at Richmond helping with the packing up of the more valuable contents of the house.
Previously Roger had met Clarissa only as a gawky, pop-eyed, high-nosed young bridesmaid at his wedding, to attend which she had temporarily been excused from attendance at an academy for young ladies; but on seeing her again he fully approved his wife's choice. In the past four years Clarissa's figure had filled out to perfection and her features had assumed most pleasing proportions. Her bright blue eyes no longer looked like pebbles and now held a merry glint, while the arch of her nose gave her face a provocative arrogance which was happily tempered by her anxiety to please. Pale gold hair and a milk-and-roses complexion added to her attractions ; and Roger found himself parting quite cheerfully with a hundred guineas to provide her with clothes to take out although he had originally intended to give her only fifty.
During the latter part of September the whole household was in a turmoil, with dressmakers coming and going; plate, china, linen, books and the many other articles that might not be easy to procure being packed; boxes and bales being corded; insurance schedules being checked; and arrangements being made on behalf of the couple who were to caretake in the house for what was expected to prove a period of several years.
At last, on the 27th, the travellers set out; but only to London where they spent the night at the St. Ermins's town house in Berkeley Square. Then on the 28th the whole party, which in addition to Georgina and Charles included her maid Jenny, his man Tom, and their French chef—who rejoiced in the name of Monsieur Pirouet— left London for Bristol in four heavily loaded coaches. By evening they reached Newbury and lay that night at the White Hart Inn. Next day they covered a somewhat shorter stage, arriving in the afternoon at Normanrood in Wiltshire, the seat of Droopy Ned's father, the Marquis of Ames bury; as Droopy was in residence and had asked them to break their journey there.
The Lord Edward was considered a most eccentric fellow by the county; not so much on account of his hobbies, which were collecting antique jewellery, the study of ancient religions, and experimenting on himself with Eastern drugs, but because he abhorred blood sports. He was, however, a very keen fisherman and it was the reaches of the River Avon, which ran through his father's estate, that lured him to the country for a few weeks every spring, and a passion for eating mulberries fresh off the ancient trees that brought him to Normanrood again each September. Yet even there he continued to dress as fastidiously as ever; and when he minced out beneath the portico of the great mansion to receive his guests he was satin-clad, scented and curled as though about to attend a rout in the Pump Room at Bath.
After a merry evening, when they were all about to go to bed, Droopy kept Roger back and, telling him he wanted a private word with nun, took him up to his own book-lined sanctum. From a cabinet he produced a flagon of one of the rare liqueurs made in a foreign monastery, that Justerini's imported specially for him, and having filled two tall slender glasses with the amber elixir, he said:
"You know, Roger, how glad I am for you in this fine appointment, and the last thing I would wish to do is to detract from your pleasurable anticipation of it; but I would not be your true friend did I not feel some concern at your going to the West Indies."
Having now not a care in the world, and an admirable dinner inside him, Roger replied with lazy cheerfulness: "Why so, Ned? The only thing to mar my joy of it is the thought that I am likely to see even less of you for some years to come than while undertaking missions to the Continent."
Droopy shook his long forward-thrust, bird-like head. "'Tis not that I had in mind; but your health, and that of all who go with you."
Roger shrugged. "The very prospect of the change has made me feel like my old self already. As you make mention of the others though, perhaps you are thinking of the diseases that are said to afflict white people in those parts."
"I was; and of the yellow fever in particular."
"My father spoke of that. As you may remember, he was for most of the years we were at school together on the West India station; and he tells me that he lost quite a number of his ship's company by it."
"In those days it was an occasional risk encountered only when ships were in port; but you will be living permanently ashore, and I am wondering if you realize what a terrible scourge it has become?"