Starting at ninety degrees to it she headed due north, and after ten days' sailing reached the cooler latitudes off Bermuda. There, she picked up the South-West Trades which would take her north of the Azores and direct to England.
Among the personal possessions that Roger had been compelled to leave behind in the Circe were his artist's materials; but he had since bought others in Fort Royal, and in the past few months had occasionally found time to do a little painting. Now, as Amanda had made sure that his paints and brushes were packed, he was able during these long days of leisure to indulge freely in his hobby as an alternative to reading.
Apart from two days of squalls as they were approaching the entrance to the Channel, the weather proved favourable; and although Lieutenant Tasker was unable to repeat his fine performance on the outward point, his fast little vessel accomplished the passage in thirty-one days. Late in the evening of September the 19th she docked at Southampton, and Roger and Dan at once went ashore. By ten o'clock they were leaving the town in a post-chaise hired to drive them through the night to London.
At a little before six in the morning the post-chaise set Roger down outside No. 10 Downing Street. Having sent Dan on with the luggage to the Marquis of Amesbury's great mansion in Arlington Street, where, as a son of the house. Droopy Ned lived when in London and a room was always at Roger s disposal, he rang the bell.
It was answered by a night porter who informed him that the Prime Minister was in residence there, but was not normally called until seven. Roger then said he would wait, and shortly afterwards the ground floor became a bustle of servants preparing the rooms for the day. The steward came on the scene and, recognizing Roger, ordered a footman to bring him a tray. The hot chocolate, crisp new rolls, cold York ham, and fruit upon it were most welcome after his night on the road, and he had not long finished eating when he was summoned to the presence.
The Prime Minister was in his dressing-room, lying back in a tilted chair being shaved by his valet; so he did not see Roger enter, but, as the footman announced him, called out:
"Come in, Mr. Brook. You are most welcome; and the more so as I had counted your arrival unlikely for another fortnight at the least"
"Thank you, Sir. That I am here so soon you owe to Lieutenant Tasker's having spared no effort to carry out your instructions. He had his sloop ready to leave Martinique within twenty-four hours of her arrival, and made two near-record trips." As Roger spoke he walked over to the window so that he could face his master.
"I'll note the name and see that he is commended for his diligence," Mr. Pitt murmured. Then, when the valet had wiped the remains of the soap from his face, he sat up. As his glance fell on Roger he exclaimed:
"Devil take me! Had I met you in the street I doubt if I would have known you." Roger smiled. "Shaving in a choppy sea can be a plaguey tricky business; so as there were no ladies aboard I decided to let me beard grow. After five weeks it needs the skilled hand of a barber to remove it; but seeing the urgency of your summons I felt it my duty to wait upon you immediately I reached London, rather than to hang about waiting for the shops to open."
"And you did rightly. I'll tell you what I have in mind while we breakfast."
"Your steward has already stilled my cravings in that direction, Sir; but I shall be happy to attend you while you eat yours."
A few minutes later Mr. Pitt moved over to a small table where breakfast had been laid for him. As he sat down and the valet left the room, Roger said:
"I take it that you sent for me because you wish me to act as political adviser to the General commanding the Royalist Army that landed on the western coast of France?"
The Prime Minister gave a bitter laugh. "The Royalist Army! Did you not know, man, that it no longer exists. The expedition was a complete and utter failure."
"That is indeed bad news. I knew nothing of it apart from what Tasker told me of our having in June defeated the French Fleet and a few days later landed the expedition successfully. I'll confess, though, that I had some doubts about its making a swift penetration of the country, as the stroke must have lost much through having been delayed until after the Vendeeans had entered into an accommodation with the enemy."
"'Twas not that which caused its failure. The terms of the pact entitled the Vendeeans to retain their arms, and a large part of them had even remained embodied as militia. The Republicans infringed the terms of the treaty by arresting certain Vendeean officers; so they had ample pretext for denouncing it. The Chouan leaders Stofflet and Cadoudal both did so, and thousands of peasants flocked to their banners, only a few weeks later to be killed or captured."
Roger sadly shook his head. "Alas for those poor gallant country people! They had already suffered so much in the Royalist cause, and appealed so long for help in vain. To have their hopes raised at last then meet such an end must have been doubly bitter. Was it then divided councils, and petty jealousies among the French nobility who went upon the expedition, that led to this sad fiasco?"
"You have said it, Mr. Brook." The Prime Minister dealt with the piece of beefsteak on his fork, then went on: "His Majesty has always distrusted the French aristocracy, so opposed the project and showed his acumen by predicting the manner in which it was brought to ruin; whereas I was fool enough to allow myself to be persuaded to it by Mr. Windham and the Comte de Puisaye. The former has long made himself the champion of those who hope for a restoration in France, and since his appointment as Secretary of State for War had never ceased to press the Cabinet to sponsor a landing in Brittany. Then de Puisaye arrived here last winter and encouraged us to believe that he could raise the whole of Brittany again, would we but give him arms, money and a token force to form a rallying point."
Between mouthfuls of his steak, Mr. Pitt continued gloomily to relate a tale of incompetence and disaster.
"We set about raising eight French regiments. Gentlemen by the hundred offered themselves for commissions, but there was a sad dearth of volunteers willing to join as privates. De Puisaye then urged us to offer French prisoners-of-war their freedom if they would serve in the ranks of the Monarchist Army. We did so and recruited satisfactory numbers, though I fear that many of these turncoats had experienced no true change of heart, and seized upon the offer only as a means of getting back to France.
"Soon after the expedition had sailed my lord Bridport dealt a sharp blow at the enemy fleet by capturing three sail-of-the-line and bottling the remainder of the squadron up in L Orient. Commodore Sir John Warren then had a free hand to disembark the Royalist troops from their transports. Throughout he stood by them, showing great initiative in using the guns of his ships to support their operations as far as that was possible, and later he took off some eighteen hundred of the survivors; but it was entirely beyond his powers to prevent the debacle which engulfed the majority.
"As you can imagine, my enemies seized upon the disaster as good ammunition for a new attempt to blacken the Government, and particularly myself, with the people. They said we could not have failed to realize that an expedition entirely composed of volunteers must end in failure, and that our not having sent with it a force of British regulars was proof of our criminal intention—namely, that we had planned to rid ourselves in this manner of the imigris who had plagued us for so long.
"Charles Fox surpassed himself in unscrupulous vindictiveness and, for once, abandoning his championship of the Republicans to accuse Ministers of 'having deliberately sent noble gentlemen to be massacred'; and Sheridan with eager spite declared that 'though British blood had not flowed at Quiberon, yet British honour had bled at every pore'— a phrase that ran round England."