Man Of War

‘I’m afraid matters appear to have taken a turn for the worse, Hervey. I saw the depositions yesterday which the Sixtieth’s commanding officer and the superintendent of the mills have made: Lauderdale from the adjutant-general’s office let me have sight of them, at some risk to himself I might add, and I fear they may be construed as suggesting you acted hastily.’

‘Hastily?’ Hervey looked at him in utter disbelief. ‘When there were riflemen firing as if it were . . . ?’ He shook his head. ‘No, I shall not go down that road. There’s no blame to be attached to that corps, any more than to mine.’

Howard raised his eyebrows. ‘I should not be too reluctant to defend yourself were I you. There may be – how can I put it? – some predisposition on the part of others, in and out of uniform, to lay the blame on men on horses.’

‘Oh, great God! Silly, petty jealousies . . .’

‘No doubt they play their part. It is enough to wear a pelisse and carry a sabre to enrage some. The trouble is, since the Peter’s Fields affair—’

‘Spare me, Howard. The home secretary wanted resolute action at Waltham Abbey, and now he appears to be shrinking from it on account of . . . what? Not on any humane principle, as far as I can see, but over a rotten borough in Sherwood Forest!’

‘Something of a simplification—’

‘And why, might I add, was “Peterloo” so wretched an affair? Because the butchers and bakers of the Manchester Yeomanry were called on, rather than regular troops. How so? Because there were not enough regulars, because the selfsame parliament that howled so much then, and continues to, has disbanded so many regiments of cavalry since Waterloo. Indeed, three more since the Peter’s Fields affair!’

Lord John Howard smiled ruefully. ‘My dear friend, your vehemence – I may say eloquence – is wasted on me, as well you should know. You will have many supporters in parliament if the inquiry goes ill: that much I may say with certainty. I think you might count on the prime minister himself for one!’

Hervey looked suddenly less sure. ‘You think it will become such a business – taken up in parliament?’

Howard shrugged. ‘That may have been Lord Palmerston’s very design in demanding an inquiry of the Horse Guards. Let me put it this way: there’s such suspicion of the Duke of Wellington in some quarters, his turning coat and favouring the Catholics on Emancipation – the Test and Corporation Acts will be voted tomorrow – and on Reform, too, and the Corn Laws. Anything that might serve as a whipping board.’

Hervey groaned. ‘I had rather thought Palmerston could not be a mover in such a thing – so many years at the War Office and all.’

‘He is by no means the only uneasy bedfellow in the duke’s cabinet, though it is true that it was he who pressed for the inquiry. He is a most diligent Secretary at War, of that there is no doubt.’ Howard raised his eyebrows again, and the rueful smile returned. ‘But, Hervey, he is first and foremost a politician!’

Hervey bridled. His friend had been too long in the proximity of placemen: how dare he sport so! ‘I think I am better out of this viperous nest.’ He rose.

Howard, cut to the quick, angered at what he perceived was his friend’s growing inclination to see insult and injury where none was intended. ‘Hervey, if you will permit me to say so, your attitude is offensive. Do not presume that your distinguished service gives you licence to sneer at this place.’ By which he also meant at himself.

Hervey hovered between defiance and remorse. He took three steps towards the door before turning. He sighed and shook his head.

But his friend spared him the discomfort of an explanation, or even apology. ‘My dear Hervey, if my manner led you to believe I did not – that any here did not – regard your conduct at Waltham as admirable in the extreme, then I am at fault and I am sorry of it. Bear up, my friend. If the worst comes to the worst there will be idle speculation in the press; but what harm can that do when the commander-in-chief himself is so strongly disposed towards you?’

Hervey felt like saying that he had his aged parents to think of, which was true, although it did not very greatly exercise him, for they were stalwart enough, even if his mother was somewhat inclined to the vapours; but what was more true was that he could not be at all sure how it would go with Kezia, and her father. Until the banns were read . . .

Lord John Howard now sought to change the subject to something more palatable. ‘Why did not you tell me that your sister was coming up? I saw her name yesterday on the levee list for the King’s Germans!’

Next morning, Hervey received a letter from Kat asking him to call at Holland Park that afternoon. She was to dine at Apsley House, and she had ‘information that will be of the greatest reassurance to you’.

He arrived at three, and was admitted at once to Kat’s sitting room. They kissed, on the lips, though briefly, and sat down cosily together in a fauteuil by the French doors to her little, private rose garden.