Dark Rosaleen by OBE Michael Nicholson Read Free Book Online Page B

spending too much of his money. How can we be active if he’s reined in our budget? He’s now threatening to end this entire thing next year, close us up and have us go home. We’ve hardly arrived and they’re still hungry out there. The man has no heart. He should come and see for himself.’
    ‘And of Kathryn, sir?’ Martineau asked.
    ‘What? Yes! Do it. She’ll help soothe me.’
    Martineau bowed his head. ‘Just one small thing, Sir William. It might be best if you make no mention of my part in this. She may consider it too patronising and young people are so sensitive. I suggest the initiative is entirely yours.’
    Sir William did not think it important but he nodded. ‘Of course. But before you go, Martineau, tell me, what news of Captain Shelley? Has he been seen again?’
    ‘No, sir. Not since that report from Killarney. But we will find him. He cannot hide for long and he is no use to himself or others unless he is making mischief in the open.’
    ‘God knows what we’ll do when we catch him. I’d shoot him myself. Damn the man, his treachery and his double-dealing. A British officer and supposedly a gentleman. And eating at my table!’
    ‘Be patient, Sir William. Just a while longer. Then you’ll see. We will draw him out.’
    ‘The man’s a fool, Martineau. They say he burnt his uniform but kept his army boots. What do you make of that?’
    ‘Let us not underestimate him. Remember it is a wise caution to fear the man who has nothing to lose.’ He bowed once more and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

    There was no one moment when Kate and Moran declared themselves allies. No formal pact, no secret signals. He would hear of things happening as far north as Sligo and Monaghan or as far west as Tralee and she would know that Shelley was still alive. For a month now she had been working with her father, copying and filing instructions to his agents, redrafting his hastily written letters, correcting his grammar. She found it no more and no less interesting than reading Trollope in the library, but she was now intimate with confidential information and there was little that happened within the Commission she was not aware of. Shelley had asked her to be his conspirator and now she was perfectly placed. She would be careful not to appear too interested, too diligent, and remember to heed his warning, that not all around her was quite what it seemed.
    Dr Martineau had finally decided on a way to rid himself of Shelley without the risk of incriminating himself. He had chosen the place and the method of his execution. Droplets of information would be fed to Kate and she would, he knew, pass these on to Shelley. Early in March, he set his trap and waited.
    A mixed cargo of flour sent by the Quakers and barrels of ship’s biscuits, sent from the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, had recently arrived in Cork and was due to be sent south to Skibbereen. Martineau ordered it instead to be trans-shipped to the small port of Kinvara in Galway Bay. There it would be stored in the Commission’s newly built depot for later distribution. A platoon of well-armed Fusiliers would be aboard the ship en route and once the cargo was unloaded and their officer was satisfied it was safely stored in the depot under lock and key, they were to return to their barracks.
    Some members of the Commission questioned whether it was prudent to leave so many tons of food unguarded, but Martineau reminded them that the military were better employed elsewhere. It was wiser, he said, to have them in their garrison ready for any emergency than to have them grow fat and lazy guarding food stocks. He assured them that the depot was secure, built of brick, well roofed and with strong doors. Few ever questioned his judgement. They knew him to be profoundly efficient, a man who planned everything to the very last detail. So they agreed that the troops should do as Martineau had recommended and he was pleased.

    It was the