The Victory by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Read Free Book Online

to him. 'I didn't under stand. I didn't know. Chetwyn, I'm sorry.'
    ‘Sorry?' he said harshly.
    ‘ I didn't think you really cared about it,' she said help lessly.
    He looked at her in silence for a long time, thoughts and memories passing in swift succession through his mind. He remembered with sudden, vivid painfulness a happy time, long ago, when he and Edward and Lucy had romped together at a picnic on the bank of the Ouse; the sun glittered on the water, and there was no shadow anywhere in the world. How could they have come so far from that careless place in so short a time?
    ‘ Oh Lucy,' he said, 'you're such a child.' He walked past her to the door, and her hand faltered and dropped again to her side. 'Let me know when you have made your arrange ments,' he said, and left.

    *
    Lady Aylesbury was not at home to callers that morning. Hicks and the footman Ollett took it in turns to deny the stream of visitors and to accept the calling-cards and scrib bled notes that were left in their place. When the Captain came home at two o'clock, Hicks admitted him and replied to his query with the information that her ladyship was above, and alone.
    Weston ran up the stairs two at a time, and burst into the bedchamber with such excitement that he did not remark upon the unusual sight of Lucy lying on the daybed with a handkerchief clutched in her fingers.
    ‘ I have it! I have my ship!' he cried out, crossing to her, fling ing himself on his knees beside her and seizing her hands to kiss them. 'They have given me a frigate! And not just any frigate, my love, but the Nemesis — a thirty-six, and the fastest in the service! She sails like a dream, and everyone knows she's a lucky ship, too! She took a Spanish specie ship singlehanded in the West Indies in '98 without a life lost, and made her captain's fortune. That was Blackwell, of course — you must have heard the story.’
    He sat back on his heels, grinning with delight. 'When they said they were giving me a frigate, I thought it was going to be the poor old Java, and my heart was in my mouth, because you know she was a Dutch prize, and she sails like a haystack, apart from being so worn out she's only held together with prayers. But I heard the secretaries talking about her just before I went in, and I thought that was that. I even wondered whether they were going to give me the Java as a punishment! But the Nemesis! Any frigate-captain in the fleet would give his eye-teeth for her. And Moore was in the outer office, too. You know, Graham Moore, the general's brother. I told him when I came out that they'd given me Nemesis, and he was wild, though of course he said everything proper. But I could see he must have known she was commissioning, and with his connections he'd have made sure he would get her himself!’
    It was necessary to say something. Lucy roused herself, and if her smile was forced, Weston did not at once notice it. 'I'm so very pleased for you,' she said. 'It's an honour to be preferred over Captain Moore.'
    ‘ Well, I think it is, and do you know what, Lucy — I'm sure it was Collingwood spoke for me, to Lord St Vincent. Melville hinted as much, that someone important had my interests at heart. Isn't that like him? God bless him — he's a true friend! I am so lucky that you have such a connection.'
    ‘ I'm sure you would have done as well on your own merits,' Lucy said, and now at last Weston noticed that she was not as enthusiastic as she ought to be.
    He sat down on the edge of the daybed and took her hand, and asked gently, 'What is it, my love? Were you hoping I would get a shore appointment?'
    ‘ I'm very happy for you,' she said. 'I know you wanted a frigate.'
    ‘ Well, I did,' he admitted. 'It isn't that I want to go away from you — God knows, I have been happier this last year than ever in my life — but we've got to beat this man Buona parte. I'm a sea-officer, and it's only natural that I should want to be out there in the thick of it.