‘Yes, your grace,’ Arthur replied at once. ‘It would be an honour to serve you.’
‘Chief Secretary?’ Kitty’s eyebrows rose as she held the baby to her shoulder and rubbed his back gently. Little Arthur had wind and duly obliged with a faint burp. ‘That’s quite a step up, isn’t it?’
‘To be sure.’ Arthur held his arms out. ‘May I hold him?’
Kitty smiled as she handed the infant over and returned to her seat by the fire as her husband held his son in the crook of his arm and began to sway in what he assumed was a comforting motion. As he smiled down at the tiny face Arthur continued, ‘It’s a fine preparation for high office here in London, and it carries a salary of six and a half thousand pounds.’
‘Goodness!’
‘I thought that would please you, my dear. Now even that brother of yours might cease to look down his nose at me.’
‘Oh, I’m sure that it won’t be too long before the positions are reversed.’
Arthur recalled the years before India, when Kitty’s brother had been adamant that she could not marry a man with as few prospects as Arthur. The memory was like an open sore and he said quietly, ‘I wish I could say that the thought does not appeal to me.’
Kitty ignored the comment. ‘We are to move to Dublin, then?’
‘Yes, my dear.’
‘When?’
‘As soon as I am confirmed in office. By the end of April at the latest.’
Kitty sighed. ‘It does not seem so long ago that we moved in here. I imagine it would be nice to feel settled into a home.’
‘That day will come, Kitty. For now we are off to Dublin. I will keep this house on as I will need accommodation in London when I am here on parliamentary business.’
‘Oh.’ She looked at him reproachfully.‘Are you to be away from me, from us, often?’
‘Quite often,’ Arthur replied lightly, ‘but not for long. Be thankful I have been given a civil post, and not some military command in some godforsaken corner of the Caribbean.Then you would not see me from one year to the next.’
‘I should hate that.’
‘Well, it is not going to happen, my dear. Not now, at least.’ Arthur laid his son down in the crib.The infant was fast asleep and lay still and silent.Arthur stared at him fondly for a moment and then took his wife’s hand.‘Kitty, I am certain that this is a fine opportunity for me. Provided I perform sterling service for the Duke of Richmond, then I can surely make a name for myself. Something I can be proud of.’
‘I am already proud of you, Arthur.’
He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. ‘Thank you.’
Arthur drew his head back and stared at her for a moment.Though she still seemed thin and wan he caught an echo of the young Kitty he had known in Ireland many years before and his heart quickened at the thought.
Kitty frowned at his intense expression, then asked tremulously, ‘Arthur, what is it, dear?’
He smiled. ‘Tell the nursemaid to take the boy to his room. I think we should have an early night.’
There was a flash of anxiety in Kitty’s eyes and she bit her lip before replying. ‘Very well, my dearest. But please, be gentle with me. I am still not fully recovered from childbirth.’
‘Of course, my dear. I will be as gentle as I can.’
Chapter 28
Dublin, April 1807
The new Chief Secretary and his small family moved into his official residence in Phoenix Park and while Kitty arranged to take on staff, and set up accounts with suppliers of wines and fine foods in the city,Arthur set to work at once. The parliamentary elections were being held, with the usual excitement, and not a little violence. In Wexford the Tory candidate had challenged his Whig opponent to a duel and shot him dead. It was not appropriate that so disputatious a politician should be allowed to sit in the Commons, and he was duly persuaded by Arthur to step aside for another candidate less disposed to settling political differences with firearms.
On his first day in his new appointment Arthur was introduced to his staff by the senior clerk, an elderly Dubliner named Thomas Stoper. Once Arthur had been escorted down the line of officials, failing to take in more than a handful of names and faces, Stoper showed the new Chief Secretary to his office, a large, panelled room with windows overlooking the courtyard. Arthur’s attention was drawn to a pile of letters lying in a wooden tray on one side of the desk.
‘What’s all that?’
Stoper’s gaze flicked briefly to the letters. ‘They were delivered this morning, sir.’
‘Good God, all of them?’
‘Yes, sir. It is not unusual for the first morning of a new appointment. ’
‘Not unusual?’ Arthur frowned. ‘Then be so good as to tell me what reason could possibly prompt so many letters.’
‘That’s easy enough, sir. I’ll warrant that they are nearly all from people requesting appointments for themselves, or for friends and family.’
‘Well, they can damn well wait then,’ Arthur growled as he took his seat behind the desk and gestured to the chair opposite.‘Please sit down, Stoper.’
The senior clerk arched an eyebrow in brief surprise and then did as he was bid, settling stiffly as he met Arthur’s gaze, his grey eyes steely in his thin face with its pinched cheeks.
‘Now then, Stoper,’ Arthur began briskly. ‘My first duty is to see to the appointments that are in my purview. It is the will of the Lord Lieutenant that the best men are found for the job.That is to be given priority over patronage for its own sake.’
‘Indeed, Sir Arthur?’ Stoper smiled faintly. ‘That would make a most welcome change. If it could be put into effect.’
‘And why should it not be put into effect?’
Stoper eyed his superior closely for a moment before he replied. ‘Forgive me, sir, but it is not the first time that I have heard of such an intention, and, laudable as it is, such an ideal does not long outlive its utterance. Forgive me for being blunt, sir.’
‘You disapprove?’
‘It is not my place to approve or disapprove of such affairs, sir. I merely wish to point out to you that his grace’s intention of appointing on the basis of ability may not translate so easily into reality. I follow the affairs of the London Parliament closely, sir, and I know how finely things are balanced between the various political factions. Every favour counts, and the political capital conferred on a post such as Lord Lieutenant is not to be squandered recklessly. Any more than is the case with your position, sir. It follows that whatever his grace may intend, the reality is that patronage will be exercised according to political expediency rather than the requirements for the offices concerned.’