Hornblower found it hard to decide whether Claudius was gambling or not, staking a week of life which might well be dear to him against the possibility of pardon. But in either case he could not help feeling a guilty twinge of admiration for the ugly little man, alone and helpless, fighting his last battle and refusing to lapse into a mere plea for mercy — especially when that, addressed to Marsden, would have been the least effective plea of all. Then Marsden spoke.
“You will not hang,” he said.
Ever since Claudius had been brought in the sky had been darkening. After a few days of sunny summer weather the inevitable thunderstorm of the Thames valley was building up and there was a low rumble of thunder following Marsden’s words. Hornblower was reminded of the thunder in the Iliad which confirmed the oath taken by Zeus.
Claudius darted a piercing glance at Marsden.
“Then we are agreed and I shall give you all the benefit of my experience,” he said.
Hornblower felt another spurt of admiration; the little man had been content with the four simple words spoken by Marsden — he had not gone through any ceremony of exacting a formal promise; as a gentleman he had instantly accepted a gentleman’s word. He may even have been encouraged by the peal of confirmatory thunder.
“Very well,” said Marsden, and Claudius plunged into his subject. Only a slight gulping and hesitation as he began betrayed the agonizing strain he had been through.
“It is necessary first,” he said, “to point out that ambition may outreach itself. It is quite impossible to forge a long document in the handwriting of another and to achieve deception. I take it you have in mind a letter and not a mere few words? Then it would be better to make no attempt at exact reproduction. On the other hand carelessness would easily be fatal. This script, as I said, is the standard script used by French clerks — I fancy it is the one which used to be taught in Jesuit schools. There are French refugees in plenty. Have one of those write your letter.”
“That’s very true, sir,” said Dorsey to Marsden.
“And again,” went on Claudius, “have your French composed by a Frenchman. You gentlemen may pride yourselves on writing good French, grammatical French, but a Frenchman reading it would know it was not written by a Frenchman. I’ll go further than that, gentlemen. Give a Frenchman a passage in English and tell him to render it into French and a Frenchman will still be aware that all is not well when he reads it. You must have your French composed ab initio by Frenchmen, contenting yourselves with merely outlining what is to be said.”
Hornblower caught Marsden nodding agreement. It was apparent that he was impressed, however little he wished to appear so.
“Now, gentlemen,” went on Claudius. “With regard to details of a lower degree of sensibility. I take it you have in mind to send your forged letter to a naval, or possibly a military, man? In that case the task can be approached with more confidence. Business men, soulless bankers, hard headed merchants, with something more important to lose than other men’s lives, are likely to scrutinize documents more closely. But on the staff of a general there may always be some interfering underling wishing to call attention to himself. It is necessary to be quite perfect. This signature I am confident I can reproduce in perfection. This ink — I believe it can be matched in Chancery Lane; it will be necessary to make complete tests. This printed heading — you will need to have type specially cast in exact imitation. You will have less trouble in that respect than I encountered.”
“Yes,” said Marsden, actually betrayed into speech.
“But the paper—” went on Claudius, feeling its texture carefully with stubby but apparently sensitive fingers. “I will have to instruct you where to search for that, too. Would you be so kind, sir, as to hold the sheet up between my eyes and the light? This chain restricts my movements to an inconvenient degree. Thank you, sir. Yes, as I thought. I know that quality of linen, but there is a fortunate absence of watermark. It may not be necessary to have paper made de novo to match it. You may not appreciate the necessity for uniformity, gentlemen, unless you make use of your imagination. A single document may well be accepted, but you must think of a series. After receiving, let us say, six genuine documents, someone receives one spurious one. The recipent naturally lays them together in the course of the routine of his office. If one is markedly different from all the others — even if one is different in only a small degree — attention is clamorously called to it. Hinc illae lachrymae. And if that one has a content somewhat unusual — even though in other circumstances it might have passed — then the fat is in the fire, and Bow Street is called in. Et ego in arcadia vixi, gentlemen.”
“Most illuminating,” said Marsden, and Hornblower knew enough about him now to realize that this was the equivalent of a long speech in praise.
“Now I come to ‘lastly’ in my present sermon, gentlemen,” said Claudius as the lightning flashed again and the thunder rolled. “Even in the pulpit I could feel the relief in my congregation at that word ‘lastly’, so I will be brief. The method of delivery must conform to the method of all the other deliveries. Once again, the greatest care is necessary in allowing nothing to call particular attention to this one item out of all the others.”
Claudius when he had entered the room had been of a sickly pallor under the bristling beard, and he was whiter still when he finished his lecture.
“Perhaps, gentlemen, you would permit me to sit down?” he said. “I have not now the strength of which I used once to boast.”
“Take him out, Dorsey,” snapped Marsden. “Give him a glass of wine. I dare say he’s hungry, too.”
It may have been at the thought of food that Claudius recovered something of his unabashed selfassertion.
“A beefsteak, gentlemen?” he said. “Might I hope for a beefsteak? For the past week empty dreams of a beefsteak have further embittered my nightmares of the rope.”
“See that he has a beefsteak, Dorsey,” said Marsden.
Claudius turned back, still wavering a little, but with something of a smile just visible on his bristly lips.
“In that case, gentlemen, you can count on my heartiest exertions for my King, my Country, and my Self.”
With the departure of Dorsey and Claudius, Marsden turned to face Hornblower again. The room was almost dark, at high noon, with the black thunder clouds overhead. A sudden lightning flash filled the room instantly followed by a clap of thunder, like a vast cannon shot, coming without warning and ending without reverberation.
“His Lordship,” said Marsden in complete disregard of it, “has already approved in principle of the attempt being made. I consulted him this morning. Mr. Barrow, I am sure, has in mind the French émigrés to attend to the composition and writing of the dispatch.”
“I have, Mr. Marsden,” said Barrow.
“It will be necessary to recapture the style, of course, sir,” said Hornblower.
“Undoubtedly, Captain,” agreed Barrow.
“And the orders must be such that there is nothing patently impossible about them, too.”
Marsden intervened.
“Did your grandmother never learn to suck eggs, Captain?” he asked, in the same unvarying tone. It was a deft reminder that the Secretaries had had years of experience in the writing of orders, and Hornblower had the sense to smile.
“I had forgotten how much practice she has had,” he said. “I beg your pardon, gentlemen. I was only anxious about the success of the plan.”
Now the thunderstorm had burst. A breath of cooler air came stealing into the room, bearing with it the sound of torrential rain roaring down outside. Through the windows there was nothing to be seen but the rain.