For the best part of another two hours they sat on there drinking good French cognac and listening to the strange, haunting melodies of the negro singers. Then, when Penruddock suggested that perhaps. the time had come to make a move, Roger said:
"Yes, Colonel; and all my thanks are due to you for a delightful evening. However, I trust that you will forgive me for marring a social occasion by attending to one small piece of business before we leave. Strictly speaking, we should have here for it a corporal and two men; but I have little doubt that we can manage it between us, and find a room for one extra passenger in our coach. Would you be good enough to send for Madame Belinda."
A few minutes later Lucette, handsome as ever, and all smiles, arrived at their table and said: "You sent for me, Messieurs; but I have guessed already what you want I have six lovely girls reserved for you and they await your pleasure upstairs."
By way of answer Roger turned to his A.D.C. and, gesturing towards her, said: "Captain Cowdray, oblige me by arresting this woman. Tomorrow morning I intend to charge her with piracy and murder."
But the following morning Roger was no longer in St Pierre; and he never charged Lucette. Less than twenty hours later he was at sea, on his way back to England.
chapter XVII
IN THE TOILS ONCE MORE
Roger had undressed and was just about to get into bed when Colonel Penruddock, wearing a tasselled night-cap and chamber-robe, came into his room with a despatch. It had arrived in a sloop-of-war that had docked at Fort Royal that evening and been brought on by galloper. Having broken the seals Roger saw that it contained only a few lines; but they were in Mr. Pitt's own hand and read:
My need of you is immediate, I have no wish to deprive you of your governorship; but desire that you should appoint someone to act for you in your absence, and return to England at the earliest possible moment.
There was no alternative to regarding the message as a command; so Roger at once set about making preparations for his voyage. Sitting down at a writing-table he scribbled an order empowering the Captain of the sloop to have his vessel reprovisioned as a matter of urgency; then he asked Penruddock to send the galloper to Fort Royal with it and to have horses saddled, including one for himself.
By four o'clock in the morning they reached the summer Residence. Poor Amanda was roused by Rogers kiss only to learn of this bolt from the blue which meant for them another separation of uncertain duration; then she got up to see that Dan included everything that Roger might need in his baggage. He had already decided to make Penruddock acting-governor, so took the Colonel to his study and spent two hours advising him on the civil administration of the island. When they had breakfasted Roger had a talk with Mr. Beckwith about his financial affairs; then they all drove in to Fort Royal, arriving there in time to snatch a siesta during the hottest hours of the day.
On rousing from it Roger learned that a Lieutenant Tasker, R.N., who commanded the sloop, was waiting to report to him. The lieutenant proved to be a squat young man with a pugnacious face, but a merry twinkle in his eye. He said that acting on the Prime Minister's instructions he had spared no effort to make a swift passage, and that by cutting out a call at Madeira he had achieved a near record, having made the crossing in twenty-six days. He added that in another three hours his ship should be ready to put to sea again.
Roger invited him to dinner; then, after the meal, accompanied by Amanda, Clarissa, Cousin Margaret and several members of his staff, they drove down to the harbour. Dan already had the luggage aboard, the last sad farewells were said, and as the brief twilight fell the sloop started on her homeward voyage.
Over dinner Roger had learned from Lieutenant Tasker the latest news about the state of things in Europe. The war generally was still going badly for the Allies, but there had been a new development upon which high hopes were now pinned. On June the 17th a considerable expedition had set sail from Portsmouth with the object of invading Lower Brittany. On the 22nd a French fleet under Villaret-Joyeuse had been defeated, and on the 27th the invading force had been safely landed on the promontory of Quiberon.
To use British sea-power as a means of striking right at the heart of the Republic in mis way was a policy which Roger had been advocating since the spring of '93. It was men that the first Royalist risings had taken place in the Vendee, and he had argued with good sense that if the fanatically religious peasant bands could be supported by disciplined British troops, it might well be possible to launch a drive on Paris which would bring about the downfall of the Terrorist government.
That such a campaign might still pay a good dividend seemed to Roger probable; although he felt that postponing it for so long had robbed it of much of its original promise, as many thousands of the Vendeeans had since given their lives to no purpose and, recently, on being offered freedom of worship, the survivors had made peace with the Republicans.
The expedition's prospects of success were suddenly reduced from fair to highly dubious m Roger's mind that night, when in a later talk with Tasker he learnt that it was not composed of British troops. It consisted only of several regiments of French volunteers, raised in England from the Royalist refugees, supported by a force of regulars which had been detached for this purpose from the Prince de Condi's army of emigres on the Rhine.
Knowing the habits and mentality of the French nobility, Roger could well imagine how such an army would be conducted. Pedigree would have been given preference over ability in selecting the commanders of its units; and, as every Frenchman of gentle birth would insist on his right to a commission, officers would far outnumber other ranks. This topsy-turviness would be further aggravated by endless time-wasting due to the strict observance of forms and ceremonies inherited from the ancien regime. At every Council-of-war held by its leaders some out of stupidity, and others from jealousy, would oppose the proposals of the professional soldiers; with the result that before their support for any plan had been won by a series of dubious intrigues, the best opportunities would be lost There was little doubt that when it came to actual engagements these Royalists would fight with great gallantry; but that alone could give them little prospect of defeating any of the young Republican generals who had recently been gaining so many successes owing to their new and vigorous methods of waging war.
That, at least was how Roger saw it; and the news that the expedition was entirely French greatly increased his concern for his own immediate future; as on learning of the landing at Quiberon he had at once jumped to the conclusion that it was on account of it that Mr. Pitt had sent for him. The assumption was a very reasonable one, for his wide knowledge of everything to do with the Revolution would make him invaluable if attached as a sort of Représentant en Mission to the General commanding the invading army; not of course, with the almost unlimited powers he had wielded when with Dumouriez, but to interrogate important prisoners, assess the abilities of enemy generals and advise on a score of different problems. Much as he resented being recalled from Martinique he would have found such a post at a British Headquarters congenial, but the thought of the frustrations to which he would be subject in endeavouring to persuade a crowd of arrogant selfish, pig-headed French nobles to do the sensible thing, and do it swiftly, filled him with dismay.
The sloop, for her homeward run, took a course which carried her many hundreds of miles away from the track of her outward passage.