The Gathering Storm (13 page)

*

Close to, Madame Maigre was even more beautiful than
James had thought when he first observed her from his
window high in the château roof. He was now aware of the
name of the house, Château de Châtaigne – after the large
forest of chestnut trees that lay on the estate. M. Félix had
not volunteered this information, nor any information.
Madame Maigre had told James herself. Their first meeting
had been formal, and brief. He had not been taken down to
meet her, in one of the grander rooms. She had come to his
room, with M. Félix and another gentleman who was not
introduced to James, but simply stood clear and waited.

'In course, he is her bodyguard,' said James to himself as
he stood and made a leg to the lady.

'Lieutenant Hayter, I am so very pleased to meet you at
last.'

'And I you, madame.'

'We will sit.' She indicated that James should again seat
himself on the narrow bed, and without her having to signal
to him the bodyguard brought her the single chair. James
waited until she was seated, and then perched himself on the
edge of the bed. A small smile said that she had noted his
good manners.

'By God, she is a beauty.' James, not aloud, but struck by
her astonishing skin, her wonderful dark eyes, her honey-dark
hair, her full, expressive lips. 'Be careful, you damn'
fool.' Silently.

'Monsieur Félix has told me that you do not yet understand
the whole of this affair, Lieutenant.'

'Indeed, madame, I do not understand any of it, to say
the truth.'

'Your people in London did not give you even the smallest
hint?'

'They did not. Madame, you know my real name, and so
I am puzzled as to why the subterfuge of a false one was
required. False name, false appearance, false profession, false
everything. Forgive my forthright language, but perhaps if
you are acquainted with French sea officers you will know
that as a race of men we are plain-spoke, and will like others
that we find in the world to be plain-spoke also, when we
are dealing with them. We are not very fond of disguise.'

Another faint smile.

'You do not find M. Félix plain-speaking?'

'But I am not dealing with M. Félix, madame – am I? I
think that I am dealing with you – am I not?'

'Dealing, Lieutenant?'

'Forgive me, madame, I meant no disrespect to you. But
I must converse with someone, I must bargain, or transact,
or come to terms – with someone. Else why am I brought
here? Why have I been obliged to come? You see?'

'Yes, I do see. And very soon you shall have what you
desire.' She rose, and James was disturbingly aware of the
curve of her bosom, of her figure altogether, in its fine sewn
silk, and her ribbon-tied hair. A waft of her scent came to
him.

'Can she be seducing me deliberate?' In his head, as he
stood up and bowed again.

The day following they had met again, downstairs in a small
oval room with a high ceiling and tall windows, simply but
pleasantly furnished. The fabric of the room was old and
faded, but had been very fine. The view was of a wide, tree-lined
garden beyond an intervening stone wall. In this room
Madame Maigre had served James coffee and cakes. His
clothes had been returned for this second occasion – his
coat, shoes, &c. – and he felt himself less a prisoner and
more the social equal of this enchanting creature, who leaned
forward to fill his cup from the tall silver pot. She seemed
slightly ill-at-ease, he thought, which gave her a charming
vulnerability.

She began by telling him very briefly the history of the
house and estate, and the family.

'Your family, madame?'

'No, not mine.' A nervous smile. 'I am here at the kind
invitation of – sympathetic people. Supporters.'

'Supporters of ... ?'

'Those who are in urgent need of your support also,
Lieutenant. Your assistance.'

'My assistance – as a silk trader? They wish me to export
bolts of cloth?' Half-facetious.

'No.' And this time her smile was absent, her beautiful
face very serious, her gaze direct. 'No, only themselves.'

'Do you mean, madame – that you wish me to take these
people out of France?'

'Yes.'

'When the ship that brought me here returns? That is your
proposal? That I take them out in a British ship of war?'

'Exact.' Her chin lifted a little.

'I see.' He did not see, but continued: 'Who are they?
Will not you tell me, madame?'

'They are in great danger.'

'Well, I do not doubt that many people feel themselves in
danger, and wish to flee. Are they aristocrats? Members of
a great trading family? Silk merchants, perhaps? I have every
sympathy, but why could not they hire their own vessel, or
even buy one?'

'Because they are watched.'

'Hm. Surely they cannot be watched so very close. I have
begun to hear of many such people in England now, that
have fled France—'

'You do not understand, Lieutenant.' A quick breath, that
swelled her bosom, and a sigh.

'I confess I do not.' Unable to prevent himself from
glancing at her breasts.

'These people are at the very heart of life in France. They
are
the heart.' The direct dark gaze.

And now James knew what she meant. At last understood,
and felt the hairs prickle at the back of his neck. He was
afloat on a dark and dangerous sea.

'I see.' Softly, a nod. 'Yes, I see.' Looking out at the quiet
garden a moment, the shading, quiet trees beyond the lichen-speckled
wall. This tranquil view contrasted with the whirl
of thoughts and anxieties in his head. Turning to meet her
gaze:

'I wonder, madame, if the king and queen wished to
escape, why they would not go to Austria, to Her Majesty's
brother ... ?'

'That has been a rumour widely circulated in Paris. The
royal family will attempt to flee to Austria. That is why they
are held at the Tuileries – so they may be watched.'

'Then if they are watched so close, how will they escape
at all?'

'It is to be managed at night. They will travel west through
the countryside under escort, as part of a military convoy.
No one will even dream that the king would come to Brittany,
and go out of France by sea. Therefore, no one will suspect
the convoy, which will carry forged warrants from Paris,
should it be stopped en route by the National Guard. It will
simply be a movement of troops and supplies to help secure
the region. You can have no notion of the upheaval and
ferment we have faced in France, Lieutenant.'

'Only what I have heard and read, madame, since the revolution.'

'Everything has become even more unpredictable and
dangerous in these last weeks. All sympathisers and supporters
are now at risk.'

'I have no reason to doubt that, but I must say to you that
there will be grave difficulties with this plan, very grave risks.'

'Everything is grave, for the royal family. It would be a
grave and terrible risk for the king to remain, and wait for
his head to be cut off.'

'The place where I was advised to come ashore is very
rugged, the boat was nearly upset, and we lost a man drowned.
Again I must say to you that no sea officer can guarantee
the safety of passengers going into a boat at that place and
proceeding to the ship – which will be obliged to remain
well outside the barrier of islets and rocks that line the coast.'

'It is a risk that must be borne, Lieutenant. The place was
chosen because it is so barren and remote, and so unlikely.
His Majesty—'

'Why does not Count Mirabeau intervene, to persuade
the more moderate—'

'Count Mirabeau is dead.'

'Dead? When?'

'In the spring. Robespierre is now in the ascendant, and
there could not be a more dangerous and vengeful man, a
man more inimical to the king.'

'I had not heard of it. I had not heard of it.' Shaking his
head. 'I was – preoccupied at that time, madame, and knew
little of the world outside.' Glancing at her. She seemed
scarcely to have heard his comment, and continued earnestly:

'All hope of moderation and conciliation died with
Mirabeau, and all of us knew it. From that moment it became
imperative that the king should escape, and plans were
prepared. It has been arranged for the end of the third week
of June – a few days from now. The party will come by
convoy from Paris. Will your ship be ready? It is arranged
for the ship to wait in place?'

'She will be ready, madame. She will stand in on the
twentieth of June, and wait for four and twenty hours. Or
as near that date as she is able, depending on the weather.'

'Depending on the weather? Are you saying ... are you
saying there is a possibility your ship will not return?' In
alarm.

'Oh, she will return, I am in no doubt. But I wish we
could have had this conversation just as soon as I came ashore,
days since. Because at sea such an arrangement will always
be contingent upon the weather, and cannot always be exact,
you understand ... however momentous the plan behind it.'

'We will manage it. It must be managed.' Resolute.

James stood up and stared out of the window a few
moments, then:

'I am obliged to ask you again, madame – for the love of
God, why was I confined? Why was I led blindfold about
the countryside for days together, and then imprisoned here?
If you wished me to undertake so important a task – I can
only assume that is why my elaborate disguise was arranged
– why did not you meet me and tell me all this at once?'

'I am very sorry for all of it, Lieutenant. I do not act alone
in this, of course. There are others involved who did not
trust you.'

'Félix?'

'M. Félix – and others. They thought – some of them still
think – that the British part of the plan could never be
anything but a trick. Why should the English help the king
of France to escape? England is our traditional enemy.'

'I have simply followed my orders, madame. I knew nothing
of the scheme until a few minutes ago, when it came from
your own lips. I can only assume—'

'They say that the English intend to deceive us, that they
have decided to treat with the new regime in Paris, and that
as soon as the king has gone into your ship he will be arrested
and returned. Your role in this, your disguise as a silk
merchant, established in London, was very typical of British
duplicity – an elaborate hoax.'

'I am not a political man, madame, I am a sea officer. But
what you have just described is unthinkable. I cannot believe
that the British government would ever concoct or be party
to so monstrous a betrayal.'

'I did not say that I believed it. I do not.' The dark, serious
gaze. 'And cannot.'

'Then, surely—'

Over him: 'I have had to argue very strongly to save
your life, Lieutenant. Félix and the others wished to execute
you as a spy. You are lucky to be alive, and here talking
to me.'

'Then, good heaven, it is madness, the whole thing is
madness. If I was not to be trusted, if England was not,
then why arrange for the king to come to this part of France
at all?'

'Because in the end it was the only plan that had any hope
of success, and all doubts had to be thrust aside. We
had
to
trust you, or see the king perish. Those of us who believed
this have prevailed. And so the convoy will come.'

And now she stood and came to his side, took his hand,
and held it in both of hers.

'I hope with all my heart that you will not betray us –
betray me, and my trust in you, Lieutenant.' She looked
searchingly into his eyes, and he was aware of her with an
intensity that made him nearly breathless. Her look, her
scent, her touch, her physical closeness. He felt his heart
beating in his breast as he said:

'I – I will never like to do anything to hurt you, madame.'

'You will be true?'

'I will be true.'

Her lips parted a little, she closed her eyes, and squeezed
his hand.

*

Captain Rennie stood on the deck of
Expedient
, with dozens
of dockyard artificers, his own standing officers, and a great
mass of yards, parrals, blocks, cable-laid and shroud-laid
rope, tar, and tools. The ship had been refloated, and lay
outside the great basin, the prised-up sheets of copper on
her larboard bow not replaced, and the leak there only
patched and caulked.

Rennie and his standing officers faced a frantic twenty-four
hours ahead. Her rigging must be rove up, her guns
and stores got into her, and her people berthed, everything
managed at breakneck speed – reckless speed – if he was to
weigh and return to France in time. Even if he managed to
depart tomorrow he would almost certainly be late at the
rendezvous, but the party that waited on him in France, that
depended on him, would surely remain at or near the Pointe
de Malaise a day or two, would not they? Given the very
grave importance of the enterprise?

'Well well, I will do all I can.' To himself, staring aloft at
his half-naked masts. 'I will do all that is in my power. The
rest is in God's hands.' A sniff, and aloud:

'Mr Tangible.'

'Sir?' The boatswain, coming from the larboard rail.

'Say to your rigging crews that they are to work alongside
the dockyard riggers as if they was their own brothers,
you mark me?'

'I have already spoke to them, sir.'

'Make it clear in the plainest language that if any man
finds himself in dispute with a dockyard man, he will answer
to me. We have no time for that tradition of hostility, nor
dispute of any kind. Harmony, Mr Tangible, harmony and
hard work will make them speedy.'

'Aye, sir.'

'Mr Loftus.'

'I am here, sir.'

'We have not time to get all her stores in, and she must
be trimmed accordingly. The most important items are her
guns, powder and shot. Mr Storey will work with you, you
are to keep him at your side. Brook no excuse, listen to no
plea for delay, nor more time, nor patience. Patience
ain't
a
virtue, say to him. Our guns and gunners' stores are to be
got into her
today
. We will warp to the gun wharf after the
noon gun. The riggers will continue to work throughout.'