He went back to the dinner-table. His own British and Dutch forces were scattered across five hundred square miles of countryside. They had to be thus dispersed, not only to guard every possible French invasion route, but also so that the mass of men and horses did not strip any one locality of food and grazing. Now, however, he knew the army must begin to shrink towards its battle order. “We’ll concentrate,” the Duke said. Every division of the army had a prearranged town or village where it would gather and wait for further orders. “And send a good man to Dornberg to find out what’s happening in front of him.”
The Duke frowned again at Blcher’s message, wondering whether he had over-reacted to its small news. Surely, if the French incursion was serious, the Prussians would have sent a more urgent messenger? No matter. If it turned out to be a false alarm then the army’s concentration could be reversed next day.
Nine miles to the south, in the little village of Waterloo, the hugely fat Prussian Major had stopped his plodding horse at a small inn opposite the church. The wine he had taken for lunch, together with the oppressive afternoon heat, had quite tired him out. He asked for a little restorative brandy, then saw a baker’s tray of delicious cakes being carried into the inn’s side-door. “And some of those pastries, I think. The ones with the almond paste, if you’d be so kind.”
He slid out of the saddle and gratefully sat on a bench that was shaded by a small chestnut tree. The despatch which would have told Wellington of the loss of Charleroi and the further French advance lay in the Major’s saddlebag.
The Major leaned against the chestnut’s trunk. Nothing much stirred in the village. The paved road ran between wide grass verges where two tethered cows and four goats grazed. A few chickens scratched by the church steps where a dog twitched in its sleep. A small child played tipcat in the archway of the inn’s stableyard. The fat Major, pleased with such a scene of rural innocence, smiled happily, then, as he waited for his snack, dozed.
Sharpe’s horse limped into the Prince of Orange’s headquarters just ten minutes after the Prince had left for Brussels. Aggressive French patrols had prevented Sharpe getting close to the road a second time, but he had ridden near enough to see the dust clouds drifting away from the boots, hooves and wheels of an army on the march. Now, flinching at the soreness in his thighs, he eased himself out of the saddle. He shouted for an ostler, tied Nosey to a metal ring on the stableyard wall and gave the dog a bowl of water before, carrying his map and weapons, he limped into the silent house. Dust floated in the beams of light that flooded through the fanlight over the front door. He looked into the map room, but no one was there.
“Duty Officer!” Sharpe shouted angrily, then, when no one answered, he hammered his rifle butt against the wooden panelling in the hallway. “Duty officer!”
A bedroom door opened upstairs and a face appeared over the banister. “I hope there’s a good reason for this noise! Oh, it’s you!”
Sharpe peered into the gloom and saw the affable face of the Baron Jean de Constant Rebecque. “Who’s on duty?”
“Colonel Winckler, I think, but he’s probably sleeping. Most of us are. The Prince has gone to Brussels, and he wants you there as well.” Rebecque yawned. “You’re required to dance.”
Sharpe stared upwards. For a few seconds he was too shocked to speak and Rebecque assumed that the silence merely expressed Sharpe’s horror at being ordered to a ball, but then the Rifleman exploded with his news. “Haven’t you heard? My God, Rebecque, the bloody French are north of Charleroi! I sent Dornberg a message hours ago!”
The words hung in the hot still air of the stairwell. It was Rebecque’s turn to stare silently. “Sweet God,” he said after a few seconds, then began buttoning his blue coat. “Officers!” His shout echoed through the house. “Officers!” He ran at the stairs, taking them three at a time. “Show me.” He pushed past Sharpe into the map room where he threw back the heavy wooden shutters to flood the tables with sunlight.