“Your health, Your Grace,” said the commodore, looking down the length of the table and raising his glass.
“Thank’ee,” replied the duchess. “Just in time to save my life. I was wonderin’ ‘oo’d come to my rescue.”
She raised her brimming glass to her lips and when she put it down again it was empty.
“A jolly boon companion you are going to have,” said the aide‑de‑camp to Hornblower.
“How is she going to be my companion?” asked Hornblower, quite bewildered.
The aide‑de‑camp looked at him pityingly.
“So you have not been informed?” he asked. “As always the man most concerned is the last to know. When you sail with your despatches to‑morrow you will have the honour of bearing Her Grace with you to England.”
“God bless my soul,” said Hornblower.
“Let’s hope He does,” said the aide‑de‑camp piously, nosing his wine. “Poor stuff this sweet Malaga is. Old Hare bought a job lot in ’95, and every governor since then seems to think it’s his duty to use it up.”
“But who is she?” asked Hornblower
“Her Grace the Duchess of Wharfedale,” replied the aide-de‑camp. “Did you not hear Lady Dalrymple’s introduction?”
“But she doesn’t talk like a duchess,” protested Hornblower.
“No. The old duke was in his dotage when he married her. She was an innkeeper’s widow, so her friends say. You can imagine, if you like, what her enemies say.”
“But what is she doing here?” went on Hornblower.
“She is on her way back to England. She was at Florence when the French marched in, I understand. She reached Leghorn, and bribed a coaster to bring her here. She asked Sir Hew to find her a passage, and Sir Hew asked the Admiral — Sir Hew would ask anyone for anything on behalf of a duchess, even one said by her friends to be an innkeeper’s widow.”
“I see,” said Hornblower.
There was a burst of merriment from the head of the table, and the duchess was prodding the governor’s scarlet‑coated ribs with the handle of her knife, as if to make sure he saw the joke.
“Maybe you will not lack for mirth on your homeward voyage,” said the aide‑de‑camp.
Just then a smoking sirloin of beef was put down in front of Hornblower, and all his other worries vanished before the necessity of carving it and remembering his manners. He took the carving knife and fork gingerly in his hands and glanced round at the company.
“May I help you to some of this beef, Your Grace? Madam? Sir? Well done or underdone, sir? A little of the brown fat?”
In the hot room the sweat ran down his face as he wrestled with the joint; he was fortunate that most of the guests desired helpings from the other removes so that he had little carving to do. He put a couple of haggled slices on his own plate as the simplest way of concealing the worst results of his own handiwork.
“Beef from Tetuan,” sniffed the aide‑de‑camp. “Tough and stringy.”
That was all very well for a governor’s aide-de-camp — he could not guess how delicious was this food to a young naval officer fresh from beating about at sea in an over‑crowded frigate. Even the thought of having to act as host to a duchess could not entirely spoil Hornblower’s appetite. And the final dishes, the meringues and macaroons, the custards and the fruits, were ecstasy for a young man whose last pudding had been currant duff last Sunday.
“Those sweet things spoil a man’s palate,” said the aide‑de-camp — much Hornblower cared.
They were drinking formal toasts now. Hornblower stood for the King and the royal family, and raised his glass for the duchess.
“And now for the enemy,” said Sir Hew, “may their treasure galleons try to cross the Atlantic.”
“A supplement to that, Sir Hew,” said the commodore at the other end, “may the Dons make up their minds to leave Cadiz.”
There was a growl almost like wild animals from round the table. Most of the naval officers present were from Jervis’ Mediterranean squadron which had beaten about in the Atlantic for the past several months hoping to catch the Spaniards should they come out. Jervis had to detach his ships to Gibraltar two at a time to replenish their stores, and these officers were from the two ships of the line present at the moment in Gibraltar.