SHARPE’S REGIMENT

When the Countess had Sharpe alone she stared up at him. ‘You didn’t tell me about her?’

‘There seemed no need.’

She smiled. ‘True. One hardly discusses one’s intended while under Vauxhall’s bushes.’ She laughed. ‘You wouldn’t do that, Major, would you? I would, but not you. You’re too kind. Did anyone ever tell you that you were kind?’

‘No, Ma’am.’

‘Don’t call me “Ma’am”. You make me sound ancient.’ Her fingers were touching the silver whistle on his crossbelt, and her startling green eyes were filled with amusement. ‘If you weren’t such an alley-cat, I might have taken you for myself.’

‘I would have been most fortunate.’

‘Thank you. Are you in love?’

Sharpe was embarrassed. ‘Yes. Yes, I am.’

‘Whatever love is. It will probably end in disaster, of course.’

Sharpe frowned. ‘You think so?’

She laughed. ‘Not if you look after her, and I think you’re quite good at that.’ She smiled. ‘She’s very pretty, if you like that innocent colouring. You have good taste in women, Major. I wanted to thank you.’

‘Thank me?’ Sharpe was feeling confused.

‘You didn’t get the proof for me, did you? But you were still on the battlefield, Major, and you were an ally of memorable strength.’ She turned towards her coach. ‘Now come along. It’s not done to keep a Prince waiting, not even that fat fool.’ She laughed, for she had won, and she would have her revenge, and because her son was safe.

Victory was suddenly very sweet. The Prince thought Sharpe’s uniform “monstrous good”. He was kindness itself to both of them.

‘Who is she?’ Sir William Lawford watched Jane Gibbons, who had been drawn away by Lord John Rossendale.

‘I’m marrying her. She’s called Jane Gibbons.’

‘Gibbons? Gibbons?’ Lawford frowned. ‘Never heard of them.’

‘Her father was a saddler.’

‘Ah!’ Lawford smiled. ‘I wouldn’t have heard of her then, would I? Still, she’ll be a good match for you. Pretty, eh?’

‘I think so.’

Lawford stared at Sharpe in silence for a few seconds. ‘So you’re feeling pleased with yourself, eh? You did it all on your own, didn’t need my help?’

‘I hope you were not offended, sir.’

‘Offended! Lord, no. You were a fool, Richard. Do you know what a damn fool thing you did today? Do you know? You’re lucky to have a head on your shoulders, let alone your damned Majority.’

‘I’m sure, sir.’

Lawford, with his wonderful dexterity, struck a light with his tinder box and lit a cigar. ‘Do you know what I had arranged for you, Richard?’

‘Arranged for me, sir?’

‘A Rifle Battalion of your own. Yours. Rifles. Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe.’ He smiled to show how foolish Sharpe had been in distrusting his help. ‘Admittedly in the American War, but we can’t have everything.’

A Rifle Battalion of his own? Sharpe felt the dreadful lure of the bribe, the savage lust for such a wonderful instrument of war to be given to him, and then he remembered the disconsolate men on the wharves of Pasajes, the men in faded, patched red coats who trusted him to bring them back their pride from England. ‘I couldn’t have accepted, sir.’

‘Easy to say when you don’t have the choice,’ Lawford laughed. ‘So you thought you didn’t need me, eh?’

‘But I do, sir.’ Sharpe wondered how Lawford could have so misjudged him. Did Sir William really believe that Sharpe would abandon men for a promotion? The thought hurt, but he would not show it. He smiled instead. ‘I want a service from you, and perhaps I can offer you one in return.’

Lawford, with a politician’s distrust, frowned at the thought of a bargain not of his own invention. ‘What can you offer me, Richard?’

Sharpe was awkward for this was not his territory. ‘It occurs to me, sir, if you’ll forgive me, but if you talk with Lady Camoynes, you might find that she has sudden influence in the Horse Guards and War Office. I should do it swiftly, sir, say tonight? I suspect there will be promotions, sir, within the government.’ Lawford, who hardly expected to receive that kind of advice from a man who had once been his Sergeant, stared with some pique at Sharpe.