The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,
Whitehall,
10th April, 1812
Sir,
I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners to inform you that their Lordships desire to employ you immediately as Commodore with a Captain under you on a service which their Lordships consider worthy of an officer of your seniority and standing. You are hereby directed and required, therefore, to inform their Lordships through me as speedily as possible as to whether or not you will accept this appointment, and in the event of your accepting it you are further directed and required to present yourself in person at this office without delay in order to receive verbally their Lordships’ instructions and also those of any other Minister of State whom it may be judged necessary you should address.
Your obed’t servant,
E. NEPEAN, Secy to the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty
Hornblower had to read the letter twice – the first time it conveyed no meaning to him at all. But at the second reading the glorious import of the letter burst in upon him. The first thing he was conscious of was that this life here in Smallbridge or in Bond Street need not continue. He was free of all that; he could take a bath under a wash-deck pump instead of in a damned hip-bath with a kettleful of water in it; he could walk his own deck, breathe the sea air, take off these damned tight trousers and never put them on again, receive no deputations, speak to no damned tenants, never smell another pigsty or smack another horse’s back, And that was only the first thing; the second was that he was being offered appointment as Commodore – a Commodore of the first class, too, with a captain under him, so that he would be like an Admiral. He would have a broad pennant flying at the mainmast-head, compliments and honours – not that they mattered, but they would be outward signs of the trust reposed in him, of the promotion that was his. Louis at the Admiralty must have a good opinion of him, clearly, to appoint him Commodore when he was hardly more than half-way up the Captains’ list. Of course, that phrase about ‘worthy of his seniority and standing’ was merely formula, justifying the Admiralty in anticipation in putting him on half-pay should he decline; but – those last words, about consulting with Ministers of State, had enormous import. They meant that the mission to be entrusted to him would be one of responsibility, of international importance. Waves of excitement broke over him.
He hauled out his watch. Ten-fifteen – the day was still young by civilian standards.
“Where’s Brown?” he snapped at Wiggins.
Brown materialized miraculously in the background – not too miraculously, perhaps; the whole house must be aware, of course, that the master had received a letter from the Admiralty.
“Get out my best uniform and my sword. Have the horses put-to in the chariot. You had better come with me, Brown – I shall want you to drive. Have my things for the night ready and yours too.”
The servants scattered in all directions, for not merely must the weighty orders of the master be obeyed, but this was an affair of State and doubly important in consequence. So that as Hornblower came out of his preoccupation Barbara was standing there alone.
God, he had forgotten all about her in his excitement, and she was aware of it. She was drooping a little, and one corner of her mouth was down. Their eyes met then, and that corner of her mouth went up for a moment, but then it went down again.
“It’s the Admiralty,” explained Hornblower lamely. “They’ll appoint me Commodore with a captain under me.”
It was a pity that Hornblower could see her try to appear pleased.
“That’s a high compliment,” she said. “No more than you deserve, my dear, all the same. You must be pleased, and I am too.”
“It will take me away from you,” said Hornblower.
“Darling, I have had six months with you. Six months of the kind of happiness you have given me is more than any woman deserves. And you will come back to me.”