‘So discreditable that I was tempted to suppress it.’
‘Does Mr Edwards know the contents of the letter?’
‘He does not, poor young man. Indeed, he builds all his hopes on delivering the treaty and whatever goes with it in Whitehall.’
‘I see. I see. You can absolutely assert that, Maturin?’
‘I can, too.’
‘It would blast Fox’s reputation if it were made public. All his friends would regret it extremely . . . Olivia, my dear,’ he cried as his wife passed the french window, wearing gardening-gloves, ‘here is Dr Maturin back from his travels, and most of his companions with him.’
‘I beg your pardon most humbly, ma’am, for appearing in this state, in pantaloons, unpowdered hair and what might almost be taken for a beard,’ said Stephen. ‘Captain Aubrey declared that I should not go, that I should bring disgrace on the service; but I evaded him. He himself will not set foot on shore nor will any of his men until they are fit for an admiral’s inspection. For you are to understand, ma’am, that we travelled in an unwashed junk ordinarily employed in carrying ore, a potent source of filth, and our garments were stowed in a bewildering multiplicity of compartments; so it will be an hour or so before he can do himself the honour of waiting on you. In the meantime, however, he desires his best compliments.’
Mrs Raffles smiled, said that she was very happy to see Dr Maturin again, that she would at once send to ask Captain Aubrey and his officers to dine that afternoon, and that she would now leave them.
‘Now,’ said Raffles, as the men sat down again, ‘do you choose to tell me how the treaty was obtained?’
‘There were of course many factors – the subsidy, Fox’s arguments and so on- – but one was the fact that your banker and that dear man van Buren brought me acquainted with the proper intermediaries, and I was able to conciliate the good-will of a majority in the council.’
‘I hope you do not suppose that Government will ever refund more than a tenth part of your expenditure, and that only after seven years of impertinent repetitious questioning?’
I do not It was an indulgence I allowed myself mostly for the good cause but also I must admit from a restless desire to undermine Ledward and his friend Oh what happened to them?’
‘It appears that having lost all credit at court they were killed in an affray.’
‘I beg pardon.’
‘And since the French had virtually no money at all, Ledward having gambled it away, there was no competition, so the indulgence was not a costly one. I mean to offer myself another:
the purchase of a tolerable merchantman, approved for swift sailing.’
‘So you do not intend to go home in an Indiaman?’
‘Never in life. Did I not tell you of our rendezvous with -with another vessel in these waters or farther afield, and our return by way of New South Wales?’
‘Yes, you did, but I had imagined the time was past.’
‘Not at all; several possibilities were foreseen. Besides, in your private ear, it is not inconceivable that we may meet the
Cornélie.’
‘Would not that call for a very considerable ship – a very considerable outlay?’
‘Very considerable indeed, no doubt. But then I have a not inconsiderable surplus in Shao Yen’s hands; my gifts were pitifully small. And if that is not enough I can always draw on London.’ A pause, an unhatural pause. ‘You look down, sir:
you have, if I may so express myself, an uneasy, embarrassed air.’
‘Why, to tell you the truth, Maturin, I must confess that I feel both uneasy and embarrassed. There is no personal mail for you or Aubrey – I presume it is gone to New South Wales
– but I have what may be very wretched news for you. Did you not tell me that you had changed your unsatisfactory bank?’
‘So I did too. As sullen, unobliging a set of illiterate dogs as ever you could wish to see.’
‘And that in their place you had chosen Smith and Clowes?’
‘Just so.’
‘Then with very much regret I am obliged to tell you that Smith and Clowes have suspended payment. They are broke. There may eventually be some small dividend for the creditors,
but at present there is not the least possibility of your drawing on them.’
Stephen had an instant, brilliantly clear vision of the attorney’s office in Portsmouth in which the document requiring his bank to transfer all he possessed to Smith and Clowes was written, together with a power of attorney addressed to Sir Joseph Blaine, who was also the executor of his will – a document framed by an able lawyer, a man of business thoroughly accustomed to dealing with shifts, evasions and bad faith, an aged dusty man who took real pleasure in his task, his toothless jaws munching as his pen scratched on and on. The dusty room was lined with books, for reference rather than delight, and the dusty window looked out on to a blank wall: a reflector hanging at an angle sent a certain hint of day to the dim ceiling, and the reflection of a passing gull moved across as a darker shadow among the cobwebs.
‘There, sir,’ said the lawyer, ‘if you will copy that, for in such matters holograph is always best, I defy the most contentious cavilling prig in the kingdom to get round it. You will not forget to sign both documents and send them off to Sir Joseph by the evening post. The
bag is not sealed until half past five o’clock, which gives you plenty of time to copy two sheets wrote small and to go aboard before the turn of the tide.’
The recollection and even the attorney’s creaking little speech could scarcely have taken a heartbeat of time, for here was Raffles’ voice going on almost without the loss of a word,
‘But on the other hand, I do have some less dismal tidings, I am happy to say, some trifling set-off. We have recently weighed a Dutch twenty-gun ship – she had been sunk on purpose several months ago because of infection – and now she is as trim and tight as the day she was launched. If we were on the terrace you could see her with a glass; she lies just inside the island by the Dutch Company’s yard. As I say, she is only a twenty-gun ship, so she can hardly set about the Cornélie, but at least she may enable you to keep your appointment.’
‘You astonish me, Governor. I am amazed, happily amazed,’ said Stephen.
‘I am glad of that,’ said Raffles, looking at him doubtfully.
‘May I go and tell Aubrey of our good fortune? I left him in a sombre mood, conning over the innumerable ship’s books and papers belonging to the late Diane that he must present to the senior naval officer here: he is sadly puzzled, because when the Dyaks attacked our island he lost both his purser and his clerk.’
‘Lord, Maturin,’ cried Raffles, ‘you never told me about that.’
‘I am a very poor reporter of battles. I do hot see them nor in general do I take part. In this one I was in the hospital-tent almost all the time; I did not even join in the final charge. It was a severe engagement. They killed and wounded many of our people: we destroyed them entirely. But Captain Aubrey will give you an exactaccount. He leapt about the field of blood as though it were his native heath. You know a tiger’s coughing roar, of course?’
‘Of course.’
‘That is the noise he makes when in battle. Will I go and fetch him now, and shift my clothes into something more worthy of dear Mrs Raffles’ table?’
‘Certainly: my barge will carry you over at once, and bring our guests back. Pray, how many officers survived?’
‘All but the purser, the clerk and one midshipman, though Fielding will limp the days of his life, and Bennett, a master’s mate, is still in a very precarious state, while little Reade lost an arm.’
‘That little curly headed boy?’
‘No. The little curly headed boy was killed.’
Raffles shook his head; but there was no decent comment, and he only said ‘I will send for the barge.’ Having done so he said ‘As for Aubrey, ship’s books and senior naval officer, there is none here, none nearer than Colombo: that is why I have such a free hand with this Dutch ship. I may observe that I have known cases where all a ship’s books and papers were lost in a wreck or by enemy action, and the authorities remained totally unmoved, giving a quietus out of hand; whereas a missing docket or receipt or signature in one of the many, mans’ volumes has meant interminable wrangling