In the Commodore's Hands. Mary Nichols
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was making her tetchy.
Before he could respond, a servant knocked and entered. ‘There is a man at the door who says he is from England,’ he said. ‘Shall I admit him?’
‘Anyone from England is welcome,’ Sir John told him. ‘Did he give you his name?’
‘He said it was John Drymore, Sir John.’
Sir John suddenly became animated. ‘Then don’t stand there, man, go and show him in at once.’
The man who entered the withdrawing room was exceedingly tall and well built, dressed in a cut-back dark-blue coat, white breeches and stockings and a lighter blue waistcoat. His sun-bleached hair was tied back with a ribbon and he carried a chapeau-bras beneath his arm.
‘John!’ Sir John rose to greet him, a huge smile of pleasure on his face. ‘We meet at last.’
The newcomer was about to sweep him a bow, but found himself being embraced instead. He disentangled himself with a smile. ‘It is good to meet you, too, Grandfather, but I am known in the family as Jay.’
‘I never thought your father would send you to our aid.’ Sir John paused in his exuberance. ‘You have come to our aid?’
‘I am at your service, sir.’
Sir John suddenly remembered Lisette, who had been silently watching them, studying the man who had entered. He certainly had an imposing figure and was handsome in a rugged kind of way. He reminded her of Sir John before his hair had turned snow-white. ‘Lisette, my dear, this is my grandson, Commodore John Drymore. John, this is Mademoiselle Lisette Giradet.’
Jay gave Lisette a sweeping bow. ‘A votre service, mademoiselle.’
She noticed he had deep blue eyes which raked her from head to foot, as if sizing up the trouble she might cause him. That intense, cool gaze unnerved her a little and she would have been her haughtiest self in any other circumstances, but as she did not intend to be any trouble if he were prepared to help her father, she afforded him a deep curtsy. ‘Commodore.’
‘Let us not be formal,’ Jay said, offering his hand to help her to rise. ‘I left the navy three years ago and British naval officers are not exactly welcome in France at the moment. Plain monsieur will do.’
Sir John ordered a meal to be prepared and invited Lisette to join them. ‘For we have much to discuss,’ he said.
Lisette could still feel the pressure of a warm, dry hand on hers, though it had lasted no more than a second or two, but pulled herself together to accept.
‘We will be informal,’ Sir John said as they ate. ‘You two must deal well together if we are to achieve our aim.’ He looked from one to the other, smiling. ‘Lisette has been like a grandchild to me, Jay, and has, in part, made up for the fact that I could not be with my own grandchildren.’
‘God willing you will soon make their acquaintance,’ Jay said.
‘Remind me, Jay, how many are there?’
‘Four,’ Jay said. ‘But I am sure Mama has written to tell you of them. I have two sisters, Amelia and Charlotte, both married, and a younger brother, Harry, who is a first lieutenant in the navy. And you have six great-grandchildren, but we must not bore Mademoiselle Giradet with family matters and I need to hear from her the details of her father’s arrest and imprisonment.’
Lisette had been taught English by her mother. It was one of the reasons she and Sir John dealt so well together; she afforded him some light conversation in his own language and made him feel a little less homesick. The account she gave of the circumstances in which her father had been hauled off in the tumbril to the gaol in Honfleur was spoken in faultless English. ‘I have been frequently to the prison to take delicacies and clothing for my father,’ she said. ‘They would not let me see him and I am not at all sure the things were given to him. I have tried reasoning with the Public Prosecutor and appealed to our local deputy on the National Assembly, but they will do nothing. Michel, my brother, who is in the service of King Louis, says he cannot help either. Since His Majesty’s abortive attempt to flee the country last year, he is a virtual prisoner himself and being watched all the time. Michel is determined to remain at his side.’
Jay had heard of the King’s attempt to leave the country, but it was not his main concern at the moment. ‘What is the charge against the Comte?’
‘So far there has been no formal charge, but nowadays they don’t seem to need one. It only takes someone to denounce him as an enemy of the Revolution and he is condemned.’
‘Has someone denounced him?’
‘I believe Henri Canard has done so. He is a lawyer and the leader of the local peasantry.’
‘What has he against your father?’
‘Apart from the fact that Papa is an aristo, you mean? Nothing that I know of, but he is an ambitious man and all too ready to use the grievances of the poor for his own ends.’
‘It sounds as if you do not think your father will be released as a result of a lawful trial.’
‘We are sure of it,’ Sir John broke in.
‘Then what you are asking is that we break him out of prison and spirit him away.’
‘Do you think you can?’ Lisette asked. It was a great deal to ask and she was not sure she should ask it, but there was no one else to help them.
‘I cannot tell until I have investigated further. If it can be done, I will endeavour to do it, but we will need a careful plan.’
‘You are welcome to stay here, that goes without saying,’ Sir John said. ‘How have you arrived?’
‘I used my father’s yacht, the Lady Amy. It is moored just off the coast. When the Comte is free we can all go aboard and sail for England.’
‘You make it sound easy,’ Lisette said.
‘That part of it is. It is the getting of him out of gaol which might try our ingenuity.’
Lisette, who was well aware of that, gave a deep sigh and pushed her plate away from her, half the food untouched, though Sir John’s cook was a good one. ‘What do you propose to do?’
‘Knowing the layout of the prison would be a good start,’ Jay said. ‘And the number and routine of the guards. I think tomorrow I will pay it a visit.’
‘Under what pretext?’ his grandfather asked.
Jay was thoughtful for a moment. ‘I am a wine merchant and have bought cider and Calvados to take to England and have some to spare, that is if you can provide me with a few bottles, mademoiselle,’ he added.
‘Of course,’ she said. ‘A few bottles of Calvados is a small price to pay for my father’s liberty, but I have to tell you I have tried that already. The guards take what I bring, but do nothing for Papa. I think I am become a great jest to them.’
‘Then they have a strange sense of humour,’ he said gallantly, raising his glass to her.
He had all the hallmarks of a chivalrous gentleman, his manners were irreproachable, he smiled a great deal, but it was a smile that did not reach his eyes. Underneath his cheerful demeanour, she sensed a wariness, a kind of distrust she had done nothing to bring about that she knew of. Had he been coerced into what to him was an unwanted errand because his grandfather wished to leave France and his mother was anxious to have him back in the bosom of his family? Was the fact that her dear father was part of the deal abhorrent to him? Or had he simply taken an aversion to her? Well, she did not care! So long as he helped them, she would be polite but distant.
‘I will have a case of Calvados ready tomorrow morning,’ she said. ‘And a carriage to convey us to the prison in Honfleur.’
‘You wish to accompany me?’ Jay asked in surprise.
‘Naturally