A Season Lost Read online

  Matthew was approaching her, dressed in his full uniform, and when he was near enough, he laid his hand on her arm and said, “I must go and see the admiral. I am not sure how long I will be.”

  Georgiana nodded, and said, in as hopeful a tone as she could muster, “Perhaps, when you return – if there is daylight enough – we might have a walk around, on shore?”

  Matthew brightened at this, her first interest in anything since she had lost the child, and said, “Yes, of course. And if there is not daylight enough, we shall go tomorrow morning.”

  He was gone for the better part of two hours, and when his barge had hooked onto the Caroline and he had come up the side, he seemed to have a startled countenance. He saw Georgiana standing on the quarterdeck, awaiting his return, and indicated she should come down to the cabin with him. She did, and they were seated on the stern cushions, but he seemed at a loss for some time, until finally he took a deep breath, and spoke:

  “The Alceste has been lost.”

  “My God, what happened? What of her crew, and the embassy?”

  “During the storm, she ran afoul of a homeward-bound Indiaman – an East India Company ship – and was badly damaged. Terrible luck, but they were in the worst of the storm, and neither ship had much in the way of steerage – from what I understand they were both under bare poles. They tried to bring her in to Funchal, but she could not be saved. Fortunately, the Indiaman was able to swim, and took off most of the crew and the men of the embassy. Six men were drowned, but that is an incredibly small number for such an event.”

  “Thank God for that,” Georgiana said. “You seem concerned, though – what is the matter?”

  “The Caroline is to replace her, in her mission,” he said, running his hand through his hair in a most agitated manner. “The men of the embassy hired a schooner to bring them around to Gibraltar, to see what might be done about continuing their journey. Admiral Penrose knew he was due a frigate and indicated they should have use of it. They have been eagerly awaiting our arrival.”

  “Just like that, Admiral Penrose can order you to China?” Georgiana asked, as shocked as he had looked, and struggling to process this notion of the ship’s going halfway around the world, rather than staying here.

  “We were to be used at his discretion, and those are his orders,” Matthew said, walking the length of the cabin in the stooped manner required of a tall man. “I know not what to do. I owe a duty to my men, but my greater duty is to you, and I made you a promise, that we should never be parted. I had every intent to keep it, but I do not think I can be released from this assignment. There is no other that can take it; Maxwell, of the Alceste, might eventually, but he must first have a court-martial for the loss of the ship, and they are eager to depart. I will make the request, but if the request is not granted, my only option is to resign the service, and I do not even know if my resignation will be accepted. I may be forced to leave you. Georgiana, I am so sorry – I never thought there would be a way in which I would have to break my promise to you.”

  His distress was so great she grew emotional with him, but Georgiana found she sounded strangely calm as she said: “Please do not worry over it any longer, Matthew. We will not be parted, for I shall go with you.”

  “Georgiana, are you certain? We are likely to be gone for more than a year – you would not see your family or friends, or have the comforts of your own country, in all that time.”

  “I will not say that it will not be difficult, to be so far from my family,” she said, her voice wavering with tears at the thought, “but it is the best alternative. Your promise was that we should stay together, and we shall. I will not be parted from you for a twelvemonth.”

  Gently, she reached out and embraced him, seeking to calm and reassure him, deeply moved that he had been willing to resign the service to keep his promise, even in this scenario he could never have foreseen.

  “You must tell me if you change your mind, after you have had a chance to think on it,” Matthew said. “I know this must have come as a shock.”

  “I am not going to change my mind,” Georgiana whispered, and for once she felt torn in her emotions over the baby, for if she had not lost it, Matthew would have tried much harder to convince her to return home.

  +++

  Georgiana’s desire to walk on shore had been forgotten, with the news of the Caroline’s being ordered to China and Matthew’s need to discuss the ship’s new mission with his officers. He mentioned it again over breakfast the next morning, however, and promised they should go as soon as she was ready – they would have their walk, and speak further on what she might need for a journey so long.

  They were accompanied in the barge by Moll, Hawke, and Bowden, all of them by now having been informed that the ship was to go to China, and they were not likely to have any more than a fortnight to acquire all that would be needed for such a journey. Upon reaching the town, Georgiana found it to be small, but with every civilised appearance, rising a little way up the base of the mountain, and in possession of the same sorts of shops and establishments that could be expected of an English town of its size.

  She made note of the stores selling fabric and thought to return to them later with Moll, for surely she would have time during such a long journey for the projects she had planned, to decorate the captain’s cabins. They found a shop where music could be purchased, and spent the better part of an hour there, then did the same at a bookseller, for Matthew warned her they were not likely to find much in the way of either music or books beyond the Cape, and so anything she thought might provide her with some entertainment during the journey should be purchased now.

  Upon leaving the bookseller, they passed a tailor’s shop, which, based on its window display, seemed to have some specialty in naval uniform. Matthew asked if she would mind terribly if they stopped, so he could be measured for new uniform jackets.

  “Of course we may,” Georgiana said. “Is there something the matter with your others? The one you are wearing seems perfectly fine.”

  “I shall require an admiral’s uniform for this mission.”

  “I do not understand – you are much too far down on the captain’s list to be made,” Georgiana said, for as a post captain, his promotion to the next rank would be entirely dependent on seniority, which seemed to her one of the largest oddities in a profession filled with them.

  “You are correct, but while I am in command of our little squadron – we shall meet the brig Lyra and an Indiaman, the General Hewitt, at the Cape – I am to be a commodore, and a commodore wears an admiral’s uniform. It is a temporary command, only.”

  “Even if it is temporary, is this not a good thing? I would have thought you would be more excited over such a command.”

  “I would be more pleased by it were the circumstances different.”

  “Well, I am pleased by it,” Georgiana said. “Matthew, I hope you will not continue to be so concerned over this voyage and what it means for us. I know you gave me the option to change my mind, if I did so on reflection, but I find on reflection that I am looking forward to the journey. I had wished to see the world, and now I am to see far more of it than I expected. And perhaps the distraction of these preparations was what I needed.”

  “Do you mean that, Georgiana? You do look far better than you have, since – since our loss.”

  “I do mean it. Let this be our grand adventure together,” she said, and led the way into the shop.

  +++

  They made their return to the ship to find many of the seamen gazing up at the sky with some degree of satisfaction, where a larger pennant than the ship’s usual one was fluttering in the wind. Georgiana suspected it had something to do with Matthew’s becoming a commodore, and had this confirmed when Bowden said, “Aye, the broad pennant – the captain’s a commodore, now!”

  They found, as well, a thin, unkempt-looking young man, who had been waiting in the great cabin. Georgiana wondered that he had been allowed to wait
here with no supervision as the young man stood, saluted her husband, and said: “I do not know if you remember me, sir – ”

  “Of course I remember you, Grant,” Matthew said. “You will not have met my wife, Lady Stanton.”

  “I am very pleased to meet you, Lady Stanton,” said the young man, offering her a dishevelled bow.

  “And I you, Mr. Grant.”

  “Now, please be seated, and tell me how you have come to be in Gibraltar,” Matthew said.

  “I was a master’s mate on the Bulwark in the last war, sir, in the Med. When we had news of the peace, and that we was to return to Pompey to be decommissioned, Captain Haddington suggested I might have better luck finding another place was I to remain in Gibraltar, rather than competing with all the other young gentlemen in Portsmouth.”

  “I had thought you passed for lieutenant,” Matthew said.

  “I did, sir, but I have no interest – err – begging your pardon, sir, aside from yourself and Captain Haddington. I have not been able to find another place as a master’s mate, or a mid.”

  “You have been living here since the end of the last war?”

  “I have, sir. I’m only thankful for my prize money, or I don’t know what I would have done about my board. When I heard the Caroline was here, and with you in command again – oh, and sir, I have not complimented you on the Polonais, for what a victory that was, and how I wish I had been there! – I thought to come out straightaway and see if you had room in your midshipmen’s berth.”

  This was delivered by Mr. Grant in a nervous rush, and when he had finished speaking, he looked to Matthew in a mixture of hope and fear.

  “I will always make room in my midshipmen’s berth for a young man with your qualities in seamanship, Mr. Grant, but in this particular case I will be very glad to bring you on, for we have been unexpectedly ordered to China and I am sure Mr. Travis will be in need of more assistance, for such a journey.”

  It was tremendously pleasing for Georgiana to see the relief that overtook young Mr. Grant’s countenance, and it must have been even more so for her husband. With every expression of happiness and pleasure at returning to the Caroline, Grant made to take his leave, but before he could do so, Matthew stopped him and asked if he had enough money to purchase a proper uniform, for although Matthew would not say it, the one Grant wore was in horrible shape. Grant replied that he had his best uniform stored at the Red Bull Inn, where he lived and sometimes worked to pay for his board. Matthew took out his purse anyway and gave the young man some money, saying it was an advance on his pay and he would do best to procure anything he needed for such a journey, then return to the ship to begin his duties. For this, Matthew was thanked profusely and, following another salute, Mr. Grant left the cabin.

  “One of my mids, working at an inn, when he would have made as fine an officer as any I’ve had,” Matthew said, in a disgusted tone. “What sort of world have we come to?”

  “One where Mr. Grant now has a place on the Caroline, thankfully,” Georgiana said. “What did you mean by saying he had passed for lieutenant?”

  “There is an examination, which all young gentlemen must pass, to demonstrate they have the qualifications necessary to be a lieutenant, although it does not mean they are automatically promoted. Those with connexions will gain their promotion quickly, but the rest must hope for some action in which they can distinguish themselves. I wish Grant had been with us for the Polonais, for if he had fought well – and I have no doubt he would have – that might have been sufficient for me to aid him in a promotion, as I did for Campbell and Egerton. But I doubt he could afford to be on shore for so long as we were – I expect he sought a new position as a master’s mate as soon as the Caroline was decommissioned.”

  “What a complicated world the navy is.”

  “It is no more complicated than the rest of the world. At least in the navy, a man does have some opportunity of advancement based on merit, and a chance to win his fortune. Both certainly appealed to me when I was a boy, although I cannot deny that I had a great deal more interest in my quarter than most young men do, thanks to my uncle.”

  They were interrupted, then, by Lieutenant Egerton’s coming in and passing on an invitation from the admiral to dine aboard his ship that evening, where they would be introduced to Lord Amherst and some others of the embassy. Matthew told him to inform the admiral that they would be pleased to do so, but rather than leaving immediately, Lieutenant Egerton looked to his captain with a rather more eager expression upon his face than Georgiana had seen before, asking if Mr. Grant would be joining them on their journey. He was informed that Grant would be coming on as a master’s mate, and left with a happy countenance.

  “He and Grant were particular friends in the midshipmen’s berth,” Matthew said, sighing. “I only hope they can still be so, despite the difference in their ranks.”

  +++

  Georgiana had originally excluded ball gowns and all but a few dinner dresses from her trunks, when she had directed Moll as to what to pack for the journey, thinking them to be of little use aboard a ship where Matthew’s officers were not likely to know or care about lady’s fashions. Mrs. Russell, however, had advised that it was likely she would be invited to dine aboard other ships, including those of the flag officers, and that invitations to dinners and possibly even balls ashore might come to her. She had, therefore, had Moll pack another trunk with two ball gowns and a larger number of dinner dresses, and she wore one of these as she and Matthew were rowed in his barge, to HMS Bombay. Georgiana had seen a seventy-four gun ship before, but this was the closest she had ever been to one, and she was astounded by the size of it even before she was swung up in the air on the bosun’s chair to a height much more substantial – and more frightening – than she was used to.

  She was set gently down upon the deck, however, and Matthew was already there to assist her and introduce her to the man who stood before her, like him wearing an admiral’s uniform.

  “Lady Stanton, may I introduce Admiral Sir Charles Penrose to you?”

  Georgiana nodded, curtsied, and was the recipient of a bow that marked the admiral’s age.

  “A pleasure, Lady Stanton, and a rarer one at that,” he said. “It is not so often as we sailors would like that we are able to take a lady in to dinner on board our ships.”

  “I am very pleased to meet you as well,” Georgiana said. “May I ask how you would prefer I address you?”

  “Ah, yes, your husband has one of these great mouthfuls of a name as well, so you are used to these things,” the admiral said. “Not, I am sure, that he was any less desirous of his title than I of mine, although mine is a slightly more recent creation. I do still prefer Admiral Penrose, although I shall admit to a certain satisfaction in signing the letters after my name.”

  “As would any man, I am sure,” Georgiana said.

  “Shall we?” Admiral Penrose offered his arm and led her and Matthew to the quarterdeck, where a group of gentlemen were standing. Most of them were dressed in civilian clothes, although there was one man in a captain’s uniform; this man was introduced as Henry Bazeley, the captain of the flagship, but the rest of them belonged to the embassy. Lord Amherst was introduced first as the Embassador Extraordinary, a handsome man, although not so much so as Matthew, to Georgiana’s eye and heart. He was followed by Mr. Ellis, the Secretary of Embassy; The Honourable Jeffery Amherst, the Embassador’s son and page; Reverend Griffith, the chaplain; and several other men who all held roles within the embassy. They were informed that Mr. Akers, the embassy’s surgeon and naturalist, had been unavailable to dine with them that evening, and would be introduced on some other day.

  With the introductions made, they went down to the admiral’s suite of cabins, into a great cabin much larger than that of the Caroline, and with a table laid in the highest quality. Georgiana felt strange, to be the only woman amongst such a large group of men – when Matthew had smaller groups of officers to dine with him, Mrs. Travi
s might be absent from their table, but never with a group of this size. They all seemed to be most gentlemanlike in their manners, however, which gave her some reassurance, for if she was to preside over Matthew’s table for such a group, she wished them to be good company. She observed carefully what Admiral Penrose did, and what was served, for hints upon how she might do things.

  After the soup, the admiral turned to her and said, “Has Commodore Stanton secured your passage back to England yet? If not, please let me know if I may be of assistance, for he has done us quite a turn. I do not know what I would have done if I had to detach one of our existing frigates, with the situation in Algiers.”

  “I – I am not returning to England,” Georgiana said. “I shall continue on with Commodore Stanton.”

  Although larger than the dining table of the Caroline, the table was still small enough that any who wished to attend to this conversation could do so, and it seemed most of the men had interest in attending to it, which made Georgiana blush.

  “Are you indeed?” asked Admiral Penrose. “Well aren’t you a rare plucked ‘un? I had no difficulty convincing Lady Penrose to join me in Messina and Naples, but I should like to see the look on her countenance if I asked her to go to China. Pray tell, where are you from, Lady Stanton?”

  “From Pemberley, in Derbyshire.”

  “Well, then I know where I shall recommend all the single captains of my acquaintance should go, when they are on leave. Go inland, to Derbyshire, I shall tell them, if you are in want of a wife!”

  This occasioned a great deal of laughter down the entire table, and Georgiana blushed still further, although she was pleased that Matthew was gazing at her with some goodly degree of pride. Their attention soon turned from her to her husband, and it was not long before he was being asked to recount his action in capturing the Polonais. Georgiana had heard this retelling so many times she could have told it herself very nearly as accurately as Matthew did, but it still pleased her. She had understood from Matthew that Lord Amherst and Captain Maxwell had been friends, and in addition to the inherent trauma that must have come from the tragedy involving the Alceste, it surely must have been a disappointment to Lord Amherst that the new captain for his voyage was someone unknown to him. She wished Lord Amherst to know that Matthew was good and brave, someone to be respected and trusted, and was glad to see the baron seemed to be attending the account most closely.