A Continuing War_At Home and at Sea, 1803-1804 Read online

  Giles returned to Impetuous none too happy with his new orders. Instead of getting on with the job of harassing the French, he would have to take Impetuous round to Deal and then seek out a politician for help in a matter that promised to bring scandal to his own family. Luckily the fog had lifted so that the first part of their journey around the Goodwin Sands was accomplished with adequate visibility. Nightfall came quickly, before they could reach Deal, and the fog resumed, so Impetuous, under the guidance of a nervous Giles and Mr. Brooks, crept blindly to what they hoped was the appropriate anchorage.

  Impetuous’s boats were loaded with marines and seamen before dawn. Guided only by compass directions, they set off with muffled oars. The bow of Giles’s barge, which was in the lead, grounded on the beach before they even realized they were that close to the land. The marines formed up in silence. The sun must have risen, but its only effect was to turn the fog from black to deep gray; visibility was scarcely improved. Giles and Richards felt their way gingerly up the beach. They were only three yards away from the structure when a substantial stone building loomed out of the fog.

  “Do you recognize the building?” Giles whispered to Richards.

  “I think so, sir,” was the whispered reply. “I’d know better if we moved a bit to starboard … Aye, Captain, we are seven houses to the south of where we want to be.”

  “Stay here. I will bring the others. Giles had used his pocket compass to make sure they had kept to a straight line as they ventured ashore, and he used the reciprocal course to find his way back to the boats. There he gave instructions to Mr. Stewart to select five boat-watchers who were to stay with the boats with the midshipman until their captain returned.

  Giles led the remaining seamen, armed with pistols and cutlasses, towards the building, followed by the squad of marines under Lieutenant Macauley. When they connected with Richards, he led them across the fronts of other buildings until he reached the place to turn towards the suspect house. The fog was a little thinner here, and before long they could make out the shape of the target house.

  Giles knew that he would have to use surprise and quick action to prevent whoever was their target from burning incriminating papers and he also must prevent anyone escaping from the back door. He sent the marines to guard the rear of the house and catch anyone trying to escape that way. He had his own group of seamen pull up a substantial fence post to use as a battering ram. Then he knocked loudly on the door with the hilt of his sword. There were scurrying noises behind the door and Giles was about to order the use of the battering ram when the door creaked open and an elderly servant started to speak. Giles pushed past him into the main room, where a well-dressed man was indeed about to throw some papers onto the fire. Giles simply shoved him aside, with the papers falling to the floor before the man could get them into fire. Giles was gathering up the papers, while topman Humphries held the would-be arsonist, when the back door opened and Lieutenant Macauley herded two civilians into the room. Their dress might have suggested superior servants, but their shoes, which were distinctly better than any servant would wear, gave away the fact that they were of a higher class. One of them had a pronounced bruise developing under his left eye, while the other one was favoring his right leg.

  “These two came bursting out the back door immediately after you knocked on the front, sir,” said Macauley. “They did not take kindly to my suggestion that you would like to speak to them. They do not understand much English, sir. They speak French.”

  At this point, the man whom Richards was holding found his voice. “I protest, sir, I protest. You cannot simply break into my home without a warrant. It is not the English way. What authority do you have?” This outrage was expressed with a distinctly French accent.

  “I have every authority, sir. Who might you be?”

  “I am le Comte de Fourcoup, sir. I am a guest of the English government, sponsored by Lord Lichgive. And who are you?”

  “Captain Sir Richard Giles,” replied Giles, surprising himself that he used his title. “I am acting under the orders of Admiral Gardiner, whose duty it is to protect the English shores and prevent communications with the enemy. I have orders to take you, sir, and any others I find here to the Warden of the Cinque Ports. It seems particularly necessary in view of these treasonable documents that you were trying to burn.” Giles thought he might be stretching the Admiral’s authority a trifle, and that of the Warden, but doing so might strengthen his position.

  Only pausing to allow the Comte to don a greatcoat, Giles and Macauley set off with their supporting force making sure that their prisoners had no chance to escape and that the main captive was well separated from the two they had found trying to escape.

  It was only two miles to Walmer Castle. At first, progress was slow as they were still feeling their way through the fog. After thirty minutes, a breeze sprang up from the east and pushed the fog away. Ahead they could see the artillery fortress which had been established by Henry VIII at another time when England’s coasts had needed protection.

  At the castle, after crossing the moat, they were challenged at the gatehouse and had to wait until an army lieutenant with artillery patches appeared. He directed them to the Warden’s lodging. The servant who answered the door led them, after checking with his master, to the breakfast room where the Warden and his long-time crony were finishing their meal.

  “What brings you here, Captain Giles?”

  “Admiral Gardiner’s orders, sir. We have uncovered an espionage conduit for information about our defenses. He thought you would like to see what was discovered. On the way here, we captured, in Deal, the man who, we believe, collects and transmits the information. We brought him along with us.”

  “Let me examine these documents first.”

  The Warden started with the papers that Giles had discovered on Bountiful. As he read each page, he passed it on to his friend. His expression grew more and more distraught. He then looked at the papers that the Comte had been attempting to burn. These he also examined carefully, though speeding up when their nature became clearer to him so that by the end he was only skimming over them.

  “This is very disturbing, Captain Giles. It is very fortunate that you have been able to intercept these reports. Did your questioning of this Captain Hoxley reveal whether he had delivered earlier reports to France?”

  “Yes, sir. He said he had been delivering them for the past six months.”

  “Damnation. I wonder how we can counter this, if we can at all. What do you think of it David?”

  “I am puzzled. I was in Hastings two weeks ago which is the period the first set of papers claims to cover...” The Warden’s friend paused, as if in thought.

  “Yes?”

  “Well the report about the area between Hastings and Eastbourne – Pevensey Bay and so on -- is all wrong. It indicates weak batteries or none at all where they are in fact strong, or hidden from the sea, and strong defenses where there are virtually none. The strength of the troops posted behind the beaches is too weak since there are in fact many more soldiers. Also, this reports states that they are militia while in fact they are from a regiment of the line. And so on.”

  “What about here?”

  “Let’s see… Yes. The distortion is not as pronounced. But looking at the report in terms of using it to plan a landing would point to the wrong places as being the best sites to come ashore.”

  “Very interesting. I wonder if these discrepancies occur for the whole coast. You said that you had brought this comte, whom you caught, with you, Captain Giles?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Haslet,” the Warden addressed the servant who had originally shown Giles into the breakfast room. “Go and fetch the man Captain Giles brought with him. Who is guarding him now, Captain?”

  “My lieutenant of marines, Lieutenant Macauley, and a squad of marines, sir.”

  “Bring Lieutenant Macaulay and a couple of his marines as well, Haslet. Leave the other prisoners behi
nd.”

  Lieutenant Macauley arrived steering the Comte de Fourcoup by one elbow.

  “Well, Monsieur le Comte,” said the Warden, “this is very disturbing. To find out, after we have given you refuge and welcomed you to our country, that you are a traitor—an agent of the French government. What have you to say for yourself? Why have you done it?”

  “I thought I had no choice, sir. Let me explain.

  “When the Bastille fell, I was with my regiment in Alsace. We never returned to Paris. We did try to restore the monarchy. When that failed, I fled to England, where I had some resources and I was able to raise some funds by selling property in Holland. My family was trapped in France. I presumed that they had gone to the guillotine. I settled in Deal, not rich – nothing like what I had in France before the fall of the Bastille – but enough. I thought to return during the Peace of Amiens, but I realized that it would be too hazardous.

  “After the war resumed, I was visited by a man who represented the French government. He said my wife and daughters were alive and living in Boulogne, where we used to have a town house. He presented conclusive evidence. It would be easy to have them denounced and executed, even in these new times with Bonaparte as First Consul. If I didn’t want that fate to befall them, I would have to co-operate with him. He said he had recruited others along the English coast to prepare reports on defenses and troops in the area. He needed me to obtain the information for the Deal area myself and to collect their findings from some others along the coast. I felt I had to agree. I could not sacrifice my family. The French agent left two men to make sure that I did not report his visit to the authorities”

  “So, did you collect the information?”

  “Yes. I am lucky enough to have a horse. No one pays any attention to me since I have been in Deal for so long. My contact gave me ways to recognize the others and a password to use to introduce myself. There are only five of us. I met with each of the others. Their stories are much the same as mine, though I think some of them are eagerly assisting on account of the money that was also promised. We were not all able to save as much as I could from the debacle.”

  “So you can identify the others?”

  “Yes. Anyway, I went to meet each of them and started to collect their reports. One of them, the Marquis d’Outrefort, who lives near Hastings, balked at giving accurate information. He was willing to risk the danger to his family of preparing a somewhat fictitious report. He altered his reports in ways that would be plausible, especially if these spies had other sources of information, but that would give a misleading idea of where it would be best for an invasion force to land. His daring may be helped by the fact that he is not devoted to his wife. He already knew that his wife has not been faithful and that the children are not his. He felt that providing false information might serve just as well as accurate information for getting them spared. I decided to take the same approach. I know that providing the reports at all was wrong and not denouncing the people who were recruiting us, but I couldn’t condemn my family to certain death by refusing. So now you know it all. I expect you will hang me.”

  “Probably, but first I want more information. Haslet, ask Lieutenant Oxley of the garrison to come and take charge of the prisoners. Captain Giles, we are all indebted to you for bringing this matter to light. I will give you a letter for Admiral Gardiner with suggestions about actions he might want to take – I cannot give him orders, but I hope he will see the wisdom of my suggestions. I will just be a moment. I would be grateful if you can delay your return to your ship while I write the note. I had hoped to have a word with you sometime soon about Dipton, but it will have to wait for another time.”

  Giles found himself and his men unceremoniously ushered into a waiting room by Haslett. In minutes he was given the Warden’s letter and was on his way. He was back on Impetuous well before the afternoon watch had ended and was able to sail almost at once. He felt a strong sense of loss and disappointment. He had seemed so close to matters of great and exciting import, and now he was back to his more routine activities as a frigate captain. He could only hope that Admiral Gardiner would have orders for him that would engage his talents.

  Chapter VI

  Daphne slept in. She awoke only when Elsie threw back the curtains to let in the first rays of the sun. The maid came with breakfast, having agreed with Mrs. Darling to delay the time when Daphne was normally woken.

  “Elsie, why have you brought breakfast? I am not sick.”

  “No, my lady. I thought that that was how you would want to have breakfast now. I asked Mr. Steves and Mrs. Wilson and they both said that the practice of married women was to have breakfast in bed, while unmarried ladies usually had it in the breakfast room.”

  “Is it? I didn’t know. I don’t like having breakfast in bed. I would rather be up and dressed before eating. No, no Elsie. It’s not your fault, you did what you thought best. Don’t cry. And I will have breakfast in bed this once. We both have a lot to learn about the ways of married ladies, I guess. But I am not going to start doing silly things just because it is expected.”

  Elsie had hardly started laying out her mistress’s riding clothes when Daphne set her tray aside and slid out of bed. She wanted to get on with things, not sit in bed where she might start to mope about being separated from her husband. Her appearance, so quickly after her tray had gone up, startled Steves. He was further disconcerted when she marched off to the stables to get her horse harnessed and saddled. He would have expected her to wait for the order that she needed the horse to be taken to the stables and the horse, when ready, brought up to the Hall for her to mount. Elsie whispered to him that Lady Giles would not even have thought it was necessary to have Steves arrange for the horse and that, in future, she would try to warn him if her mistress instructed her to lay out riding clothes, or came down to breakfast in them. However, Elsie thought that it might be best for Mr. Steves just to wait for the order. Lady Giles might well enjoy seeing what was happening in the stables before going riding. Mr. Steves shouldn’t expect Lady Giles to be like any other mistress he had ever served, but she was sure that Mr. Steves would find that her ladyship was easier to serve.

  Daphne spent the morning examining the four fields that her father had given to Giles as her dowry. She had not heard anything about her dowry before her marriage and had been so swept off her feet by Captain Giles that she had not thought to ask her father about what sort of a dowry he might be providing for her. When Giles told her about her father’s gift, after they were already married, she discovered that the two men had spent some time bargaining over it, but not in the usual sense. Mr. Moorhouse thought his daughter should have a very substantial dowry reflective both of his own status and of the high value he placed on her. Giles had been equally adamant that he valued Daphne for herself and wanted no dowry. They had compromised on the transfer of property. The fields had become separated from Dipton Hall at some time in the past and acquired by Dipton Manor. Logically, especially in terms of improving them and the adjacent land still belonging to Dipton Hall, they should be part of the holdings of Dipton Hall. The two men had agreed that since Daphne would undoubtedly be managing both farms for the foreseeable future, the transfer would make for no change in fact, and the wishes of each man would be satisfied. Giles preferred to think of the fields as a wedding present from Daphne’s father and not as her wedding portion*.

  Daphne was delighted with the present. She had left improving the remote fields of Dipton Manor until the rest of her projects were underway since she knew that she would have to persuade both Captain Giles and her father that the work needed to be undertaken. Now she had been given the go-ahead and she couldn’t resist the temptation to survey the situation and talk to people who were more intimately acquainted with the ground. This took all day – Daphne was far too enthusiastic to stop for lunch – and she arrived at Dipton Manor just in time to have tea with her father. She then went home to change and have dinner with Lady Marianne a
nd her daughters.

  The meal was excruciatingly boring. Neither Lady Marianne nor either of her daughters had any conversation, at least none when they were with Daphne, and they showed no interest in accounts of Daphne’s activities either in Dipton or in Brighton or in Portsmouth. In addition, they did not seem to be much interested in what news Daphne might have gathered about happenings in Dipton during her absence while she was visiting various people around the estate. Things were no better in the drawing room after the meal and when Daphne suggested that Catherine demonstrate the new piano-forte, all that was revealed was that, while the tone of the instrument was excellent, the performance revealed a lack of practice. Daphne escaped immediately after the demonstration to her room and she, and therefore Elsie, enjoyed an early night.

  The next day was much the same, though Daphne was concentrating on other parts of the joint estates. The only surprise was to learn that two ladies had called on her while she was out. One was Mrs. Butler. The other was Mrs. Oxley, the wife of a rather prominent landowner far enough from Dipton not to be part of the immediate Dipton community, though Daphne had heard that Mrs. Oxley was good friends with some of the grander Dipton families. The Oxleys had been at the ball that had been held at Dipton Hall before Daphne married and they had been explicitly asked to the wedding. That might account for Mrs. Oxley wanting to make the usual pro forma visit to a new bride. Until she saw the visiting cards, Daphne had quite overlooked the possibility that, as the new wife of Captain Giles, she would be treated to such visits almost immediately after her return to Dipton.

  The next day brought more cards of visitors whom she had missed by being away from the Hall. Daphne realized that having visitors calling on her unexpectedly might be a pattern for a while, and she did not want to snub anyone. She decided to stay home in the mornings. There was a lot of paper records concerning Dipton Hall to be examined. She had never felt the need to see them when she was managing the property as a stop-gap measure until Captain Giles could make more permanent arrangements for his estate. She had already squelched the belief, held by her father’s bailiff and steward, that figures and calculations were beyond the grasp of women and especially of ladies. She had a flair for seeing what the dry numbers in ledgers and account books showed about what was going on, and for nipping in the bud any larceny. She would be doing the same things now for Dipton Hall.