88888888
"I call to this court-martial Miss Cicely Hollum." Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood looked to the people assembled before him.
It had been two weeks since the biggest and most decisive sea battle in living memory. Some of the British fleet had returned, having lost no ships, to the port of Cadiz, a less hostile place as a result. Spain had made steps to withdrawn its alliance with France and to overthrow Joseph Bonaparte, their incumbent king, inflicted on them by Napoleon himself; welcoming their enemies into their country, even on an informal basis.
The French-Spanish alliance, those ships that had not been captured as prizes by the British or sunk had surrendered and were escorted back to England with the bulk of the fleet. Four ships however, remained at large.
Those assembled here, sitting on simple wooden chairs which some official or other had tried to smarten up using ties and ribbons were the captains and commanders of the ships that returned with them from Trafalgar and retinue, about three-dozen or so people, including the captains of the French ships (now prizes amongst others) Redoubtable and Bucentaure, Dupuytren, Lebec, Admiral Villeneuve amongst them. There too of course, adjacent Jack Aubrey sitting quietly and unassumingly was Stephen Maturin, adjacent whom Cicely had risen with obvious difficulty.
Cicely looked straight ahead at Collingwood, who smiled momentarily in encouragement as she took her place. To the left of the Vice Admiral stood Captain Eliab Harvey, of HMS Temeraire; he was council for the defence. To Collingwood's right Donald McGregor, the sour, staid post captain who now served as Lord Nelson's private secretary at sea, council for the prosecution.
McGregor was relishing the role, Jack had noted but, as he had offered himself for the trial, in an attempt to allay the severity of his misdemeanour, it was a pain he must bear. Though courts-martial were matter of course when a captain lost his ship it did not bring with it shame; deliberately disobeying orders, however, did and could result in imprisonment, up to ten years.
He looked at McGregor again, his emotionlessness overriding his obvious pleasure in the fact that Aubrey may well be brought down. And, thought Aubrey sourly, McGregor was clearly sticking to the old adage that one rose faster in naval hierarchy when anchoring to a desk and resisting the sea.
He followed Cicely's awkward gait as she made it to the place between Collingwood and Captain Harvey, a mixture of surprise at her appearance and sympathy for her condition milling in his chest. She was the fourth to give evidence, behind Lieutenant Mowett and Doctor Hardy, the latter merely attesting to his transfer to the Surprise. The first had been himself and Jack had plainly stated the facts as he had seen them, the events of the day, but he suspected that more was being made of the court-martial than on the face of it.
It had been a shock to say the least, in the melee of celebration, jubilation and high spirits in which the Surprise was engaged when it docked at Cadiz to find a tall woman, thin and poorly dressed holding what seemed to be a slight, unconscious and badly wounded landsman. The woman had urgently explained that she had Robert Young here for their Captain and at once Captain Howard had called for the plank, ushering them both aboard, the name of this woman of strange appearance being ignored for the present.
The woman had explained to the Captain, once both had been ushered into his office, that Robert Young had been injured in the course of the battle upon HMS Victory and her tone had an injured quality to it, as if he, Jack, had personally put this woman out.
"…she must rest of course," continued the woman using intonation which Jack Aubrey had found hauntingly familiar. He had, of course, made Cicely comfortable in his quarters again, before his mind burst forth its indignant curiosity once they were back in his office. She was a sight to behold – hair wild; makeup worn and patchy, half a necklace, a dress torn at the sleeve, lace coming away from the hem. And leather boots….? The woman had stopped and stared at Jack before Stephen Maturin pulled the hairpiece from his head said to him, "I see you've managed to preserve my 'cello."
It turned out he had presented himself in this bizarre apparel with Cicely in his arms as Jack had just seen them to Lord Nelson just before they had disembarked, having been under a kind of arrest by a very confused Lieutenant Quilliam. He had given the Surprise as his residence, apologised for his appearance and explained, briefly, that Cicely was his wife and had saved his life before asking permission to leave the Victory and return to Jack. His attention was drawn back to Cicely who was now being offered a bible, naval issue.
"I swear by almighty God that I shall tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Cicely's voice rang out earnestly and betrayed no measure of the pain her injuries must still have been causing her. Indeed, she had not even used it as an excuse to appear before a naval court dressed as a mizzenlad; though her trousers were wider and shirt more voluminous it was something akin to it at least.
McGregor had challenged her on it as she had entered the chilly, open town hall which the navy had requisitioned from the town's mayor for the event (more for the show of it for the indigenous population, to show Britain's navy operated on an open, clear basis), calling for Cicely to return in her own female attire. She had replied that this was her own clothing and she would not appear before the court in anything else. Cicely had known it was a little rash as it was Jack Aubrey's reputation on trial and, after his kindness would be insulting
"Indeed," Lord Nelson had added, just over McGregor's shoulder as they stood in the hall's front doorway, "usual female clothing would not be appropriate for the injuries you have suffered, madam." Collingwood had agreed.
"Perhaps ye could begin by telling us when you first came to be aboard HMS Surprise? When ye first took up yoor guise?" As prosecutor Donald McGregor, in his grating Scots accent (which, had there been humour or ease in it might have been described as "rugged") led the questioning. His questions had been careful, Jack had noticed, and well-chosen.
"Just over eighteen months ago," replied Cicely, her voice steady. She knew she would be questioned at length and, as a witness (and protagonist) her evidence was important in this case, in view of Aubrey's character.
"And this was yoor first time aboard a man-o'-war?" She shook her head. The room, although nearly November, was warm and its decoration, in the Spanish style, overstated and very decorative, something which Cicely actually thought she was growing accustomed to during the long time it had taken to question Jack about his conduct at the battle.
"No, she replied, "in the time I was at sea, in order to seek my brother Edward, I took myself aboard many a warship, at least six, I think, before I'd managed to locate the Surprise."
"Indeed? And ye travelled disguised as a boy?"
"I worked as a boy, yes," Cicely replied, "I did my share, did what I'd been employed to do and it served me well in crossing the Atlantic."
"So ye met up with the Surprise in the Americas?"
"Sao Paolo," Cicely replied. McGregor stopped momentarily, "it's a port in Brazil," she added. Jack stifled a snigger at McGregor's now furious face at the obvious being pointed out to him, as did one or two other people present, probably others he had crossed in the past. McGregor controlled his urge to snap at her and continued.
"I worked at my undertaking as an unskilled landsman, a mizzenlad as they say a'decks," she added, over the low gasps from some of the officers present at the singularly outrageous situation Cicely was describing, "may I just say sir that Captain Aubrey was quite unaware of my being anything other than a boy. He was entirely honourable."
"And what, pray, caused Captain Aubrey to discover yoor identity?" pressed McGregor, ignoring the praise Cicely had heaped on Jack Aubrey.
"My brother," replied Cicely, her voice remaining as steady as she was able as she recounted in her minds' eye the events of that fateful evening. "It was rumoured – " she inhaled heavily, " – that he had brought bad luck to the ship and as such, took his own life."
She fixed on a large yellow and red mural painted onto the whitewashed wall at the back of the hall – Cicely knew full well if she had looked at anyone, not least Jack or Stephen, she would weep pitifully there and then. She had vowed that she would not behave like a petticoated woman before the naval officers.
"The minute Captain Aubrey discovered my identity," she continued boldly, "he isolated me from the rest of the men and debated what the right and proper thing to do with me was."
"And what was the reet and proper thing to do?"
"As far as I was concerned it was to fight on in my brother's stead, and I put this to Captain Aubrey." Cicely exhaled heavily. She knew this exertion was taking, and would take its toll on her, but she also knew the severity of Jack's accusation of dereliction. He had been reasonable with her as a mizzenlad and kind to her as a friend.
"So ye married Captain Aubrey's surgeon." Cicely nodded.
"Could you furnish the court the circumstances under which this marriage took place?"
"I expressed my desire to complete my brother's duty so he could pass into the kingdom of heaven. Dr. Maturin, the physician, suggested to the Captain that, as a married woman, this would allow me freedom of conduct aboard the Surprise with little problem with the crew."
"A marriage o' convenience?"
"Convenient for the briefest of days." Cicely looked across at Stephen, remembering the first flush of affection she remembered feeling for him, when he had been holding her raw hands and inspecting them, battered as they had been by the backward "toughening up" ways practiced by seamen of the Surprise. "We learned to love one another in time." Stephen returned the smile and Cicely's poor heart, long wrenched through months of anguish, twisted in happiness.
"And what duty did ye undertake?" McGregor's lips curled – this was the point of the matter, the crux, the heart, Aubrey knew. Cicely hesitated. She had done this to fight the Acheron. Go on, urged Jack, silently willing Cicely on. Tell them the truth.
"I fought with the crew against the Acheron, the enemy ship we had encountered in the waters near the Galapagos Islands." Cicely's expression was neutral; she had spoken plainly and truthfully yet she knew that Jack's career may hang on what she had just imparted to the court. Even McGregor, to whom, and the Admirals, the knowledge was not new (Cicely had had the honour of being interviewed by Lord Nelson at her bedside when she had regained consciousness) the statement of it was still shocking; to those others assembled it was outrageous.
"Silence, please!" demanded Admiral Collingwood, before looking back to Cicely and McGregor.
"Captain Aubrey did order me not to fight," Cicely added evenly, "he is an honourable captain, as I said earlier, Captain McGregor."
"Once the battle was o'er, what happened then?" McGregor seemed eager to press on. "Did ye remain aboard HMS Surprise?" Cicely nodded.
"For a time. We were far from England, Captain McGregor, being in the middle of the Pacific. I became with child and agreed to the proposal that Captain Aubrey had presented, which was to reside with his wife at his estate." Cicely breathed out. That was it. She had bared her soul. Let it be advantageous to Jack, she begged silently. Admiral Collingwood thought it was over too as he raised his hand in order to dismiss her but instead McGregor, instead of moving aside to allow her by as she turned, stood fast and continued.
"And the bairn?" Cicely said nothing and her expression asked that no-one press her either.
"But ye were sought by yoor father, were ye not, once you returned t' England?" McGregor changed tack. Silence won supreme and Cicely faltered. She knew that Nelson was aware of this; he had spoken to her of it when he had visited her, but he had too said that the issue would be resolved at a time she was well enough to speak to him of it. Cicely had not expected to have to recount the tale before these people, Jack too, and especially Stephen. She had told him, of course, at length, but how did the situation concern this court?
"Ye were sought by yoor intended husband too?" Cicely said nothing.
"Did Captain Aubrey know that yoor father is the Marquis of Gloucester? And that Benjamin Wigg, Magistrate, a wealthy man, is yoor betrothed?"
"My father's intended husband for me," Cicely rallied with all the grace she could muster, her face pinking. The seaman in her felt like pounding Donald McGregor into the ground for his cheek and she clenched her fists by her sides venting her temper silently. "I have no idea whether Captain Aubrey knew of my father, neither Magistrate Wigg. Perhaps if you were to ask him yourself? He may have done with respect to my brother. And to your other point, Captain McGregor, both my father, and Mr Wigg it seems, were seeking me as they had discovered that I was then back in England. I considered it reasonable that I return to my husband."
Yes, thought Jack. I know your diversion now – had I planned to utilise Cicely's identity for my own gain?
"But ye ran away from yoor hostess, did ye not? Mrs Aubrey? And sought manual work as ye did so?"
"Yes," confirmed Cicely, pride at her actions coming to the fore now. She had worked for her passage, not begged or stolen, not whored. "I was a navigational for several weeks." She knew the news, the details she were about to reveal here, was news to Stephen and she saw him look up from his notebook, that which Cicely had returned to him in not quite the state Blakeney had given it to him, and stare at her attentively as several of the other men in the room. Quite how astonishing the story unfolding before them was they wanted to find out.
"Aye," mused McGregor sourly, "then a soldier ye became, then a sailor, then a soldier again, finally a sailor?" Cicely nodded. She had owned up to it to Nelson – these men knew already and now it was confirmed for the official record.
"What happened after ye finished with the canal firm?"
"I was taken on by Major Blunt, of the 105th rifles, purely as an aid to making it to a ship. Matthew Harris, currently of the Surprise, vouched for me."
"And will he attest to yoor claimed capture and interrogation under the French spymaster Joseph Fouche?" There was a united gasp – Fouche was notoriously vicious and cruel in his manner and methods of extracting information from his prisoners.
"We were both prisoners, yes," corrected Cicely, "and I am sure he would."
"Excuse me, my Lord." Jack Aubrey's honeyed baritone voice spoke out as he stood and addressed Lord Nelson. "It is I, not Mrs Maturin, who is on trial here – "
"No, indeed," replied Nelson, raising a hand as if inviting Jack to sit back down again, however he did not call him over his affront.
"Indeed," repeated Collingwood, "however her account binds the truth together, does it not?" he asked Jack, as to all. "As an egg binds a cake? And after all, it is a fine, extraordinary tale, especially her account in the service. You do not mind airing this with this small company?"
Cicely shook her head, now wishing for her time to be over. A defensive part of her mind thought," and duly recorded for everyone to know." Then, the name "Diana Villiers" skipped through her cerebral hemispheres – he had had the temerity to tell her after all, this mysterious woman, who had begged him to return to her; why should not the highest ranking naval officers hear it too? A split second later the rest of her mind banded together and uttered "shame, shame!" to her conscience.
Collingwood looked over to McGregor, "Captain, if you would be so good as to curtail your questions and limit them to the case in question?" McGregor said nothing, just nodded curtly.
"Would ye be so kind, Miss Hollum, to give us barest details of yoor imprisonment by Fouche, those ye think most pertinent to the case?"
"I was questioned by Joseph Fouche, who told me that my husband's life was in danger. He charged me with a duty aboard HMS Victory."
"To kill Admiral Lord Nelson?"
"No, to save him. His reasoning was, if the Lord Admiral were to live, the French would always have a target and would win eventually. Were he to be killed he would be ever a artyr."
"But ye deserted yoor ship, and officially, ye have a charge of a flogging o'er yoor head?"
"Fouche had told me I must discover the identity of the assassin, then kill him myself. When I had found him, who I thought was the one who would do this deed, I wavered – I couldn't be sure this man was who I thought he was."
"Miss Hollum, ye do not seem unhappy that ye have disobeyed yoor father…"
"Irrelevant!"
"Be quiet, Captain Aubrey, or I will have you on a charge of contempt, as well." Collingwood's words rang out sharply and Jack's eyes widened with surprise for it had been Stephen who had interrupted. Cicely however, continued regardless.
"Indeed I am not. My father is a bully; he drove away my brother, who was in the service of Captain Aubrey of the Surprise [Jack couldn't help it, he looked away from Cicely]. It is the reason I came to be in the Captain's company originally, as I have said. I sought refuge from my eventual fate."
"But is it not a father's prerogative?"
"Indeed, I suppose it is. But not against a daughter's wishes," Cicely replied evenly. Indeed, remembered father's words, the last words he had ever spoken to her before she had decided to quit: I would make you a whore to the Prince Regent and the whole of the court if it meant I gained from it: just you remember that, you baggage! "Should I be in a church with that brute of a man next to me, I would be dishonouring God by promising to love him for the rest of my life, when I would in fact be loathing and detesting him. My father and Benjamin Wigg stood to gain much by the match." McGregor snorted derisorily.
"That is the way of the world, Miss Hollum," he chuckled condescendingly, "but I grant ye, matrimony against the will of one party is not legal."
"And my father will contest it, if you stand by your original assertion that you would return me to England," Cicely added, her eyes drifting over to the Lord Admiral. His return look, the glint in his eyes, told her he already knew this.
"Thank you, Miss Hollum," concluded Captain McGregor. He stood aside and Cicely took a step.
"Any questions from the defence?" Collingwood looked across to Captain Harvey, who had been mute for Cicely's entire testimony. This was now to continue albeit for a few words.
"Miss Hollum had twice asserted her confidence in Captain Aubrey's honour during the prosecution's questioning," he said efficiently. "That is enough for me."
"Thank you, Miss Hollum, you may take your leave." Admiral Collingwood smiled briefly at Cicely, who was glad to be gone.
"Thank you," replied Cicely. "It's 'Mrs Maturin', Admiral Collingwood," she corrected him. "I'll not get a flogging, then?"
"My dear, you have given more than enough blood to the service as it it!" declared Nelson, a wisp of joviality to his tone, "and I for one am sorely grateful for it!" A laugh went up from the assembled men, which was hurriedly damped down by one and all as they remembered their place.
Almost as soon as Cicely made to sit down next to Stephen, to hold onto his arm with relief than "Dr. Maturin" was called to the stand.
"And what was yoor mission, Dr. Maturin?" McGregor opened the questioning directly, once Stephen had made his confidence with the bible.
"That I cannot say," he replied honestly. Stephen thought about his toil, through hostile France, into the home of a friend in Andorra and into his own homeland of Catalonia. That was the difficult part, the part Wickham had made him endure. That Wickham had then made an attempt on his life had brought another order to the fore, one which he had harboured close for so many years it was as familiar to him as his name.
"What I can say my Lord is that my orders came directly from Sir Toby Hamilton."
"The old Jug, eh?" Stephen tried not to smirk as, in all seriousness, Admiral Lord Nelson had referred to Hamilton by the name he and…Wickham had so often used. His recurring astonishment that William Wickham was actually the traitor who would make an attempt on Nelson's life Stephen brushed from his fore-mind.
"I had suspicions that there was another aboard who may well have been your undoing, Admiral," Stephen continued, "James Fillings. He had served under Captain Aubrey, had been chosen by Thomas Pullings to crew the Acheron and, once that ship had foundered, somehow his name had found its way into my realm as being aboard HMS Victory."
"Can ye avail us of more about this Fillings?" Cicely sighed. Here it was. James's character to be pulled to shreds. To her, James was…had been…her friend. He had shared his fears with her, and she with him; they had looked out for one another, been there when no-one else wanted anything to do with two outcasts To her, James had been thoroughly misguided and though his own naivety had been manipulated to his death.
"His father was an infamous hostile spy with Jacobite sympathies. He had sworn to fight England to the last child."
"Confirmed," replied Admiral Collingwood simply.
"So, are we given to understand that ye were no' imprisoned, as Miss Hollum believed?"
"I was not. That had been William Wickham's intention, now it is clear. He faked my death in Paris; he shot another spy there under the misdirection that it was me. That I found it so difficult to complete my primary mission made me suspicious of his motives." That, and the fact that Wickham had not banked on my inside help, Laurent Burgoyne, assistant to Fouche, he added, but silently to himself. Burgoyne had come through with the information in the nick of time and regretfully paid for with his life.
"And then ye became…what shall I say…the beauty that Lieutenant Quilliam questioned in the cockpit immediately after the battle?" A several snorts, quickly stifled, came from the audience, one, Stephen suspected, made by Jack.
"Captain Harvey, do you have anything you wish to ask the witness?" Captain Harvey, pale, round-faced and pernickety to a man, smiled at Collingwood before nodding towards Stephen.
"You have known Captain Aubrey how long, Doctor?"
"About nine years," replied Stephen.
"And in that time, have you known him to disobey orders?"
"Oh yes, several. None which came from the Admiralty though, as far as I know."
"Would you consider Captain Aubrey to be a fair and honest man?"
"As honest a man, and a captain could be. I cannot say how accurately he follows the orders from your good selves," Stephen continued, "for he does not confide them to me. Of his character, I have always found Captain Aubrey to be is rigid in his discipline, which buoys his men; fair; even-minded; loyal to the last to the service. I would go so far as to say he loves the Navy more than he loves his wife."
"Gamely put," said Collingwood quietly. "Any further questions, Captain?"
"And what of the traitor Wickham now?" Harvey, seemingly satisfied with Stephen's fondant-like description of Jack's nature and disposition, returned to the subject of this now-known, very high profile defector.
"Hanged once I catch him."
"Or anyone else," added Collingwood to the assembled captains.
No, contradicted Stephen silently, once I catch him.
Five minutes later, after Guilliame Dupuytren gave evidence of his humane and gentleman-like treatment of his good self aboard the Surprise under Jack, and confirmed that he not only was acquainted but knew very well Dr. Maturin ("we shared corpses during our medical training together to save costs") another Frenchman took the stand. Jean-Baptiste Lebec, tall and broad in physique, dark hair caught back in a blue ribbon, dignified in appearance and manner looked to Collingwood attentively.
Immediately McGregor asked the man his relationship with William Wickham and James Fillings, whom he had killed, about his captaincy in the French fleet and how he was come to loyalty to the English cause.
"It is true," began Lebec, his Breton accent smooth and soothing and though his English was broken in places Lebec's meaning was plain, "I was once a French ship's captain. I fought Captain Aubrey in the Pacific when I was captain of the Acheron. By skill and efficiency, luck and strategy, Aubrey bettered me, though I deceived him in my escape. With my captain-role there was another – I had been recruited by Fouche, a man it is very difficult to say no to."
"It is true to say that the Acheron, through no fault of Captain Pullings, broke apart in the Channel. Very few of us survived. Some of us managed to get to land, we got to a tiny speck of rock, one of Les Ercehous. We clung to it desperately, 'oping that we would be rescued."
"I was stranded with James Fillings. He confessed his plan to me, hoping, I think, for an ally."
"And had he one?" asked Captain McGregor.
"Non! I am against Bonaparte! I only sailed as Captain as I was compelled to; I had searched many opportunities for a suitable manner in which to unchain myself from Bonaparte's grip, through Joseph Fouche.
"Why not report Fillings to Admiral Lord Nelson?" The Frenchman paused.
"Well, I could 'ave. But, I did not know whether Fillings was telling me a story, or whether it was true. He was such a fading thing, I didn't know if he had the strength for it. Besides, I am a British patriot; French born I may be, but France is not in my heart."
Cicely felt tears prick her eyes (he may not be standing here, nor Nelson there, if I'd gone through with it! And Fouche led me to believe my own thoughts too – how convenient for him then if I had killed Jean-Baptiste Lebec. One less turncoat for him to have worried about! Next to her, Stephen too was thinking about Lebec, but for entirely different reasons.
He had not betrayed the true reason as to how he had known Wickham and James, who he had killed to prevent him acting again on Nelson's life, was not there to confirm or deny any of the man's the assertions.
"But how do we know ye are not the traitor? Ye say ye are a patriot yet ye gave Captain Pullings a right run around. And ye freely admit being in contact with Joseph Fouche.
"I was indeed a Captain, sir, with aspirations to promotion." Lebec's voice had grown a little weary but he pressed on, his wide brown brow wrinkling as he spoke. "But when Bonaparte chose to invade Brittany, my homeland, killed my people, many of whom, yes, had royalist sympathies, but did not plot a rebellion as the so called Emperor believed, allowed French soldiers to burned, attack and loot, as if Brittany was some foreign land, when I heard all of this, knowing my family was turned from out home, some of our friends robbed and murdered, my loyalties changed, hence you find me here."
A good story which was probably true; Stephen knew about the Breton resistance of course, but also a further truth of it too – Lebec had decided long before to turn from Bonaparte. Stephen had liberated orders from the captain's desk when the Surprise overwhelmed the Acheron, boarding and taking her as a prize. They had been signed by none other than William Wickham. Jean-Baptiste Lebec, clearly, knew better than most that Wickham was a traitor, hence his actions towards him. Stephen glanced to Lebec, who caught his look and gave a small flick to the corners of his mouth.
Once Monsieur Lebec had returned to his chair Collingwood called for both the prosecution and the defence to name further witnesses, if they so desired. When neither of them did he called Aubrey back to the stand.
"Captain Aubrey," began Admiral Collingwood steadily, "have you anything further to add to your defence?" Jack paused. He had given evidence on the battle and told Collingwood about his orders and his eventual role. What else was there to say?
"Yes sir," he replied at length. "It is claimed that, by my order from Lord Nelson, who told me to sail and not to engage the enemy, it is asserted that I am derelict in my duty for failing to follow a direct order from a superior."
"Go on, Captain," Collingwood urged. "I wish to add that I acted due to the severe nature of the peril the Victory found herself to be in, attacked as she had been by Redoubtable. Under the Articles of War, 1749, it is stated that orders can be circumvented where extreme loss of life is not otherwise preventable and that would give the effect of the greater good benefiting from that suspension of duty."
"I believed in this case, in the peril with which the crew of the flagship found itself, an imminent boarding party on the way being the peril by name, that that counted as an extreme enough circumstance." He was sweating, Jack knew. Hot, irritating perspiration dripped down his back, from his brow and under his armpits as he contemplated the verdict of the court. Guilty and he would be jailed.
Next to him Gillis, Collingwood's secretary, was busily adding Jack's final words to the court's minutes.
"Having considered the evidence," Admiral Collingwood began minutes later, "surrounding the charge of dereliction of duty brought to this court-martial over Captain Jack Aubrey of HMS Surprise." He paused dramatically, although Cicely was sure it was not meant to be so. Jack was now standing next to Collingwood with both Captains, McGregor and Harvey, standing beside them on the outer. It occurred to Cicely that the scene resembled a near-completed game of chess.
"In summary, I hereby find that Captain Aubrey did not break the orders given to him by Lord Nelson, merely bent to their limits. It also pleasure to know that you insisted in this court martial taking place, a most honourable act." He turned and looked at Jack. "Thank you Captain Aubrey for doing your duty." Jack saluted him, his relief showing on every inch of his face. Cicely sighed deeply, but this was barely noticed over the cheers of delight and calls of "Hurrah!" and "Huzzah" from unidentified members of the audience.
"Before you take your leave Captain, it is my pleasure to say that Captain McGregor will furnish you with further orders in due course." Admiral Collingwood, more at ease now the court-martial was finally at an end, took Jack aside momentarily as he spoke to him. "There's no need to look alarmed; I think you will enjoy this mission. You have no need to begin until tomorrow in any case."
Twenty feet away, walking in the direction of the hall's door a conversation between another Admiral and seaman (well, ex-seaman) was now taking place. Cicely, availed of Stephen's company as he went to clap Jack heartily on the back in a congratulatory manner, had made her way alone to the large windows which overlooked the harbour. She was looking at the splendid sight of the British fleet in dock with several of the prizes (the Spanish vessels had been taken by some of the captains back to Britain lest the opportunity to cause offence to their now-warmer port-hosts) as she wondered what the future now held following this glorious victory.
Cicely had woken in Stephen's arms, or at least she had thought it was Stephen, back on the Surprise three days after the battle. What she remembered was the dull agony throughout her body and Stephen had explained that the effects of the laudanum, which had kept her drowsy, had worn off. Cicely had known better than to ask for more – she knew of the potency and what it did to a man.
Jack had been there too, generosity personified, and had allowed her to rest in his cabin. He had allowed her to remain until that morning, when she had insisted she make herself ready for the court-martial and she and Stephen had agreed that they both should reside in his quarters again, Dr. Hardy having departed the Surprise back to the Victory.
"Captain Aubrey has found himself fortunate." Cicely turned to her left, from where the quiet, warm tones were coming and found that she was looking into the face of the Lord Admiral. He too was admiring the fleet but, Cicely wagered, for entirely different reasons to her.
"My Lord," she began, recalling the time when he had spoken to her before, not at her bedside but on board the Victory. He had counselled someone who he had thought to be one of his landsmen against his spectacularly idiotic behaviour on the rail of the ship's main deck and advised, "the early bird catches the worm, but it's the second mouse that eats the cheese." The words, in their entirety, pattered through her mind quickly. "Indeed he has," Cicely replied graciously. "I am so pleased, he really is a good man."
"I am sure of it," replied Nelson, smiling a little yet not taking his eyes from his bobbing realm. "He commands one of my ships, does he not? Were he not brave and strategic, bold and, may I propose it, a chancer of fate, all may have been lost that day."
"Indeed," agreed Cicely. He bent the rules to a happy outcome.
"You remember seeing the letter I showed you from Mr. Gordon, do you not, that I showed you last week?" Unfolding the missive Nelson handed it to her. Cicely looked over it briefly, her mind recalling it.
"Yes, my Lord," she replied unsteadily.
"I did say I would return you to England," he recounted unnecessarily as he glanced at Cicely. "I admire someone who can use his tools advantageously in the manner of Captain Aubrey. As such, I feel duty bound in my position to be able to do so, better even, myself. Just as one bends the sail to make favourable his course, so one might with his would a sail." Nelson leaned closer to Cicely. "My dear, I will bend the rules too," he added, his voice low.
"You save my life, sir," replied Cicely as a swell of relief washed away her knot of fear.
"As you did mine. My private secretary, the good Mr Gordon, outlined in not too plain terms a apt navigable route." Cicely said nothing, but shivered a little in the chill of the room (perhaps female attire, for its quantity, may have been desirable after all?). Here was the commander of the entire British Navy, a man with so much power under his hand and he was taking time to explain to her something which was of little importance to him, in the grand scheme of things but meant a great deal to her.
"As long as you remain abroad, and not return to England, nor to any of her dominions or territory, your father cannot challenge the legality of your marriage." Nelson took a step back, and looked her up and down briefly. "You do have a dress I suppose? I am sure you would look most comely in it."
"What do you propose, my Lord?" Cicely's mouth said as she thought of the blue dress, originally intended for Sophie Aubrey, that Stephen had put aside, that she had discovered when she'd returned to the Surprise, when she'd believed all hope was lost.
"Before I mention it, I need you to vouchsafe a promise to me, Mrs Maturin." Cicely nodded.
"Yes, my Lord?"
"You will never attempt to enter my navy again, as either a man, or a woman….confide, Mrs Maturin, that you will not hand, reef and steer on my navy's ships again!" Cicely grinned. An easy promise, for she had made a similar one to Stephen that very morning.
"Of course, my Lord yes. And may I say what a great privilege it has been serving under such a benevolent First Lord as yourself." There. Formally discharged from the Service, though, Cicely thought, probably without honours.
"My chaplain, Alexander Smith is willing to offer his services to whit matrimonial ambition between the good Doctor Maturin and yourself."
"Marriage?" Cicely's mind flicked over the possibility and the Admiral's plan became clear in her mind as a costal view when both proximity was reduced and visibility increased.
"I am sure a suitable escort for you could be found, and…did you say you had a dress?"
"Yes my Lord, a blue one." Cicely beamed. If her father or Magistrate Wigg were known to Lord Nelson; indeed they would probably be giving someone at Admiralty House a deal of difficulty, she supposed, then one such as he might hardly pass up an opportunity to curtail their influence.
"Splendid!"
Then her mind faltered, she felt nervous and awkward. They had married for convenience just over a year before, though it was love now, would he be prepared to do it again? To solemnise it to satisfy the law, certainly, but was his heart true to mean his vows before God? Cicely looked, wide eyed at Nelson, about to do something which did not come easily to her.
"May I beg your assistance a little further?" Nelson said nothing and waited for her to continue. A lump offear began to swell in Cicely's throat. "I beg you, my Lord, could you put this scheme to him?" She swallowed, "What I mean to say is, could you explain it to Stephen?"
The Lord Admiral frowned a little, then he broke out into a guffaw of laughter. Several people some feet away turned at the noise in the otherwise quietly bustling, slowly emptying hall. Cicely looked at him in sheer amazement.
"My dear! Madam," he began, still smiling widely. He put a hand to her back. "It was Dr. Maturin who put it to me!"
88888888
It had been agreed that the wedding would be sanctified aboard the deck of the Surprise as the first, but, once the numbers had been considered, the Lord Admiral had offered the more spacious flagship's decks. Cicely had managed to alter her dress using a dissimilar colour which would not be seen and had been visited on numerous occasions in Stephen's quarters by a very excited Lieutenant Blakeney who, in between gabbling to Stephen about his interim discoveries since he had last seen the doctor, his joy at Cicely being there and the manner in which she was altering the garment (the boy was of the Renaissance in his universal enquiries) and the business of the ship which neither inspired Stephen (though he listened patiently) and Cicely, whose mind had been absent with her alterations to the once fine and beautiful dress and had decided not to listen intently in any case.
Stephen had come up with the notion aided by Jack that she should reside in the captain's cabin that night for propriety (Cicely had decided not to open that line of questioning) and both had seemed so pleased with the idea that she had capitulated, much though she would have preferred to have remained with him. Cicely had had an idea that Stephen and Jack would be keeping one another company, as had Will Blakeney who, via his network of between-decks crawl-spaces, had returned to Cicely and kept her company until the small hours.
During her time with Will she had noticed that he had with him Stephen's now well-battered childhood notebook and, choosing not to question Blakeney about his possession of it, allowed him to share his rum ration with her, as they had done in the past, reminisced over the past couple of years, of James Fillings, of Lebec, of their furious fight with the Acheron. Of his discovery that she was not Edward Hollum's brother…and generally put her landsman-days behind her.
Once she had stepped up to the quarterdeck the next day, given away as she had been by Aubrey, but this time married by Reverend Smith, Cicely had mused on the reputed misfortune of being twice-wed, a thought-enquiry which had kept her nerves in check before countless important naval officers and several hundred men.
The deck milled with everyday activity once the ceremony was over and Cicely, looking into her husband's pale green eyes, felt a rush of contentment. They were married, officially now. It had been duly recorded in the log and the requisite paperwork had been issued and signed and she had turned and beamed at the crew of the Surprise, her family, who cheered her heartily. She was Mrs Maturin now, again, as she once was, as she had been, as she now would be.
"I thought you may find this amusing," said Jack, after congratulating both of them and he handed a letter past Cicely to Stephen. She noticed the official Admiralty seal on the outer and guessed it was his orders. "I am officially exonerated of all charges of dereliction, and have my orders," he said with a satisfied grin.
"Indeed, which I am sure are easily stretched," ragged Stephen. Then he looked up as Admiral Lord Nelson approached them. Jack lowered his orders. He was going to keep these for a long time, dig them out at moments when he was very low and imagine McGregor's stone-faced expression as he had handed them to him.
"May I kiss the bride?" Cicely smiled as Nelson took her hand and pressed his lips to it lightly. "Congratulations to you both," he added, looking at Stephen, before glancing at Jack, his orders still in hand.
"May I be so bold as to ask you, Dr. Maturin, for the company of your wife for several moments? I am sure you gentlemen can amuse yourselves in the meantime?"
Once she and Nelson had moved away from Jack and Stephen, who had continued their discussion of Jack's missive he waved his arm openly to the ocean.
"It was here, Mrs Maturin, where I would have fallen if that man's bullet had penetrated," he began. There were so many, Cicely thought, being fired from Redoubtable, I wonder, had I not saved you from James's, others may well have found their mark.
"Perhaps I will commission a brass plaque to put on the spot where you threw me?" He gestured to the mid-deck planks. "It is no mean thing that you did, madam, and no less brave. I have seen many an officer flee at first cannon-fire, or lose his nerve once battle begins to rage. Were you a man I would gladly see you in my Navy – nay! I would glory in the honour of it." Cicely said nothing. More than anything, for Nelson to praise her as he had just done, was worth all the jewels of Africa, of all the gold and silver from the Americas too.
"Now I will bid you farewell. Captain Aubrey has his orders and we have to get our prizes back to England. May I ask, what will you do?"
"I will sail with the Surprise," Cicely reiterated, "and be with my husband. I'll turn my hand to whatever Captain Aubrey needs me to; try to teach the hands to read, those that wish to try, that is." Nelson hmph'd his approval. "My uncle, my mother's brother, sent a letter to me offering me welcome in Sarawak. That is my ultimate destination, and it will afford Dr. Maturin the time to complete his work for the Royal Society."
"Indeed?"
"It is his long-held ambition," clarified Cicely, then added, "May I intrude on the Navy's kindness a little more, should Captain Aubrey's orders be compatible?" Nelson smiled warmly.
"Indeed you may, Mrs Maturin, indeed you may."
Jack's orders were indeed compatible and he had relayed them to Stephen as Cicely and Lord Nelson spoke. His quarry, four ships of the French-Spanish alliance, which had been the final vessels at the southern-most end of the formation, had evaded capture by the British fleet under Rear Admiral Pelley: Formidable, Scipion, Duguay Trouin and Mont Blanc.
They had originally headed for the Straits of Gibraltar, Jack had conveyed, but Pelley had changed his mind, and were now at large in the Atlantic, several sightings of them sailing a northern course back to France. In short, Jack was to hunt these prizes and return then to Britain
"Four prize ships." Jack relished the words as he put away his orders. Then he looked to his friend. "You are happy to resume your duties then, Stephen?"
Dr. Maturin nodded. He was more than happy – the ship was becoming his first home, it could take him anywhere in the world he wished to investigate (just not always following the most direct route). And of course, Cicely would be there. His Cicely, his darling wife who he loved most dear. Yes, he would be happy. The latter sentence he relayed to Jack before looking over to her, then fixing his eye keenly on Nelson.
"A storm is coming," Stephen looked up at the clear sky, before back to Jack. "I speak metaphorically, old man," he added, "but we sail to new horizons."
"Old horizons," corrected Stephen, before looking back to Nelson again. The question was not when in the world he would encounter Wickham again, it was where. "Thank God I have done my duty," he added, smiling at Cicely as she walked away from Nelson, for it was the Lord Admiral who he looked upon as he thought what might have been had it not been for all manner of things.
"Thank God we all have, Stephen," replied Jack, as Stephen took Cicely tenderly in his arms, and to himself, repeated, thank God we all did.