Sharpe's Honor Page 7

  The Marqués knew that death was in the bright, sun blazing steel. He had never faced a force like this, a sheer animal force that snarled at him and he shook his head and wondered why the great blade did not come. For a second, as he felt his legs shaking, there was the wild hope that the Englishman was going to let him pick up his sword that had been forced out of his hand when the cavalry blade had struck the slimmer sword’s ornate guard.

  Then he saw the Englishman lower his sword. Saw him step back and suddenly heard the rush of hooves. The cheers about the cemetery wall had faded. The echo of the pistol shot died into silence.

  Four horsemen had ducked under the gate. Now they rode towards the place where the paths crossed in the cemetery’s centre. In the lead was Colonel Thomas Leroy, the inevitable cigar clenched in his mouth. In his hand was a smoking pistol. Behind him rode two Provosts, the army’s policemen, and a Spanish officer.

  ‘Major Sharpe!’ Leroy’s voice was harsh.

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘You choose an odd place to practice your sword arm.’ Leroy swung from his horse and tossed the reins to d‘Alembord. His ravaged, burned face made the Marques frown with distaste. Leroy jerked his head. ’Come with me, Sharpe.‘

  Sharpe hesitated, but Leroy ordered it again, his voice more savage still, and Sharpe, his sword in his hand, followed his Colonel up the northern path between the intricate gravestones. ‘You are a god-damned bloody fool, Sharpe.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Christ in his benighted bloody heaven!’ The American seemed lost for words. He took the cigar from his lips, spat a speck of leaf onto the gravel, and stared at his Major. ‘I’ve seen an eight year old with more damned sense! What in hell’s name are you doing here?’

  ‘A matter of honour, sir.’

  ‘Honour!’ The scarred face twisted in rage. ‘Don’t talk of honour, Sharpe. You’re here because you’re a fool!’ He looked left. ‘Captain d’Alembord?‘

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘You’ll oblige me by bringing your horses.’

  Sharpe frowned. ‘Sir!’

  Leroy swung back on him, the cigar jabbed at Sharpe’s face. ‘Quiet! You’re under orders!’ Leroy saw that the Rifleman was about to protest and he jerked his head at the Provosts behind him. ‘And if you disobey orders, Sharpe, I’ll have you arrested. Is that clear?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Fetch your jacket. You’re going.’ Leroy shook his head in frustrated bitterness. ‘I can’t leave the god-damned Battalion for one day!’

  ‘Señor!’ It was Major Mendora, a sneer on his face, coming on catlike feet towards Leroy and Sharpe. ‘There is a delay?’

  Leroy turned to the white-uniformed man, and Sharpe saw the Spaniard recoil from the bubbled, stretched scar tissue. Leroy was trying to govern his anger. ‘Major?’

  ‘Major Sharpe cannot fight? He is afraid, perhaps?’

  Leroy pushed Sharpe aside. He stared with his ravaged face at Mendora. ‘Listen, you son of a whore, you prinked-up bastard. There was no duel, there is no duel, there never was a duel! This was a friendly piece of sword practice! Do you understand me?’

  Mendora understood. In the face of the American’s rage he simply nodded. He said nothing as Leroy tartly ordered Sharpe to follow him.

  The Spanish soliders jeered as Sharpe left. They accused him of cowardice, of lacking manhood, of being afraid to fight. It was gall to Sharpe, a shame he had to endure until Leroy had led him out of earshot. Leroy scowled at him. ‘Never again, Sharpe, understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Remember you owe me a career now.’ Leroy was grim. ‘One more god-damn mistake and I’ll have you shipped back to god-damn England. You understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘This is my Battalion now, Sharpe. It is going to be good. You’re going to help me make it good.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘And thank God Colonel Alvarez was at Brigade. He’ll talk sense into that stupid fool. Nothing happened, you understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  The American seemed unimpressed by Sharpe’s contrite-ness. ‘Christ! If the Peer learned about this he’d tear you into pieces. You god-damn deserve it. You’re a fool.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Now go and get drunk. Sergeant Harper says his woman’s cooked you a meal. I don’t want to see your ugly face till tomorrow.’

  ‘No, sir.’

  Chastened, embarrassed, humiliated by the jeers of his enemies, but his career safe, Sharpe watched Leroy ride away. The Provosts, not needed. followed the Colonel.

  D‘Alembord stayed with Sharpe. ’It seems our Colonel has a knack of turning up at the right time.‘

  Sharpe, humiliated by the tongue-lashing, nodded.

  D‘Alembord smiled. ’You were right.‘

  ‘Right?’

  ‘You were about to hack the bugger into bits.’

  Sharpe smiled bitterly. ‘The next time I will.’

  D‘Alembord sighed. ’With the greatest respect, sir, don’t be a god-damned idiot. You’ve survived a duel with your career intact. Be content.‘

  ‘I’m dishonoured.’

  D‘Alembord mocked him with laughter. ’Honour!‘ He led Sharpe off the road, up towards the ash trees on the hill. ’Honour, my dear Sharpe, is just a word behind which we hide our sins. It disappears, I find, whenever a lady’s bedroom door opens.‘ He smiled at his Major, remembering the awesome moment when he had seen Sharpe stop trying to fence and begin to fight. He had understood then, even better than at the bridge where they had waited without ammunition, why this man was a soldier’s soldier. ’Do you think if I bring some wine I might share your dinner?‘

  ‘I’m sure Harps will be pleased.’

  ‘He’d better be, it’s good wine. We can drink to your restored career in it.’

  Sharpe followed him. The anger had gone, he felt foolish. Leroy was right; his job was to make the South Essex into the best it could be, and never had the time been more propitious. The Battalion had a good Colonel, and the new officers, like d‘Alembord, promised well. He felt suddenly as though a hanging judge had reprieved him. He had escaped his own foolishness and he rode towards a campaign, a summer, and a future. The madness was gone, the doom lifted, and he was alive.

  CHAPTER 5

  That night, behind thick curtains, in a dark-panelled room lit by heavy candles that threw their flickering light on a crucifix of gold, the Marqués de Casares el Grande y Melida Sadaba prayed.

  He had wondered why the Inquisitor had come to him bringing his wife’s letter, curious why the letter should have so eminent a carrier, but now he understood. The Marqués’ lips moved, his fingers shuffled the beads on their string, his eyes stared at the crucifix until the small, gold image seemed to shift and swim before him. He shook his head to clear his vision. ‘What will happen to the Englishman?’

  ‘Wellington will send him home.’ The Inquisitor had a voice deep as the pit. ‘Wellington needs the Spanish alliance.’

  The Marqués groaned as he stood up from his knees. ‘I should have killed him.’

  ‘Your honour is intact. It was he who fled, not you.’ The Marqués turned to look at Father Hacha. The Inquisitor was all that a priest should be in the Marqués’ estimation; he was a tall, strong man, fierce faced and grim, a warrior of God who knew that pity was a luxury in the fight against evil. The Marqués, who yearned to have the toughness he saw in the Inquisitor, frowned. ‘I don’t understand what made the man do it! To insult her!’

  ‘He’s English, he’s from the gutter, he’s heathen.’

  ‘I should have killed him.’

  ‘God will do it.’

  The Marqués sat opposite the Inquisitor. They were in the Marqués’ bedroom, taken for the night from the mayor of this small town. The candlelight shuddered on the red hangings of the bed, on the picture of the crucified Lord, and on the grim, axe-faced man of the Spanish Inquisition. The Marqués stared at the dark eyes. ‘Hele
na will come to me?’ He used the Spanish form of his wife’s name.

  The Inquisitor nodded. ‘She must do penance, of course.’

  ‘Of course.’ The Marqués felt the stirring within him. On the table beside the bed there stood her portrait, the portrait that had travelled with him to the Banda Oriental and showed her pure skin, wide eyes, and delicate face. She had spied for the French, and that fact could not be hidden from the Marqués, but the Inquisitor had assured him that her spying was merely a woman’s weakness.

  ‘She missed you, my Lord, she was tempted by loneliness and unhappiness. She must do public penance.’

  ‘And she will do it?’

  ‘She is eager to be in your good graces, my Lord.’

  The Marqués nodded. He had had a frank, embarras singly frank, discussion with his grim Inquisitor. Yes, the priest had said, there were rumours about the Marquesa, but what woman did not attract rumours? And was there truth in the rumours? The priest had shaken his head. There was none.

  Perhaps because Father Hacha had freely admitted that his wife had spied for the country of her birth, the Marqués believed the lie about her faithfulness. He wanted to believe it. He knew, guiltily and secretly, that it had been a fault to marry her, but what man would not have wanted to marry the frail, lovely girl? He knew he had married out of lust, out of sinfulness, and he had confessed the sin a hundred hundred times. Now, it seemed, his prayers were answered and she wanted his forgiveness and his love. He would give both to her.

  He would give them because the priest had laid before him this night a glittering image of Spain’s future, and a future, the Inquisitor had said, in which the Marqués would play an eminent, a vital part. ‘You were always close to the old King, my Lord.’

  ‘True.’

  ‘His son needs you.’

  Spain, the Marqués had heard, needed him. This war against the French, the Inquisitor had said, was a mistake. True, it had been started by the French, but they now saw that their best interests lay in peace. They wanted to take their embattled armies from Spain, and only one obstacle lay before them; the British alliance.

  The Inquisitor had spoken of the secret treaty. He had done it because he wanted this man’s trust. The Marqués had listened. At first he had felt offence at the secret manouevering that would end with a broken promise to Britain, but as he listened more he felt the glory and excitement grow in him.

  Spain, the Inquisitor had said, had been given its empire by God. That empire was the reward for defeating the Muslims in Europe. Now, because of the war against France, the empire was slipping away. The Spanish, the priest said, had a duty to their God to keep the empire. If there was peace with France then the army could go abroad as God’s warriors. The secret treaty that was being forged at Valençay would give Spain peace at home and glory abroad.

  That appealed to the Marqués. He had no love for the government that ruled that part of Spain not held by the French. It was, in his view, a liberal, dangerous government that would try to introduce a parliament and limit the royal power. Spain should be ruled by the King and the Church in consort, not by a shouting rabble of upstart ambition.

  There was more. As he sat and listened to the Inquisitor, the Marqués heard what the Junta in Cadiz now proposed. The liberals, who ruled the country in King Ferdinand VII’s absence, were trying to dismantle the power of the Church in Spain.

  ‘Surely not!’

  In answer the Inquisitor had taken from his pocket and handed to the Marqués a copy of a new law, a law that had, within the last two months, declared that the Spanish Inquisition was abolished.

  It still existed in French-held Spain, that body from the protestant nightmares of the sixteenth century; the Inquisition that preached God’s love with the fires of agony and the blades of torture. Now, bereft of their racks and burning irons, they were a moral police force to the Spanish people, granting licences of marriage to those who could prove they were of pure, Christrian blood, watching always those who were suspected of being Moors or Jews. They were the spies of God, the secret police of heaven, and their power was threatened. The Junta had dissolved them.

  King Ferdinand VII, whose love of women was matched by his fear of God, did not agree that the Inquisition should be abolished. They might spy for God, but their reports came to the King of Spain, and no kingdom on earth had a more efficient body of informers than did the Spanish king with his loyal Inquisitors.

  ‘If we restore His Majesty,’ the Inquisitor had said, ‘then we preserve our Church. Peace with France, my Lord, is Spain’s only hope.’

  With which sentiments the Marqués de Casares el Grande y Melida Sadaba agreed wholeheartedly. ‘So what do you want of me?’

  The Inquisitor told his lie smoothly. ‘I want you to gain support among your friends, among the officers of the army, among your admirers, my Lord.’ He shrugged. ‘When the time comes, my Lord, the peasants will not be overjoyed.’

  ‘They hate the French.’

  ‘But they love their King. They need firm leadership, strong example, from Church and nobles. From you and I, my Lord.’

  The Marqués nodded. The future was suddenly golden. His wife, whom he had married for lust, was willing to do penance. She would come back to him chastened and humbled, loving and loyal, to be the helpmate of a man who would assist his king steer Spain into a brilliant, holy future. And to help the Marqués, to steer him, comfort him, support him, there would be this grim, tough Inquisitor with his subtle mind and sharp purpose. Suddenly the events of the day, the abortive duel and the Marqués’ escape from death, seemed trivial compared to that future.

  The Inquisitor smiled. ‘You did us all a service today, my Lord.’

  ‘A service?’

  Father Hacha stood. ‘The Englishman backed down from you. You are a hero to the army, you beat the Englishman in their sight. Where you lead, my Lord, others will now follow.’

  The Marqués saw himself leading the army away from the British alliance. He saw himself welcoming King Ferdinand VII at the gates of Spain, he saw glory.

  He bowed his head for the blessing of the Inquisitor who had been offered, and who had accepted, the bedroom next door. The hands of the priest were firm on the Marqués’ head.

  The Inquisitor, who had told lies all night, pronounced the blessing. He meant the words he spoke. He wished God to bless this man who had married so disastrously, and who was now a pawn in the struggle to defend the Inquisition. He blessed the Marqués in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and he hoped that his Lordship would sleep well.

  ‘Thank you, father.’

  ‘I bid you a good night, my Lord.’

  In his own room the Inquisitor knelt and prayed God’s forgiveness for the lies he had told and the deception he had practised. God would understand. What Father Hacha did this night he did to preserve God’s church. There was no more noble purpose. He rose from his knees, opened his missal, and settled down to wait for the witching hour when his brother, who was thought to be the Inquisitor’s servant, would play his part to restore the glory of God’s kingdom of Spain.

  The Marqués’ private chaplain was forced to be up every morning at half past four to waken his master at five o‘clock. Then, until half past six, the two men would share private devotions. After that the Marqués would take breakfast, then go to his first Mass of the day. The chaplain’s dream of heaven was a place where no one stirred from their bed until midday. He yawned.

  He kissed his scapular, then draped it about his neck. He wondered if the Inquisitor would join them this morning, and hoped not. Father Tomas Hacha rather frightened the Marqués’ private chaplain; there was too much force in the man. Besides, the Inquisition was frightening anyway, its power secret and pervasive, its judgments harsh. The chaplain preferred a milder religion.

  The servants who slept outside their master’s room jerked awake as the chaplain’s footsteps sounded on the stairs. One of them sat up, rubbing his cheek.
‘Morning, father.’

  ‘Good morning, my son.’ The chaplain opened one of the shutters on the landing and saw the grey dawn spreading up from the dark hills. ‘It’s going to be a fine day!’

  Dogs barked in the town. Somewhere a cockerel crowed. The chaplain could see, dim in the shadows of the street, the shapes of the British guns. The Spanish and British armies collected here, waiting to plunge into French-held Spain. He was glad that it was none of his business. Fighting the rebels in the Banda Oriental north of the River Plate had been bad enough, but the thought of those great guns bellowing at each other was terrifying. He turned to the Marqués’ room and knocked softly on the door. He smiled at the servants. ‘A quiet night?’

  ‘Very quiet, father.’

  He knocked again. One of the servants unbuttoned himself above the chamberpot on the landing’s corner. ‘He was up late, father. He’s probably still asleep.’

  ‘Late?’

  ‘Father Hacha was with him.’ The servant yawned as he pissed. ‘Say a prayer for me, father.’

  The chaplain smiled, then pushed the door open. It was dark in the room, all light blocked out by the great velvet hangings over the windows. ‘My Lord?’

  There was no answer from behind the curtained bed. The chaplain closed the door quietly behind him then groped uncertainly through the strange, heavy furniture until he reached the window. He reflected how wealthy these provincial merchants were who could afford such furnishings, then pulled the curtain back, flooding the room with a sickly grey light.

  ‘My Lord? It’s I, Father Pello.’

  Still no sound. The Marqués’ uniform was carefully hung on a cupboard door, his boots, stretchers inside, parked carefully beneath. The chaplain pulled back the curtains of the bed. ‘My Lord?’