02 The Tempering by Richard Woodman

Author:Richard Woodman [Woodman, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘How is she?’ Monck asked Clarges as the coach completed its lurching crossing of London Bridge and turned west towards Whitehall.

‘Nan is heavy with child, George. You must marry before January is out, or risk much.’

‘And she is well, you say?’

‘She is very well and, as I have said, sends her love and her congratulations to you. They rang the church bells for your victory off…what do the Hogen Mogens call the place in their abominable tongue?’

‘Sche-ven-ing-gen,’ Monck enunciated with care, ‘or at least that is how I have been schooled to tell it.’

‘Scheven-ingen.’ Clarges repeated the name with some success.

Monck could still not quite believe the achievement of his fleet, for he naturally considered his own part in the affair to have been of marginal importance. Any satisfaction he might have enjoyed was tempered by the fact that whatever the monstrous losses among the Dutch, the English killed amounted to one thousand men. And there were also those who, wounded in action, died afterwards, men like poor Rusbridge, whose suppurating wound had gone gangrenous and killed him three weeks later. Upon enquiry Monck had learned that he had languished in cheap lodgings, a stinking, living corpse. Monck had sent money for a tablet to be set in the wall in his parish church in Dorset. It bore the title ‘Captain,’ though the Army Council had approved no such promotion.

‘They ring the church-bells readily enough,’ he said, ‘then treat the victors with contempt.’

‘There are certainly a lot of seamen up from Chatham,’ Clarges observed nodding towards the window of the conveyance. ‘The city is full of them.’

‘There is another matter Tom, which I have had neither opportunity nor inclination to broach with you sooner…’

‘The matter of your appointment to the Assembly of Saints of which I wrote in July?’

Monck nodded. ‘Aye, though it was August before I received it. Did you play any part in my appointment?’

Clarges nodded. ‘It was a form that I considered might be of much use to you. Besides, I felt that your name should be brought forward, to counter those professing animosity against you of which I also wrote…’

‘Earlier in the year, yes I recall it for it disturbed the tranquillity of my mind and at a time when I could scarce tell starboard from larboard.’

‘Such duties as it might entail were of no consequence while you were at sea but better prepared your position in the eventuality of your coming ashore…’

‘Especially should I be beaten,’ Monck laughed. He had no time to give the matter further thought for the coach came to an abrupt halt. They were surrounded by a noisy throng and Clarges leaned from the window to determine the reason for this congestion. Monck leaned back in the cushions and closed his eyes. He was dog-tired, having worked to get the fleet’s battle-damage repaired before too many ships were paid-off. Although the Dutch negotiators were said to be close to conceding the final demands of the English and signing a formal treaty, until they did Monck could not let his guard down.

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