The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham

Author:Winston Graham [Graham, Winston]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Sagas, Fiction
ISBN: 9780330524179
Google: IoO-iS-Vt4QC
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2011-08-18T13:00:00+00:00

She made him a cup of chocolate, and as the sloop was leaving tomorrow in the forenoon, she pressed him to lie here tonight. He said he had first to call on Aunt Verity, but if he could persuade her to let him go, he would return. They talked of the Blarneys and how the younger Andrew was faring, then of Jeremy and Cuby, and she gave him Jeremy's latest letter to read, and also her mother's.

'I will try to look him up as soon as I get to Flanders. I am not sure how difficult or how easy that may be. From what reports I have received there is great activity but also great confusion.'

'Do you think there will be war - a battle of some sort?'

'Oh yes.' He spoke without hesitation. After a moment Clowance said: 'I shall be anxious. But many people think there may yet be a compromise peace. Even Jeremy in his letter, you see.'

Geoffrey Charles shook his head. 'Bonaparte says he wants only to live in peace with his neighbours; Wellington says there will be an agreed formula without conflict; but in fact they are both preparing furiously for war. Wellington, from what I hear, has such a makeshift army, and Bonaparte is likely to be so concerned to consolidate his rear, that they may hesitate and crawl around each other for a month or two yet; but a trial of strength is inevitable. And when it comes it will be the irresistible force against the immovable object.'

Clowance shivered. 'Do you like fighting, Geoffrey Charles?'

He flexed his injured hand. 'As a boy I hated it, was terrified of any sort of violence. But in Spain and Portugal, after a time, one hardened up. And there was such camaraderie, such tests of courage and personal endurance, such a fusion of men into a single splendid fighting force ... the stimulus of conflict was enormous. I seemed for years to have forgotten how to be afraid. Now I am afraid again.'

'Because ...'

'Because of Amadora and Juana, of course. I have too much to lose.'

Yet - you need not have come now.'

He sighed. 'I would not have stirred a foot to go to America or India, or wherever the next conflict showed. But this - this is unfinished business.'

V

After Brigadier Rougiet's visit, Ross found the closeness of his confinement relaxed. He was allowed an hour's extra liberty a day, walking in the garden, with an armed guard a pace behind. The food improved, and he suspected he was enjoying the same vittles as General Wirion. The wine also improved. Twice he even received outdated copies of The Times, from the second of which he was very angry to see that the Corn Bill had passed through the House of Lords.

He had one meeting with Wirion, who was pleasant enough, discussed life in France in general terms and asked if there were any specially irksome features to his imprisonment which might be put right. Ross replied, only the imprisonment itself.

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