Free The Gathering Storm by Peter Smalley Page B

to—'
    'By the by, I will like you to shift your coat.'
    Mappin went to the door, put his head outside and gave
an instruction. A moment after, a bundle was handed to
him, which he brought in and placed on the desk.
    'Your new clothes. Let me have your coat and breeches
and hat, and your sword, will you?'
    'You mean – I am to shift my clothes immediate, here
in this room?'
    'I do mean that, yes. If you please.'
    James began to remove his clothes, first unbuckling his
sword. As he did so:
    'Where am I to go?'
    'To a safe place.'
    'Will you tell me where?' Removing his shoes.
    'It is quite safe, I assure you.' A nod.
    James paused, one foot on a chair as he made to unfasten
one of his stockings. 'I think we had better understand
each other, Mr Mappin.' He lowered his foot to the floor
and stood straight in his shirt and breeches. 'I have agreed
to your proposal, but never think I am some meek servant
boy, his voice not yet broke, that will go blind and uncurious
anywhere he is told.'
    'In course I do not think that.'
    'Then tell me where I am to go, and why.'
    'In due course, in due course.' Opening the bundle on
the desk.
    'No, Mr Mappin, no. Tell me now.'
    Mappin held out a fine linen shirt, and a coat and
breeches of dark velvet. 'Here, these are what you will
need, exact.' Also in the bundle were a silk waistcoat, dark
stock, and new stockings.
    James did not take the clothes. Instead, he began putting
on his uniform again.
    'Nay, what are you doing?' Mappin, frowning. 'Lieutenant
Hayter has disappeared from view. You cannot go out in his
uniform, now.'
    James, his fingers on the buttons of his white waistcoat:
'If I am to remove it, kindly oblige me with a reason, and
tell me where I am to go. Either that, or you and I have
no agreement of any kind. I never came here today, and
tomorrow I will go home to Dorset – to be a farmer,
content among his cattle. Well?'
    'You have no cattle, since you have no acres on which
to graze them.' Mildly.
    'Fields may be leased, Mr Mappin.'
    Mappin regarded him, head a little on one side. At last:
'Very well. You are to remain here in London. Rooms have
been engaged for you at Clerkenwell. You are to have a
new name. Henry Tonnelier.'
    'Tonnelier? A French name.'
    'You are not French, yourself, but your family came to
England from France a century ago.'
    'What is my profession? Shipping?'
    'You are a silk merchant.'
    'I know nothing of the silk trade, Mr Mappin.'
    'Nor need you. You will not trade in silk. You will do
nothing at all.'
    'Nothing? At Clerkenwell? How long must I endure this
condition of life, this nothinghood?'
    'Until we call upon you. Then you will go into the ship.'
    'Oh, yes, you said something about a ship. A merchant
vessel?'
    'No.'
    'Then – what? You cannot mean it is a naval ship ... ?'
    'Yes.'
    'Mr Mappin, ye've just took me out of the uniform of
a sea officer, RN, and now you propose to put me into
one of His Majesty's ships of war?'
    'I do. That ship will take you to France.'
    'When?'
    'When your passage has been arranged. Quite soon, we
think.'
    'And when I am in France, what then?'
    'You will meet various persons, gain certain information,
and proceed to act upon it.'
    A sigh. 'Christ's blood, Mr Mappin.' Looking at him not
so much in anger as in resigned exasperation. 'Talking to
you is like drawing teeth – no great pleasure for neither
party.'
    'I assure you, Lieutenant – that is, Mr Tonnelier – when
the time comes I shall be right loquacious, and you will
become enlightened. For the moment it is well that you
know nothing, or next to it.' Reaching into his coat, and
producing a silk purse. 'Here is some money. You must
live quiet, but y'must live well.' He handed the purse to
James, who felt the heavy weight of coins.
    'A fitting purse for a silken gentleman.' James, an ironic
smile. 'How much have you given me?'
    'An hundred guineas.'
    'Good heaven.' Looking inside the purse, then: 'And I
am to have no sword?'
    'I do not think a silk merchant