Under Enemy Colors Read Free Page A

was that I am not as deserving as you.”
    “Well, I won’t hear any of that talk,” Hayden enjoined, trying, for his friend’s sake, to mask his bitterness and disappointment.
    “You shall hear it, I fear, and not just from me.” Robert gestured to a chair. “Please, Charles, be at ease.”
    “As soon as I am dry.”
    Robert rang a little silver bell and a maid hurried in. She curtsied to the gentlemen. “Anne, can you find a blanket to lay over the chair? Lieutenant Hayden was caught by a squall with all his canvas up.” He set his snifter on the mantle and peeled off his friend’s coat. “It must be dried,” he admonished. “I’ll find you a frock-coat for supper.”
    The dripping coat went out with Anne, and a thick blanket came quickly back to be draped over a chair. Charles settled himself, suppressing a shiver.
    “You must tell me all the particulars,” Charles said. “What ship have they given you?”
    “Just a little brig until a frigate comes off the stocks. My commission will be granted then.” He was trying not to sound too pleased with his situation, Charles could tell; no doubt out of consideration for him.
    “Now,” Robert said, taking the seat opposite, “tell me about your visit to the Admiralty.”
    “How in this world did you know of that?”
    Robert smiled, enjoying this small triumph. “You were observed, sir. Observed ascending to the First Lord’s chambers. I have not been still all afternoon in anticipation of good news.” Robert waited a moment. “Well, don’t keep me in uncertainty,” he said when Hayden offered nothing. “Did they give you a ship?”
    “No. Nothing like it. A first lieutenant’s position only—aboard a frigate.”
    Robert closed his eyes a moment and his face went pale with anger. “How can they treat you so? You’ve had command of a brig-sloop.”
    Hayden rose and paced back and forth before the fire. “Yes, well, apparently job-captains are abundant and command little respect in Whitehall Street.”
    “Even so, it is unjust. You should have been made Master and Commander—long ago. Tell me what the First Lord said.”
    “First Lord? It was the First Secretary with whom I spoke.”
    “Stephens?”
    “None other.”
    This apparently surprised Robert, who leaned forward in his chair, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. “Pray, what did he say you?”
    Hayden took a sip of his brandy by way of buying himself a moment to consider. Anger and resentment surfaced again, and he pressed them down. Hayden wanted his friend’s council, but the truth was he felt ashamed of what had transpired, of what Stephens had asked of him—and the shame fuelled a long, simmering resentment.
    “Are you familiar with a thirty-two-gun frigate named the Themis ?” he asked, exerting all his energies to compose himself.
    Robert sat back in his chair as though pushed. “Not Hart’s ship?”
    “The very one.” Hayden gazed at his friend, unsettled by his reaction. “I am to be Captain Hart’s first. Do you know the man?”
    Robert let his gaze flow once around the room, as though it were suddenly unfamiliar. “I have met him once or twice, but his reputation precedes him. I am astonished you have not heard. Among his detractors he is known as ‘Faint Hart.’ The good captain has his command courtesy of Mrs Hart, whose family tree has more than one branch extending into the Admiralty. It would be very charitable to say that he is not held in high regard among his peers in the service.”
    Hayden cursed silently. “You are deeper into the Admiralty court than I, Robert. Have you ever heard of any cause for antipathy between Mr Stephens and Captain Hart?”
    “I have not, but Hart gave me the distinct impression that he had little charm to spare for those he does not consider useful to his own particular cause. Stephens is a man of immense ability, so it is easily imagined that an officer known as ‘Faint Hart’ might earn his disdain. Men like