“Indeed, that would not do. It is my duty to protect the Mussulmen from the infidel French. Besides, there are traitors much nearer home than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean either the Minister, or the Governors of Syracuse and Messina. Malta might be further on by this, if the corn, so often ordered to keep the Maltese from starvation, had ever been sent. It has taken months to get a cargo of corn from Sicily to Malta, which is almost within sight, and——”
“Have you any more ‘ands’? You are as gloomy as a raven in a mist.” This with her sweetest smile.
“And worst of all, I hear rumours of the good St. Vincent, our father, under whose fostering care we have been led to fame, going home for ill-health at the moment when the French are coming into the Mediterranean again.”
“A pretty morning’s work! And what shall you do about it all?”
“I can only pray to God that the faults of others may press as heavily on the enemy as they press on me.”
“Come out with me, Nelson, to-night,” she said, laying her hand gently on his arm. “All this can be grappled with, but not by one in this anguish of mind. You must brace yourself up to face things in your old light-hearted way. You shall dine with me to-night, and bring Will and the other; and we will drive on the Marina, and have the new iced cream, and see the night service in the Palace chapel.”
“I believe it will do me good. After I have wrote my dispatches, there is nothing of all this that I can do, but wait until my orders are obeyed. And I believe you that I should go to work with a clearer mind and a better spirit. I believe I have kept too much on my flagship during this busy time. To tell you how dreary and uncomfortable the Vanguard appears, is only to tell you what it is to go from the pleasantest society to a solitary cell, or from the dearest friends to no friends: I have been so perfectly the great man—not a creature near me. From my heart I wish myself the little man again! You and good Sir William have spoiled me for any place but with you.”
My Lady was much gratified, but made nothing of it.