A Sea of Troubles by David Donachie

might see this Admiral Sumner off. She knew the nature of the mission that Pearce was carrying out on behalf of the Government, just as she knew it was one shrouded in secrecy, for if he had told her what he was setting out to discover he had also sworn her to keep the information to herself, as well as why.
    William Pitt ran a government permanently on the cusp of being outvoted, indeed he depended on the support of his political opponents to stay in office and pursue the war. These were men who would not take kindly to anything smacking of a diversion from whatthey saw as the main effort and that was an expedition to the Caribbean to take the French sugar islands, this while many of the thinking classes in England harboured a deep suspicion of what was happening in the Vendée due to its openly Papist bent. Thus Pearce’s mission had to be kept from scrutiny, the very reason it had been financed by funds hidden from parliamentary examination.
    Fixing her countenance in a stern and reproving expression, she turned to Sumner and went on the attack. ‘As to you, sir, I think it best you crawl back into whichever hole from which you have emerged, for you are in danger of being exposed as not only a fool but a danger to the nation.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘It did not occur to you to enquire where my husband is or what he is about?’
    ‘Why would it?’ Sumner sneered.
    ‘It should have. Do not be surprised, sir, to receive from the Admiralty an admonishment for poking your flabby nose in to matters which do not concern you, for endangering the safety of the nation and for risking the life and reputation of a gallant officer held in high regard by those whose task it is to run the country and prosecute the war with France.’
    ‘What stuff and nonsense is this?’
    ‘I admit my married name is not Raynesford and nor is it that of my husband.’
    ‘Ah-hah, the truth at last.’
    It is, Emily thought, but not as you see it, though that allowed her to speak part of what she was saying with utter conviction.
    ‘But you would have been better wondering why a naval officer would choose to employ subterfuge by using a false name rather than jumping to a conclusion that it indicated illegality. My husband is, as of this moment, at sea in command of a King’s ship, sir, and I do not know that they are such fools at the Admiralty as to entrust a vessel to an impostor.’
    ‘What ship, by damn?’
    ‘I am not at liberty to tell you that and nor, if my husband were here, could he. Nor would he be able to enlighten you to the nature of the mission in which he is presently engaged, for that, sir, is a secret.’
    For the first time Emily could see a crack in the admiral’s certainty; if he did not yet look troubled, he looked perplexed.
    ‘Secret?’
    ‘Just that! It is also vital to the security of Britannia, so I suggest it would serve you to depart and put from your mind what it is you have been about, for not to do so could see you in the Tower. The least I can offer you is not to inform the Admiralty of your foolish actions, though I cannot guarantee that my husband, once he has been appraised of your interference in matters which are none of your concern, will not pass on to the powers that be the fact that you have threatened to destroy what it is they are trying to achieve. What the consequences of that will be I cannot tell you, but possible disgrace looms and it will certainly find no favour at the Admiralty.’
    Emily could not know how those last few words played on the mind of Sir Berkley Sumner. He was, to those who had known him throughout his naval career, a prize doltand, in terms of naval competence, a proper danger to those with whom he served. Having got to his captaincy through family connections rather than ability, from there he had, with age and seniority, though without a scintilla of sea time, risen to his admiral’s rank. Never likely to be entrusted with a command, Sumner was destined to be and remain a