The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham

for which this house, and the owner, were celebrated. Lord Liverpool said: 'No doubt we could discuss the proposed Corn Bill at length sometime. Perhaps this is not the time. I know, of course, that your political sympathies lie in favour of reform ... Did you know, by the way, that Canning had reached Lisbon safely?'
    'Yes, I heard from him two weeks ago. When he wrote he was confined to his bed with gout and had not yet presented his credentials.' Ross eased his aching ankle. 'As for reform, my lord, this, as you say, is perhaps not the time to discuss it, but I have to confess I am disappointed and depressed that since the declaration of peace there has been no improvement in conditions in England.'
    Melville said: 'We are proceeding, but slowly.'
    'Quite a number of us who supported this administration,'
    said Ross, 'felt, as I did, that reform in any important degree must wait until the defeat of Bonaparte. It was Wyndham, wasn't it, who said: "Who would repair his house in a typhoon?" And Pitt, of course, stopped his reforms because of the war. But now ... but now surely they should be resumed. The labourer, whether in the field or in the factory, should be able to live a decent, honest life. Instead one sees starvation in the midst of plenty.'
    They sipped their brandy. Ross was aware that his comments were not going down well.
    'Believe me,' said Liverpool drily, 'I am not unaware of conditions in the country, and, if later in the session you feel you wish to make your contribution to the House, it might be possible for you to come home for a spell. You can be kept informed. Certainly no Corn Bill will be presented until late March, though I am sure it will figure largely in debate up and down the country. In the meantime, as far as foreign affairs are to be measured, we face another problem.'
    'Which means my going to Paris in some haste?'
    The Earl of Liverpool blinked his weak eye. 'Not haste. But I think I need you there now.'
    'May I ask why, my lord?'
    'As I believe I mentioned when we last met, there has recently - that is over the last ten months - returned to France upwards of a hundred and fifty thousand prisoners of war, coming from their camps in Russia, Prussia and England, many of them retaining the most unamiable memories of their captors and eager for any opportunity for revenge. At the same time the arrival of so many aristocratic emigres has resulted in the enervation, the watering down, of Bonaparte's splendid army by the reinstatement of young men and old men to positions of command which they could never justify except in terms of birth and privilege. All this leads to resentment and unrest.'
    Ross inclined his head. Yes indeed.'
    'What I did not tell you,' said Lord Liverpool, 'is that last October I sent my brother, Colonel Jenkinson, on a mission which might be considered similar to yours, and he attached himself to the 2nd Infantry Corps under Lieutenant-General Count Reille at Valenciennes. His despatches have reported a disturbing degree of disaffection in the French army.'
    'Does he describe the disaffection?'
    'The army is riddled with secret societies, he says. Many of them are Bonapartist and aim to overthrow Louis - not necessarily to restore Napoleon but to put his son on the throne. Others want the Due d'Orleans. Many of the higher officers are royalist, he says, but the rank and file cannot abide Louis and what they regard as his corrupt court.'
    'In what way do you believe I can be of use?'
    'My brother's reports are gloomy in the extreme, and differ noticeably from those of our new minister, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, who speaks more favourably of feeling about the Bourbons. Somerset of course is very young, and, while a brave soldier, may not be versed in the world of foreign secretaries and diplomacy.'
    'Nor am I,' said Ross.
    'Once Bonaparte went,' said Liverpool, 'we did, I think, everything possible to bring France back into the comity of nations. One of the most important aims of