The Surgeon’s Mate. Patrick O’Brian

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СКАЧАТЬ the solution. Pray conduct me to the place where the officers receive their letters.’

      ‘We must hurry, then,’ said the first man. ‘We must even run, sir. They will be closed, else.’ And some minutes, some few hundred yards later he said, panting, ‘There. I was afraid of it. The blinds are drawn.’

      The blinds were drawn, but the door was on the jar; and even if it had been tightly shut Captain Aubrey’s strong sea-going voice would still have spread far out into the street. ‘What the devil do you mean with your “after hours”, you idle young hound?’ he was asking. ‘As God’s my life…’

      When Stephen opened the door the sound increased, and he perceived that Jack had the young man by the frill of his shirt, that he was shaking him to and fro and calling him ‘an infernal b –’.

      The shirt frill came adrift and Jack turned to Stephen. ‘He says it is after hours,’ he cried.

      ‘It is not only that, sir,’ said the clerk to Stephen, as to a saviour, ‘but Mr Gittings has the keys. There ain’t nothing in the waiting rack and I can’t open the strong-box without I have the keys, it stands to reason.’ He wiped his tears on his sleeve and added, ‘And there’s nothing in it for Captain Aubrey neither, I could pledge my sacred word: though always willing to oblige any gentleman that treats us civil.’

      Stephen contemplated the strong-box. It was an old-fashioned affair with a common tumbler lock and it would probably not resist his solicitations more than a few minutes; but this was neither the time nor the place to display his talents. He said, ‘I am happy to find you, Captain Aubrey. The name of our inn, or hotel, has escaped my mind, and I am mortally fatigued. I would give all I possess to go to bed.’

      ‘You certainly look uncommonly fagged,’ said Jack, dropping the shirt frill. ‘Quite done up. We are at the Goat, and I will take you there directly. Harkee, sir,’ to the clerk, in a last burst of disappointed fury, ‘I shall be here first thing tomorrow, d’ye hear me, there?’

      In the street Stephen thanked his escort, sending him back with his best compliments to Major Beck, and he and Jack walked on alone.

      ‘A miserable goddam afternoon,’ said Jack. ‘Disappointments at every turn – a heroes’ welcome, truly. The town is crammed with soldiers, and I could only get one room between us at the Goat.’

      ‘That is bad,’ said Stephen, who had often shared a cabin with Captain Aubrey, perhaps the most resounding snorer in the service.

      ‘Then when I went up the hill to report, the Commissioner was not in the way. There were a good many men waiting for him: we gossiped for a while and I learnt a damned unpleasant thing or two. Harte is back on the Board of Admiralty, and that fellow Wray is made acting second secretary.’

      ‘Mother of God,’ said Stephen to himself, and well he might: Jack, as a lively bachelor in Minorca, had cuckolded Mr Harte repeatedly, and cuckolds were likely to use their horns even long after their receipt; while Jack had also publicly, justly, accused Mr Wray, a person even then high in Government employ, of cheating at cards. It was an accusation that Wray had not seen fit to resent in the usual manner at the time, but it was not likely that he would stomach it for ever.

      ‘I waited as long as I could, but then when I reached the office at a brisk run – and I can tell you, Stephen, that brisk running, at my age, ain’t what it used to be – all I found was another disappointment. A miserable goddam afternoon.’

      ‘Ooh-hoo, husband,’ said a pretty whore in the twilight. ‘Come with me and I will give you a kiss.’

      Jack smiled, shook his head, and walked on. ‘Did you notice she called me husband?’ he said after a few paces. ‘They often do. I suppose marriage is the natural state, so that makes it seem less – less wrong.’

      The word marriage reminded Stephen that he had meant to take Beck’s certificate, that necessary document, to a priest and arrange for his wedding with Diana; but he could at present scarcely drag himself along – all the weariness of the last few days was rising in him like an overwhelming fog, now that the interminable crisis was past. All that survived was the spirit of contradiction. He said, ‘Not at all. On the contrary, as one of your great men of the past age observed, it is so far from natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilized society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together.’

      ‘Hark,’ said Jack, pausing in his stride. Down by the harbour a band had begun Heart of Oak, and a great concourse of people were either chanting the words or cheering. Smoke and the rosy glow of torches could be seen above the roofs, and suddenly the flames themselves came into sight, crossing the far end of their street – an unofficial procession of seamen and civilians, leaping and capering as they passed the narrow gap, and on every hand more people were hurrying down to join it, among them the pretty whore.

      Good humour came flooding back into Aubrey’s face. ‘That’s more like it,’ he said. ‘That’s more like a heroes’ welcome. Lord, Stephen, I am so happy, these little vexations apart. And tomorrow, when I have Sophie’s letters, I shall be happier still. Listen. There is another band striking up.’

      ‘All I ask,’ said Stephen, ‘is that they should welcome their heroes at a decent distance from the Goat – that they should not strike up within a furlong of the inn. Though the Dear knows, I believe I should sleep through ten bands playing in the corridor.’

      They may well have played there, or at least outside his window, for the Shannons celebrated their victory as wholeheartedly as they had won it, and Halifax rocked with the sound of their merriment until dawn and beyond; but Dr Maturin lay like a log until a sunbeam, darting through his bed-curtains, teased him into wakefulness at last. His body was beautifully limp, perfectly comfortable; his mind was rested, calm, relaxed; he would have moved out of the beam and lain there browsing among his thoughts, perhaps dropping off again, if he had not heard a somewhat artificial cough, the cough of one who does not wish to wake his companion but rather to advertise his presence if waking has already taken place.

      He pushed the curtains aside and met Jack’s eye, his surprisingly sombre eye. Jack was standing by the window, looking unnaturally tall, even taller than usual, and Stephen observed that this was because he had taken off his sling and the arm hanging down by his side changed his proportions. He smiled on seeing Stephen, wished him a good morning, or rather afternoon, and said, ‘I have some letters for you.’

      Stephen considered for a moment. At least some part of Jack’s sad appearance arose from the fact that he was wearing a broad black band of crape on his arm; but there was more to it than that. ‘What’s o’clock?’ he asked.

      ‘Just turned of noon, and I must be away,’ said Jack, giving him a small bundle of letters.

      ‘You have been up a great while, I make no doubt,’ said Stephen. He looked at the covers without much interest.

      ‘Yes. I was at that God-damned office the moment they opened their doors. Their chief was away, but even so I made them rummage the place from top to bottom – such disorder you would not credit – but never a word for me.’

      ‘Several packets have been taken by the Americans, or lost at sea, brother.’

      ‘I know, I know,’ said Jack. ‘But even so … however, whining will do no good. Then I reported to the Commissioner. He was very civil, very welcoming, and he gave me good news of Broke – had been СКАЧАТЬ