Hervey 08 - Company Of Spears Read online

  They went first to the Bath Arms to arrange hay and a roof for the horses, and a bed for Corporal Denny, then Hervey walked with just his small-pack the half mile or so to his father’s darkened vicarage, where he crept without a sound into the stable, lay down in the straw, as he had so many times as a boy, pulled his cloak about him and slept without stirring until dawn.

  When he woke, the household was still abed (it was a little after six), so he shaved and bathed under the stable pump, and generally made himself presentable for the family’s reveille before giving the stable’s sole occupant – his father’s driving pony – a peck of oats and an armful of hay. At seven o’clock, as had been the rule at the vicarage for as many years as he could remember, the door to the servants’ hall was unbolted and thrown open, and the routine of the morning was begun.

  The vicar of Horningsham did not keep a large establishment; he had not the means. There was a cook, Mrs Pomeroy, the same Hervey had known in his nursery, a housemaid, a manservant, a scullion and a gardener cum groom. Neither his mother nor his sister had a lady’s maid, something Hervey had tried on several occasions to rectify, begging them to let him pay her wages in part compensation for the additional burden he imposed on them by Georgiana’s ‘wardship’. But they would not have it. Even when the Reverend Thomas Hervey had been made Archdeacon of Sarum, and the family had risen one whole floor in the society of Wiltshire, they were not inclined to relent, accustomed as they long were to the habitual economy of a poor country living.

  Old Francis would have been the first to emerge, had he not occupied a corner of Horningsham churchyard these three years gone. Hervey considered that Francis had been as much a part of the household as his own parents. Francis had certainly known his father longer than had he, having been his scout at Oxford, accompanying him to his first parish as servant, and remaining with him thereafter. Now it was a new man, from the village. He had lost an arm tending the fire engine at Longleat, and Lord Bath had given him a good pension, which the Venerable Thomas Hervey now supplemented with the pay of an able-bodied indoor servant.

  The heavy iron-studded door opened without its habitual creak, Hervey noted – testament, he imagined, to the single-arm industry of the new Francis. ‘Good morning, Thomas Whitehead!’ he called.

  Thomas Whitehead, whom Hervey had known since they had both climbed the chestnut trees in Longleat-park, put down his bucket of ashes and knuckled his forehead in the naval manner. He had never been to sea, but it was the Longleat way, for the marquess’s younger son, Sir Henry Thynne – younger and favoured son ever since the elder and heir had eloped with Harriet Robbins, the turnpike keeper’s daughter – held post rank in the Royal Navy.

  ‘Good mornin’, Major ‘Ervey,’ he answered, registering respect but no surprise. ‘Reverend said as you’d be ‘ere afore long.’

  Hervey smiled back. It seemed strange not to be ‘Master Matthew’ any longer, as Francis had always had it. ‘Is my father about?’

  ‘’E’s at Upton Scud’more still, sir. Went yesterday to make arrangements, ’e said.’

  Hervey started.

  ‘Thou didn’t know, Major ’Ervey?’

  ‘I knew that he was gravely ill. Do you say… ‘

  ‘I’m afeared so, sir,’ replied Thomas Whitehead, suddenly awkward with the responsibility of informing of the death of one of the most prosperous farmers in West Wiltshire, churchwarden, guardian of the workhouse, justice of the peace. ‘‘E died yes’day mornin’, an’ the Rev’rend went straight away.’

  The Venerable Thomas Hervey held the living of Upton Scudamore in commendam, as he had periodically for a quarter of a century, for it was not a rich living, and the three incumbents during that time had soon sought more lucrative preferment. Nevertheless, with his archdeacon’s tithes, these days Mr Hervey was able to afford a curate, and so he no longer had to drive the dozen miles there and back each Sunday. But Archdeacon Hervey would not entrust the cure of Daniel Coates’s soul to any but himself. That, Hervey knew full well. He felt a sudden emptiness. He was angry with himself for arriving too late to make proper farewells, but that was nothing compared with the change in the world now that Coates was no longer in it. Dan Coates had been forever there, a sure and certain guide, a man who had exercised wisdom and judgement, in uniform and out, a man whom Hervey had thought of variously as a father, brother and faithful NCO. Trumpeter-Corporal Coates, late of His Majesty’s 16th Light Dragoons, honourably discharged unfit for duty on account of the Flanders fever, had limped penniless into the Reverend Thomas Hervey’s church two-score years ago, and from the depths of indigence had risen to yeoman respectability, to be on gentlemanly terms with the present Lord Bath where once he had watched the first marquess’s sheep. No passing bell could sound loud or long enough for a man like Daniel Coates.

  ‘Miss Georgiana’s about, sir.’

  Whether Whitehead disclosed this as an ameliorative or simply because he imagined it was what the father of a daughter would wish to hear, Hervey did not know, but he was grateful for it: there must be no unhappy introspection in the presence of his child, infrequent that the presence was. And if it were only Georgiana about then he could greet her without restraint (the company of her grandparents – not to mention her aunt and guardian, his sister – would somehow oblige him to maintain a greater reserve).

  ‘Good! Then I shall go in at once and see her.’

  He found Georgiana at the breakfast table, alone, spooning copious honey into a bowl of porridge. The hand stopped midway between pot and bowl as she saw him, her eyes and mouth wide.

  ‘Beeswax is altogether better for a table than honey, I do believe,’ he said, with teasing crustiness.

  She looked at the spreading pool on the white cloth, frowned, placed the spoon down on her plate, and rose decorously to greet him.

  He fell to one knee as she extended her arms.

  It was never possible for him to see Georgiana without at once thinking of her mother. It was, indeed, like some perpetual penance for his cravenness in the events that had led to Henrietta’s death. It was not merely the close similarity of features – the large, dark eyes, the high, prominent cheekbones, and increasingly the fullness of her raven hair – rather was it the mannerisms, the gestures. Georgiana’s self-possession was uncannily familiar, and yet she had never known her mother.

  The passage of time worked subtle changes, however. These days Hervey was able to acquit his penance speedily. No longer was he troubled for days, and nights. The pangs of guilt, though frequently sharp, were also short. But what had replaced the dull ache of his loss and of his own perceived fault in it was the conviction that he compounded his guilt by neglect of Henrietta’s daughter. That was how he had thought of Georgiana, principally – as a relict of his late wife. Had thought, until quite recently. Since his return from Portugal he had begun to see Georgiana no longer as the mere image of her mother, like some miniature which had caught a good likeness, but as her own being, a child of nine with spirit, a quick mind, and decided opinions about things which he himself had not even thought about. In truth, he was beginning to find her engaging company. He wanted her to ride with him on the plain; he wanted even to hear her play the piano – and not just because he had bought a very fine one for her ninth birthday: he wanted to watch and listen. It was slowly occurring to him that Georgiana was not simply Henrietta’s infant, and therefore his responsibility, but his own daughter – as much his flesh and blood as his late wife’s. And the realization brought him feelings he could not yet fully understand but which he found wholly welcome.

  Georgiana’s arms met around his neck and she pressed her cheek firmly to his. ‘I knew you would be come. I put a nightlight in my window for you.’

  He had always been uncertain of the true warmth of her greeting, for he had, undeniably, neglected her. There could be no other word for it but ‘neglect’. That he had cause to be absent, always, was without question: all his people knew of the calls of duty. Inde
ed, his father had forbidden him to send in his papers when he had once perceived it his duty to be at close hand to ageing parents. His sister had positively encouraged him to rejoin the colours when he had resigned in dismay after Henrietta’s death; and even his mother had taken unconcealed pride in the common knowledge of West Wiltshire that her son braved so much in the service of the King. But in his heart he knew that he courted these absences, not for their own sake but for the chance of distinction. And, yes, for the money – prize money – that might accrue, for there could be no realistic prospect of promotion without purchase in these days of official peace.

  He would not be apprehensive about his homecoming any longer, however. He had made his decision. Georgiana would have a mother, and he a wife. Then maybe Elizabeth, free at last of duty to all others, might find her own fulfilment (whatever that might be). It was, he confided, a noble course. And, too, it could only bring him tranquillity.

  Daniel Coates’s funeral took place two days later. There were no family considerations, he having died without issue, and never speaking of other kin, and early committal suited Lord Bath, who had parliamentary business to attend to in London. Nevertheless, the little church of St Mary the Virgin was full, its pews occupied in the main by the quality, with labourers and others whom ‘the shepherd of Salisbury Plain’ had variously helped standing by the walls inside and out. The three-bell tower had rung a muffled peal for a whole hour before the midday, when the coffin was to be brought from Drove Farm, and a dismounted party of the Wiltshire Yeomanry stood sharp by the lych gate to see in their late benefactor. Lord Bath and sundry JPs occupied the front pews, on the right, and on the Gospel side, in plain coat adorned with the star of the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, sat old General Sir Banastre Tarleton, who had driven from Shropshire overnight on learning of the news of his former trumpeter’s death. Hervey would have recognized him even without the coachman’s prompting, for despite his seventy and five years the general was still the image of his Reynolds portrait, the dashing, con-quering ‘green dragoon’.

  Punctually, a few minutes before the midday (for he would never have been late on parade), Daniel Coates’s mortal remains were borne to St Mary’s on Drove Farm’s best hay waggon. The men about the churchyard removed their hats, the women curtsied, and the Wiltshire Yeomanry stood to attention, resting on their swords, heads lowered. At the lych gate Coates’s foreman, in black Melton coat, and his six longest-serving shepherds, in starched smocks, took charge of the fine oak coffin and began bearing their late, respected employer to his final entrance to the church in which for more than twenty years he had worshipped unfailingly. As they reached the porch at the west end, the Venerable Thomas Hervey, in surplice and stole – as Daniel Coates would have approved, if not so many of the archdeacon’s clerical brethren in the diocese – took the head of the procession, and with open Prayer Book preceded his erstwhile parishioner and friend to the chancel steps.

  ‘“‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ saith the Lord. ‘He that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.’”’

  The congregation, standing, listened as the comforting yet chill words recalled them to their own mortality, and to the leveller that was the grave, each of them nodding some respect or other as the coffin passed.

  ‘“I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”’

  The foreman saw to the lowering of the coffin onto two trestles in front of the chancel steps, and then placed on top of it Daniel Coates’s old sabre and trumpet, and the shepherd’s crook and shears which had long since taken their place as the tools of his trade.

  Archdeacon Hervey bowed to the congregation, and they sat. He began to read, as the Order for the Burial of the Dead required, Psalm 39, Dixi, Custodiam. He had chosen this rather than the alternative since immediately before the doxology was a verse upon which he wished to reflect in his homily: ‘O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength: before I go hence, and be no more seen.’

  Hervey himself now rose and walked to the fine-carved lectern to read the Lesson, the words of which had become all too familiar during his two decades’ sojourn in regimentals. ‘“Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…”’

  Yet even as he read he found himself doubting the promises. Daniel Coates would no more be seen; was that not the essence? He would never again be there to give counsel. He, Hervey, was quite alone in this world now that Daniel Coates had followed the only other person who had truly known his mind. Now he must fend entirely for himself. But not selfishly; that time was over.

  It was a long lesson, and he read the words deliberately, with the emphases in the places he would once have judged imperative, and which now he did but from habit. ‘“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”’

  He glanced at Lord Bath as he left the lectern. The marquess seemed to nod his approval. The day before, Hervey had gone to Longleat to pay his customary respects to his late wife’s guardian, and to Lady Bath, finding them both welcoming, though it was not long before the open wound of their son and heir’s elopement was rubbed in some way, so that Lady Bath had to turn her face to dab at her eyes with a handkerchief. ‘Of all the things I might have feared for Weymouth,’ Lord Bath had said, ‘an imprudent marriage never occurred to me. Mark you well, Hervey, the unhappiness when a son chooses such a way. I thank God there’s no issue.’

  Hervey had been of the opinion for some time that there must be a reconciliation, for the elopement was evidently no whim of the moment regretted almost as quick and to be ‘dealt with’ by money and the usual arrangements. No, Lord Weymouth and Harriet Robbins were evidently happy in their unusual match, and he saw no reason for Lord Bath to pursue his design to disinherit his son of title and land. He did not know Weymouth well – hardly at all (he knew his younger brother better) – but he ventured to believe that he was a rational man, of sound mind; should prudence in the marriage stakes be so narrowly defined as Lord Bath had it? But he had said nothing, for his own circumstances were far from exemplary. Except that he had resolved to put them into perfect order.

  Archdeacon Hervey now climbed the steps of the pulpit. He did not intend detaining his congregation long: the office of the Burial of the Dead was an occasion to commend the soul of the departed to God, not his reputation to man. Yet there were things he would say.

  ‘“O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength: before I go hence, and be no more seen.”’ He looked up from his pulpit prayer book. ‘The Lord in his infinite wisdom did indeed spare Daniel Coates beyond his span of three-score and ten…’

  Archdeacon Hervey went on to recount the story of Daniel Coates’s rise from indigency to prosperity and respectability, and to praise the wisdom and generosity he displayed in both public office and private affairs. The silence in the church was remarkable, a reverencing not so much of Archdeacon Hervey’s eloquence, adequate though that was, but of Daniel Coates’s memory – before, as Mr Hervey at length recalled, drawing his homily to a close, ‘“I go hence, and be no more seen.”’

  There was at this applause by nodding heads and, if not quite ‘hear, hear’, then from a sort of buzzing in the pews, which told Archdeacon Hervey that the unusual effort had been worthwhile. He glanced at the foreman and bowed his head – the signal – and then the foreman, with a simple beckoning nod,
reassembled his bearers. They took up the coffin with all solemnity, the tools of Daniel Coates’s two trades – and loves – still in place, turned slowly about and began the measured march from the chancel steps, their charge to be ‘no more seen’.

  The congregation rose and turned to follow as Archdeacon Hervey led the procession out of the church to the grave on the sunny south side, which Coates’s own men had dug the day before.

  Hervey accompanied his mother to the graveside, close behind Lord Bath, the principal mourner. And then came the words which he himself had had too frequent occasion to read when there had not been a chaplain to bury the dead. Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. In the midst of life we are in death … More than ever they seemed to him a perfect if unhappy rendering of the condition of so many men who had worn the Sixth’s badge. Indeed, they were apt, too, regarding his own condition, and for more time than he would have thought he could bear but for the company of regimental friends – and of two women who demanded nothing from him in return for that which they had so freely given.

  Lord Bath declined the trowel, bending instead to take a handful of earth from the fresh-dug mound. Old General Tarleton, cocked hat set firm as if he were in uniform, raised his hand in salute, making no attempt to hide the missing fingers (exactly as Daniel Coates had told Hervey of long years ago).

  ‘“Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed: we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life…”’