Page 247 of The Armor of Light
‘I’m perfectly fit,’ Kenelm said as if disagreeing. ‘It took longer than expected, but now I’m ready to return to my duties.’
Amos said: ‘What’s the hurry?’
‘The men need me.’
Do they, Amos wondered? They would probably say they needed good boots and plenty of ammunition and intelligent leaders.
Kenelm read his mind. ‘You don’t know what life is like in an army camp,’ he said. ‘Drink, gambling and wicked women. Elsie will forgive me for speaking coarsely, but I don’t want to understate the situation. Do you know what a British soldier’s daily rations are?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t.’
‘A pound of beef, a pound of bread and half a pint of gin. Half a pint! And when they have any money, and don’t lose it at cards, they spend it on more gin.’
‘And you’re able to rescue them from this life?’
Kenelm smiled ruefully. ‘Ah, Amos, I could almost think you were making fun of me. No, I can’t rescue them, but sometimes God can.’
‘But you tell them not to indulge in such vices.’
‘One of the many things I’ve learned in the army is that telling men to be good is not effective. Instead of forbidding vice, I try to encourage other things. I hold services in the fields. I tell them Bible stories. When they’re wounded, or homesick, or terrified out of their wits before a battle, I pray with them. They like singing, and occasionally I get a whole platoon singing a familiar hymn together. When that happens I feel I have justified my existence here on earth.’
Amos had to hide his surprise. He had heard that army life had altered Kenelm, but the man was utterly transformed.
Elsie said: ‘That’s all very well, Kenelm, but you shouldn’t return until you’re completely fit.’
‘There are plenty of men in the camp who aren’t completely fit.’
The argument was ended by a burst of excited chatter from the hall. ‘That’s the children coming back,’ Elsie explained. ‘They’ve been to the park with my mother and Spade.’
Amos had not expected to see Spade and Arabella. He knew they had gone to Paris but had heard no more since then. He was glad to see that they had escaped from Bonaparte. He hoped they would all be safe here in Brussels, but he knew they might not.
The children burst in. They knew Amos well and felt no need to be on their best behaviour. The younger ones were overflowing with accounts of what they had seen and done in the park. The older ones were more restrained – Elsie’s Stephen was eighteen and Arabella’s Abe was fifteen – but they had clearly enjoyed the park just as much.
Spade had taken a lot of orders in Paris, he told Amos; business had picked up quickly. He hoped he would be able to deliver the goods. That depended on what happened to Bonaparte.
Arabella had bought clothes in Paris, Amos guessed. She was sixty-one now, slim and gracious in a green silk gown.
Amos was offered tea for the second time that afternoon, and accepted to be polite. The children fell on the sandwiches. Then they went elsewhere.
Kenelm said: ‘Now that the tide has gone out, Amos, I have a favour to ask of you.’
‘Anything I can do, of course.’
‘Would you escort Elsie to the duchess of Richmond’s ball? She has been invited, and I want her to go – she deserves an evening of relaxation and pleasure – but I can’t go. For me to be seen drinking champagne at an aristocratic shindig would give quite the wrong impression.’
Elsie was embarrassed. ‘Kenelm, please! What an imposition that would be on Amos. Besides, I don’t suppose he’s been invited.’
‘As a matter of fact, Jane, the countess of Shiring, has promised to get me an invitation.’
‘Has she?’ said Elsie, in a disapproving tone of voice.
‘I wasn’t planning to accept, but I’d be very happy – indeed, honoured – to escort you, Mrs Mackintosh.’
‘There,’ said Kenelm with satisfaction. ‘That’s settled, then.’
*
The duke of Wellington had been away from the army, performing other tasks such as being British ambassador in Paris, but now he had returned to military duties and taken charge of the British and Dutch armies. The allied Prussian army was under separate command.
