Page 51 of The Ones Left Behind
The other men scoffed.
“Well, there was one time, not long after we arrived on the Peninsula, when they were all still very, very new to the army,” Kitty said wistfully. “As you can imagine, I had never done any laundry, but conditions were sparse and our lodging was in tents, and I thought I would be useful. There were also no other officers’ wives there and I thought to join the camp followers in their activities.
Waverley coughed. “Not all, I hope.”
“I would like to see you do better,” Kitty snapped playfully. He held out his hands and surrendered.
“What happened?” the Duchess asked.
“Well, if you launder things of colour with white breeches, the latter tend to turn that colour.”
“Oh, dear.” Lady Amelia giggled.
Kitty sighed dramatically. “I was mortified at the time, of course.”
“Youwere mortified?” Philip interjected. “We were the ones who had to wear pink uniform breeches until new ones could be made for us!”
“At least the five of us and our batmen all matched. It would have been much, much worse if we had been singular,” Matthias added.
“That is easy for you to say. I was called Philip Pink Pantaloons by the Colonel’s staff for months,” he bemoaned.
“I will have to remember that,” his wife said sweetly.
“It was the thought that counted,” Kitty protested, bursting into laughter.
Matthias felt light of heart for the first time since he had returned home.
“I need something about Luke,” the Duchess surprised everyone by saying.
“A matter of pink breeches is not enough?” the Duke asked incredulously.
“Apparently not, if you were not given a nickname,” she responded.
“No one is brave enough to call him anything,” Matthias teased.
“Perhaps not to his face.” Philip grinned. “But there was the one time we were bathing in the Rio Tormes, near Salamanca and Peter ran off with his clothes.”
“I had forgotten about that.” Matthias laughed. “He tried to blame it on an animal.”
“I had no idea it was him,” Waverley said with an amused smile.
“What happened?” the Duchess wanted to know.
“I had to run back to camp in the state of nature I was born in, is what happened,” the Duke answered in a sarcastic tone.
“And that did not garner you a nickname?” she asked with disbelief.
“Nothing repeatable in front of ladies,” Matthias drawled.
“I am certain we can supply one if you are feeling left out,” Philip continued to tease good-naturedly.
“Duke of nude, perhaps?” Amelia suggested.
Waverley made a noise of disgust.
“Bare-bottomed Bear?” Philip played along.
“Oh, that is delightful!” the Duchess exclaimed.
