Soldier of Fortune (17 page)

Daniel Rawson
was patient. As he listened to her long narrative, he did not interrupt Abigail
Piper once. Her account was detailed and, from time to time, she referred to
her diary so that she could give the correct sequence of events.

She told him
about the terrifying voyage, about her journey through the Netherlands and how
she and Emily had been cast adrift at one stage. They had been caught in heavy
rain, chased by outlaws and forced to sleep in a barn more than once. They were
on German soil when they were rescued by the detachment of Dutch soldiers who
had eventually delivered them to the camp.

'I
knew
that we'd get
here in the end,' she said, beaming at him.

'How could you
be so sure?'

'Im lucky by
nature, Daniel. That's how I came to meet you in the first place.'

'I certainly had
good fortune when I met you,' he said fondly. 'My stay in London was brightened
by our acquaintance.'

'It's more than
an acquaintance, surely?'

'Yes, Abigail,
it is. I look upon you as a dear friend.' She almost swooned with pleasure.
'But that doesn't stop me from being cross with you for putting your life at
risk. I get paid to do that. You do not.'

She smiled
dreamily. 'I simply had to come.'

'I accept that,'
he said, speaking quickly before she could make a declaration that he felt
would be embarrassing. 'However, the truth of it is that you and your maid
acted in a way that could have proved suicidal.' He leant in closer. 'Have you
told me everything, Abigail?'

'Yes, of
course.'

'Are you certain
about that?'

'I'd never lie
to you, Daniel.'

He was not
accusing her of lying but of suppressing some facts. Though she appeared to be
telling him the full story of her travels, he had the impression that something
was missing, some unpleasant detail that she had either pushed out of her mind
or simply held back from him. Abigail Piper had been changed by the long trek.
She looked at once younger and older than before, an innocent, defenceless girl
with no knowledge of the darker aspects of human behaviour and a mature young
woman who had entered adulthood somewhere between The Hague and the Rhine
valley. Daniel was bound to wonder what she was hiding but he decided that it
was not the moment to press her on the subject of painful memories.

'You must speak
to the Duke,' he said.

'I'd prefer to
stay here with you, Daniel.'

'He'll wish to
see with his own eyes that you are safe and sound so that he can send word to
your father to that effect.'

'There's no need
for Father to worry about me.'

'I'd say there
was every need. You left without warning.'

'I had to,
Daniel,' she said. 'If I'd told my parents what I had in mind, they would have
forbidden me to leave the house. Dorothy would have done everything in her
power to stop me as well.'

'In some senses,
they'd have been right to do so.'

'My parents
might have been,' she conceded, 'but not my sister. Dorothy would have held me
back out of sheer spite.'

'I'm sure that
she cares for you, Abigail.'

'She does - when
it suits her.'

'Well, I don't
want to come between you and your sister. But she would need to have a very
cold heart not to worry about you and pray for your safe return.' He crossed to
the tent flap and opened it. 'Follow me. It's not far.'

'Shall I see you
later on?'

'To be honest, I
think it unlikely.'

'Just for a few
minutes,' she pleaded.

'We'll see,
Abigail,' he said, careful not to commit himself. 'Let me take you to the
Duke's quarters. He'll be as thankful as I am that you came to no harm.'

She gave a
strained smile and went out after him. On their way through the camp, Daniel
exchanged a few niceties with her, ignoring the curious stares they attracted
on the way. After introducing her to Marlborough, he left the two of them together
and walked briskly towards the area where the baggage wagons had been parked.
He soon found Abigail's maid, standing beside a tent as she sorted out items of
clothing that needed to be washed.

'May I speak to
you for a moment, Emily?' said Daniel.

'Yes, sir,' she
replied, flustered by his sudden appearance.

'Your mistress
is with His Grace, the Duke of Marlborough. She's been telling me about the
adventures you had along the way.'

'Miss Abigail
was very brave.'

'I fancy that
you showed just as much bravery, Emily.'

'I did what I
had to do, Captain Rawson.'

Emily Greene had
lost weight during the many weeks they had been in transit. She still had the
same homely appearance but her flabby cheeks and plump body had shrunk
slightly. The maid had aged visibly as well. Abigail Piper had had a vision of
her beloved to beckon her on. Emily had been driven by loyalty to her mistress.
It was a loyalty that Daniel took into account. The woman would never volunteer
information about Abigail that she felt was confidential. Daniel had to be
tactful.

'What was the
most enjoyable part of your journey?' he asked.

'Getting here
alive, sir,' she replied.

'Yes, you had
one or two uncomfortable moments, I hear.'

'They're all in
the past now - thanks be to God.'

'Miss Abigail
was telling me about an inn you left in the middle of the night. You must have
been desperate to do that.'

'We could not
stay there, sir.'

'So I gather,'
said Daniel, who had not been told the real reason for their abrupt departure
and felt it was one of the things that Abigail had deliberately kept from him.
'Miss Abigail told me all about it.'

'She talked
about it for days afterwards.'

'That's
understandable. It must have been a shock to her.'

'It was more
than that, Captain Rawson,' said Emily, believing that he already knew the full
details. 'The man had been so nice to us when he let us ride in his wagon. The
last thing Miss Abigail expected was that he would come to her room at night
and force himself upon her. I got to her just in time.'

'She's eternally
grateful, Emily.'

'I couldn't
believe what had happened.'

'Is this the man
who was travelling with the body of his wife?'

'That's right,
sir,' said Emily. 'His name was Otto but I called him a lot of other names that
night - God forgive me! Miss Abigail is young and unused to the ways of the
world. It frightened her that such people could exist. She said that she'd be
too ashamed to tell her parents that she'd been molested like that.'

'I can imagine.'

'She's a devout
Christian - and so am I. We know what the Good Book tells us, sir. Only one
person ever has the right to
such favours.' She smiled shyly. 'Miss Abigail is saving
herself for her husband.'

Daniel swallowed
hard. As a serving soldier, his duties took him all over Europe and he had
never considered marriage because he would be away from a wife for long
periods. Marriage would also inhibit his private life and he was not yet ready
to sacrifice that at the altar. Abigail, however, after meeting him only three
times, had already chosen him as her future husband, revealing the depth of her
feeling by embarking on a pursuit of him. Guilt welled up inside him. Always
pleased to arouse admiration in a beautiful young woman, he was wounded by the
knowledge that, in Abigail's case, infatuation with him had almost led to rape
by a drunken stranger.

Striding back to
his tent, Daniel had much food for thought.

They followed
the Confederate army as it moved south, keeping a few miles to the rear of it.
The chances of Charles Catto being spotted by someone he met during his
fleeting enlistment in a British regiment were remote but he nevertheless took
pains to alter his appearance. Having discarded his uniform, he wore
nondescript attire and grew a beard that changed the whole shape of his face.
Frédéric Seurel was the same surly and unprepossessing individual as before.
Travelling over muddy roads and being soaked by rain day after day had not
improved his temper. As they searched for shelter that afternoon, he was gloomier
than ever.

'How ever will
we get to him again, Charles?' he asked.

'There has to be
a way.'

'I think we
should forget the whole thing.' 'Then you had better make your will,' said
Catto, 'because General Salignac will have you hunted down and killed for
failing to obey his orders.'

'I had no orders
from him. You were given the assignment.'

'I told him that
you would assist me. He wanted to know your name and be assured that you could
do as you were told and keep your mouth shut. There's no escape from this,
Frédéric.'

'But we've been
trailing Captain Rawson for two months.'

'Yes,' said
Catto with a reproachful glance, 'and we had the perfect opportunity to kill
him until you bungled it.'

Seurel felt
unjustly accused. 'How was I to know that someone else would be in that tent?
Anyway,' he went on, 'I did show you how quickly I could kill a man and take
off his head. When I get close enough to Captain Rawson, I'll have him dead
within seconds.'

'Make sure it's
him next time.'

They rode on
through a copse and came out the other side to see a wayside inn ahead of them.
Catto stretched his arm to point.

'That's where
we'll spend the night,' he said. 'It's a pity we can't lure the captain there.
If we could separate him from the army, we'd have a much better chance of
killing him.'

'Why don't we
send him an invitation?' asked Seurel, grinning.

'We might just
do that - though not in the way you think.'

'You mean we set
a trap?'

'I mean exactly
that,' Catto told him. 'And there's one advantage to our long journey. I know
we've spent many weeks in the saddle but we're getting closer to General
Salignac all the time. His orders were to leave Paris and lead his men to
Bavaria where he was to join up with the Elector. In other words, he's not all
that far in front of us.'

'Are you going
to make contact with him?'

'Not until our
job is done, Frédéric.'

'We could use
more money.'

'We won't get a
single franc from the general unless we can prove that Captain Daniel Rawson is
dead. And we must make sure that we're the ones who kill him.'

'Must we?' said
Seurel.

'Yes - if the
captain is shot dead in battle, we will have failed. That's why we must get to
him first, Frédéric,' he said. 'So keep that dagger of yours as sharp as a
razor.'

The Duke of
Marlborough opened a satchel and took out the letter before handing it to
Abigail Piper. They were in his quarters.

'What's this,
Your Grace?' she asked.

'It's a letter
from your father,' he explained. 'It was enclosed with the last missive he sent
to me. Should you ever reach us, he implored me to give it to you and to make
sure that you read it.'

Abigail looked
uneasy. She could imagine what her father had written and did not want to face
any recriminations. There had been several moments during her travels when she
had thought wistfully of the comforts of home and she had suffered pangs of
remorse about the way she had fled from London without informing her parents
where and why she was going. It had not taken Sir Nicholas Piper long to find out
that she and Emily had boarded a ship for Holland. From that discovery, it was
clear what her motives were.

Marlborough
watched her closely. Though he had given her a cordial welcome and treated her
with unfailing kindness, he was not pleased to see her in the camp. With a
battle in the offing, he did not want to be distracted by the problems of the
Piper family. At the same time, he had a duty of care to the daughter of an old
friend. Abigail was hesitant. Marlborough provided some encouragement.

'It's your
father,' he said gently. 'Read what he has to say.'

'I'll look at it
later,' she decided.

'I only have
your word for that, Abigail. When I write back to him, I want to be able to
assure him that I actually saw open his letter. Go on - what are you afraid
of?'

'I don't know,
Your Grace.'

'You can't
disown your own father, Abigail.'

Mastering her
reluctance, she opened the letter and read the looping hand of Sir Nicholas
Piper. Her father began by telling her how much he loved her and begged her to
return as soon as possible. There was no word of condemnation or even of mild
criticism. Instead, he had made a conscious effort to understand what she had
done. He did not, however, hide the pain inflicted on the family. Abigail
quailed as she learnt that her mother had been so shocked that she had required
treatment from her physician. By the end of the letter, Abigail was so affected
that she was even prepared to believe her father's assurance that her sister,
Dorothy, had sent her love and her best wishes.

'There,' she
said, lower lip quivering with emotion, 'you may tell Father that your bore
witness to my reading it.'

'And what is
your response, Abigail?'

'I will need to
study it again in private, Your Grace.'

'As you wish,'
said Marlborough, 'though I think I can guess the plea that it contains. In
making this astonishing journey, you have more than proved your love and your
courage but this is as far as you can go. You must see that.'

'Please don't
force me to leave!' she cried.

'I'm not forcing
you, Abigail, I'm simply inviting you to travel back to The Hague with more
speed and less danger than you met on your way here. I send despatches every
day to the States-General. Why don't you and your maid accompany the next
messengers?'

'We've only just
got here.'

'Then you
achieved your objective,' he pointed out. 'You caught up with Captain Rawson
and left him in no doubt about your feelings for him. He will have been
mightily impressed. When he returns to England, as he will in due course, I'm
sure that he will call on you at the earliest possible opportunity.'

'But that could
be several months away.'

'The time will
pass very quickly.'

'Each day will
seem like a week,' she said plaintively. 'You must understand my position, Your
Grace. I didn't travel halfway across Europe to be packed off home
immediately.'

'You've arrived
at an inopportune moment.'

'Emily and I
will not be in the way, I swear it.'

'That's not the
point at issue, Abigail.'

'Then what is,
may I ask?'

Marlborough
chose his words carefully. 'We're on the eve of battle,' he explained, 'and
that means we shall enter the realm of the unknown. Nobody can predict what
will happen. The one certainty is that a large number of our men will lose
their lives or receive hideous wounds. No woman should have to look on such
sights.'

'That's exactly
what Daniel - Captain Rawson - told me but I am more robust than I look. I
won't faint at the sight of blood, Your Grace. In any case, the baggage wagons
will be well away from any action, surely. We'll be completely safe.'

'It's not your
safety that concerns me, Abigail.'

'What else is
there?'

'Your pain,' he
said, speaking as softly as he could, 'your grief, your sense of being cheated
by Fate. To speak more plainly, I think you should leave the camp before we
close with the enemy in order to spare yourself what might - and I put it no
higher than that - be a tragedy for you. I feel it would be far better for you
to receive news of it at home where you'd have family and friends to comfort
you.'

'Why should I
need comfort?' said Abigail in bewilderment. 'I came here simply to be close to
Captain Rawson. That fact gives me all the comfort I require.'

Marlborough was
moved by the love in her eyes and the pride in her voice but he did not feel it
right to conceal the truth from her. If she was determined to stay, she had to
be prepared for disaster.

'Do you know
what a Forlorn Hope is?' he said.

'Yes, of course,
Your Grace.'

'Then you know
how dangerous it is.'

'Captain Rawson
told us about a Forlorn Hope that he once led. It was very successful and it
earned him a commendation from you. It may have cost lives but it achieved what
it set out to do.'

'Unhappily, that
is not always the case.'

'It is whenever
Captain Rawson is involved,' she asserted. 'I've never met anyone as daring as
him.'

'He's a
remarkable soldier, I have to agree. But he is a realist, Abigail. He knows
that anyone who takes part in a

Forlorn Hope is
going to look into the very jaws of death.'

She became
anxious. 'Why are you telling me this?'

'We will shortly
be attempting to storm a fortified hill near Donauworth,' he said seriously.
'We believe that there may be as many as 13,000 French and Bavarian soldiers
defending it. Heavy casualties are therefore expected. The assault will be led
by a Forlorn Hope.' He paused for a moment then broke the news to her. 'Captain
Rawson has volunteered to be part of it.'

Abigail was
rocked by the news. At the very moment when she had finally been reunited with
her beloved, he was about to take the most enormous risk on the battlefield.
Having journeyed from England with thoughts of marriage to Daniel Rawson, she
now feared that she might instead soon be attending his funeral.