‘Lord Portman knew Grandmother Challon well, did he not?’
‘Yes, they trod the boards together.’
‘Did he ever meet my grandfather?’
‘Once, I believe. I recall he had little sympathy for him.’
‘He is my father, after all,’ his mother put in. ‘And I think he should be helped to come home. I am sure no one thinks he is a threat to the monarchy now.’
‘Then your visit is to ask me to go to France.’
‘Would you?’ Amy’s voice was a plea which was hard to resist. ‘The children can come and stay with us while you are gone.’
‘You can take the Lady Amy,’ James added. ‘It will save having to take the Dover packet and you can sail directly to Honfleur.’
Lord Drymore had never quite abandoned his love of the sea and had bought the yacht to sail up and down the coast and make an occasional trip to France before the troubles began. Jay and his siblings had also used her to take their children on pleasure trips, so the vessel was always kept seaworthy and the crew on call. She was moored at King’s Lynn, only a day’s ride away.
While servants came in with the refreshments and his mother took over the serving of them, Jay considered the proposal. It might very well furnish the antidote to his ennui and he had a curiosity to meet the grandfather after whom he was named and who had been exiled in disgrace the year he had been born. ‘What do you know of this Comte Giradet?’
‘Nothing but what Sir John tells us in his letter,’ his father answered. ‘He is a third-generation seigneur who has always treated his people well. His estate is at Villarive, not far from Honfleur. He is a widower whose home is managed by his unmarried daughter. There is a son, too, who is in the service of King Louis.’
‘Can he not help?’
‘Apparently not. The King himself is virtually under house arrest.’
‘The people of France are becoming more lawless every day,’ Amy said. ‘We cannot leave Papa to their mercies.’ She was naturally thinking more of her father than the unfortunate Comte and his daughter. ‘He is an old man and should be enjoying his declining years in the bosom of his family. I am sure that old misdemeanour is long forgotten.’
‘Of course I will go.’ He did not need to think twice about it. His parents had always stood by him, even when he had gone against their advice and made himself the subject of gossip; he would do anything for them. ‘Shall you take the children back with you now?’
‘Yes, if it is convenient. Where are they?’
‘I left them grooming their ponies.’ He rang a bell on a table at his side and a footman appeared almost at once. ‘Fetch the children here, if you please,’ he said. ‘Then tell Cook there will be two extra for luncheon and after that, send Thomas to me.’
‘Will you take Thomas with you?’ his mother asked.
Jay laughed. ‘I think not. He will be forever worrying me about the cut of my coat and tweaking my neckcloth. I can valet myself. I would rather take Sam Roker if you can spare him.’
‘Of course, if he agrees,’ James said. ‘He will be an ideal choice.’
Having made his decision, the preparations went ahead at lightning speed. Jay, when in the navy, had always been used to packing up at a moment’s notice, and it was as if he were back in the service as he issued his orders and explained to the children that he was going away, but they were to stay at Blackfen Manor in his absence. They took this news without a qualm. To them, being spoilt by Lord and Lady Drymore and playing with the cousins who also frequently visited the Manor was a great treat, and they happily set off with Miss Corton, their governess, in their grandparents’ coach in the early afternoon.
Jay had finished his preparations and was instructing Mrs Armistead and his steward about carrying on in his absence, an instruction they did not need, having done it countless times before, when Sam Roker arrived, sent by James.
‘Did my father explain why I need you?’ Jay asked after they had greeted each other.
‘Yes, sir. We’re to fetch Sir John Challon and his friends out of the hands of those froggies. Not that I—’ He stopped suddenly.
Jay smiled, realising the old retainer was about to commit an indiscretion and say what he really thought of Sir John. ‘Will you come?’
‘Try keeping me away.’ Sam had been in the navy with Lord Drymore when he was a sea captain and had served him ever since, both in an unspecified domestic capacity and as an associate member of the Society for the Discovery and Apprehending of Criminals, popularly known as the Piccadilly Gentlemen’s Club. He had known Jay all his life and was allowed a familiarity others would not have dared.
‘And Susan doesn’t mind?’
‘Susan does as she’s told,’ Sam said firmly. ‘’Sides, she’d do anything to please her ladyship, as you well know, so we go with her blessing.’
‘Good,’ Jay said. ‘We sail on the Lady Amy on tomorrow’s tide. Can you be ready?
‘I am ready now, Commodore.’
‘You can forget the formality of address, Sam. I do not think an English naval officer will be welcome in France at this time. I shall go as a private citizen on a visit to my grandfather and you will simply be my servant, Sam Dogsbody.’
‘Yes, sir.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘It is an age since I went on an adventure for the Gentlemen and longer still since I set foot in France.’
‘This isn’t being done at the behest of the Gentlemen,’ Jay said. ‘It is a personal errand.’
‘I know, sir, I know. Let us hope we are in time.’
‘Amen to that,’ Jay said fervently.
Sir John lived in a small villa on the outskirts of Honfleur, a picturesque port on the south bank of the Seine estuary. It had once been a transit point for trade from Rouen to England, but the blockade imposed by Britain had put a stop to that. Perhaps that was why Sir John had chosen to live there; in the early days of his exile it had offered a tenuous link with home. He was an old man and English to boot, but because the locals were unsure what the attitude of the new government was with regard to aliens, he had so far been left unmolested.
Lisette had known him all her life and now felt as if he were her only friend and ally, and though he had not promised he could help free her father, he had written to his daughter and son-in-law on her behalf. ‘I think it is about time I went home myself,’ he had told her. ‘France is a cauldron about to boil over.’
She had called on him almost every day to ask if he had had a reply and each time she had received the same answer. ‘Not yet. It takes time, my dear. The wind and tide might not be favourable for the mail packet and my son-in-law might be from home. You must be patient.’
‘How can I be patient with Papa locked up? They would not let me see him when I took fresh clothes for him. They inspected them minutely in case I had hidden something in them.’
‘And had you?’
‘Only a note to say I was trying my best to have him released. It caused some hilarity when the guards found it. If only I could rely on the servants, we might storm the prison and set him free, but they have been drifting away one by one. Of the men, only two of the seven indoor servants are still with me and only the housekeeper and Hortense of the sixteen women. Georges, our coachman, is still with me and still loyal, but as for the rest…’ She shrugged. ‘They are afraid…’ Her voice faded.
‘And what would you do if you could set your father free?’ he asked her now. ‘You could not take him home, they would come for him again and you too.’
‘I don’t know.’