Company Of Spears

Hervey made no pretence about it. ‘Sixty-odd horses from the troop have got some wretched sickness that will destroy all but a dozen of them. And there’s nothing to be done.’

‘Porca Maria!‘

Hervey glowered at him. ‘You picked up a little Italian, then, in Stepney?’

Johnson shuffled uncomfortably.

‘Is there coffee?’

Johnson scuttled off, returning but a minute later with a tin mug. ‘Will this do for now, sir?’

Hervey nodded. There was doubtless good reason why they were using camp stores still.

‘Has there been any word from the lieutenant-governor? I’m dining with him this evening, and Lady Somervile.’

‘Who’s Lady Somervile?’ asked Johnson, forehead creased.

Hervey looked at him, shaking his head. ‘His wife!’

‘Ah never knew she were a Lady.’

Hervey’s eyes narrowed, uncertain whether Johnson was playing a game. ‘Of course she’s “Lady” now he’s “Sir”!’

Johnson’s brow remained furrowed. ‘You mean they made ‘er a “Lady” when they made ’im a “Sir”?’

Hervey shook his head again, disbelieving. ‘Johnson, how long have you moved in what is called good society? Don’t you yet know that the wife of a knight is always styled “Lady”?’

‘No.’

‘Astonishing. So, you imagined that when a knight – or a baronet, or whatever he is – married, his wife was made “Lady” by the King?

’ ‘No.’

‘What then?’

‘Ah just thought somebody wi’ a title married someone else wi’ a title.’

Hervey was lost for words. And then he began to smile – but to himself, for he would not have given offence for all the world: happy the man for whom dignities and styles were of such little consequence! ‘Well, now you know different’ (he would not say ‘better’). ‘And while we’re about the subject… ‘

‘Ay, sir?’

‘No matter.’

‘Ah’d like t’know.’

‘Really, Johnson, it is of such little consequence.’

‘But it’s been botherin’ thee.’

‘It has not been “bothering” me.’ Hervey found himself sighing. ‘But since we speak of it, there is a very little thing you might try to recall: if a lady is the daughter of a duke, or a marquess, or an earl, she is called “Lady” and then her name and then her husband’s name. If she is the wife of a baronet or a knight she is “Lady” and then just her husband’s name.’

‘Nobody ever told me that.’

‘And you never thought to ask?’

‘Ah never thought there were owt to ask!’

The logic was without flaw. ‘Truly, it is of no consequence.’ He took a long sip of coffee.

Johnson was coming to the end of his huswifery. He stood holding a torn shirt. ‘There were one thing ah al’a’s couldn’t fathom. Why were Mrs ‘Ervey called Lady ‘Enrietta ‘Ervey, cos tha weren’t “Sir” to other people?’

Hervey saw his explanation had been incomplete. Nor could he suppress a warm smile. ‘As I recall it, Johnson, you were the only one who ever called her “Mrs Hervey”. It was because her father had been an earl, and even if I had been Sir Matthew Hervey, she would still have used her own name first. Is all now clear?’

‘Ay, sir. An’ so Lady Katherine Greville…?’

Hervey stopped himself from clearing his throat. ‘Is the daughter of an earl, married to a knight.’

‘An’ Lady Lankester?’

‘The widow of a baronet.’

‘An’ so when she marries thee, sir, she’ll be … not Lady ‘Ervey?’

‘No, because I am neither baronet nor knight. She will be plain “Mrs Hervey”.’

Johnson put the shirt into a raffia box. ‘Won’t she mind that?’

If the question were impertinent, Hervey no longer recognized impertinence in his groom. Long years had convinced him of Johnson’s heart, and the late trouble – the late misunderstanding – with Italians and coral had not altered his opinion in any degree. ‘I must trust not.’

‘Ah don’t like that dog o’ Lady Lankester’s.’

‘The dog is perfectly amenable if you don’t startle her.’

‘An’ ah don’t think she likes me.’

‘She hasn’t bitten you?’

Johnson looked puzzled.

‘The dog, she hasn’t bitten you has she?’

‘Ah meant Lady Lankester.’

Hervey began hearing the same doubting tone with which Emma had pressed him in Gloucestershire. He tried to be cheery. ‘She’s only met you but two or three times!’

‘Ah reckon she won’t want me abaht after yer both wed, sir.’

So that was it! He had never imagined … ‘Johnson, I may safely assure you – and you must believe it – that I shall never dispense with your services until you yourself wish it.’ A smile came to his lips. ‘Or Bow-street requires it!’