Lieutenant Hornblower

“Good. We’ll have some. Both of us. And let’s have a saucer of jam to spread on it.”

“Yessir.”

“And we’ll need cheese before our wine. Is there any cheese in the house, or must you send out for some?”

“There’s some in the house, sir.”

“Then put it on the table.”

“Yessir.”

Now was it not, thought Bush, exactly what might be expected of Hornblower that he should push away the half of his huge slice of currant duff unfinished? And he only had a nibble of cheese, hardly enough to clear his palate. He raised his glass, and Bush followed his example.

“To a lovely lady,” said Hornblower.

They drank, and now there was an irresponsible twinkle in Hornblower’s eyes that worried Bush even while he told himself that he was tired of Hornblower’s tantrums. He decided to change the subject, and he prided himself on the tactful way in which he did so.

“To a fortunate evening,” he said, raising his glass in his turn.

“A timely toast,” said Hornblower.

“You can afford to play?” asked Bush.

“Naturally.”

“You can stand another run of bad luck?”

“I can afford to lose one rubber,” answered Hornblower.

“Oh.”

“But on the other hand if I win the first I can afford to lose the next two. And if I win the first and second I can afford to lose the next three. And so on.”

“Oh.”

That did not sound too hopeful; and Hornblower’s gleaming eyes looking at him from his wooden countenance were postively disturbing. Bush shifted uneasily in his seat and changed the conversation again.

“They’re putting the Hastings into commission again,” he said. “Had you heard?”

“Yes. Peacetime establishment—three lieutenants, and all three selected two months back.”

“I was afraid that was so.”

“But our chance will come,” said Hornblower. “Here’s to it.”

“D’you think Parry will bring Lambert to the Long Rooms?” asked Bush when he took the glass from his lips.

“I have no doubt about it,” said Hornblower.

Now he was restless again.

“I must be back there soon,” he said. “Parry might hurry Lambert through his di

“My guess is that he would,” said Bush, preparing to rise.

There’s no necessity for you to come back with me if you don’t care to,” said Hornblower. “You might find it wearisome to sit idle there.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for worlds,” said Bush.

Chapter XX

The Long Rooms were full with the evening crowd. At nearly every table in the outer room there were earnest parties playing serious games, while through the curtained door that opened into the i

Hornblower had won the first rubber to Bush’s enormous relief, although actually he had not been able to follow the details of the play and the score well enough to know that such was the case until the cards were swept up and payments made. He saw Hornblower tuck away some money into that breast pocket.

“It would be pleasant,” said Admiral Parry, “if we could restore the old currency, would it not? If the country could dispense with these dirty notes and go back again to our good old golden guineas?”

“Indeed it would,” said the colonel.

“The longshore sharks,” said Lambert, “meet every ship that comes in from abroad. Twentythree and sixpence they offer for every guinea, so you can be sure they are worth more than that.”

Parry took something from his pocket and laid it on the table.

“Boney has restored the French currency, you see,” he said. “They call this a napoleon, now that he is First Consul for life. A twentyfranc piece—a louis d’or, as we used to say.”

“Napoleon, First Consul,” said the colonel, looking at the coin with curiosity, and then he turned it over. “French Republic.”

“The ‘republic’ is mere hypocrisy, of course,” said Parry. “There never was a worse tyra

“We’ll show him up,” said Lambert.

“Amen to that,” said Parry, and then he put the coin away again. “But we are delaying the business of the evening. I fear that is my fault. Let us cut again. Ah, I partner you this time, colonel. Would you care to sit opposite me? I omitted to thank you, Mr. Hornblower, for your excellent partnership.”

“You are too kind, my lord,” said Hornblower, taking the chair at the admiral’s right.

The next rubber began and progressed silently to its close.

“I am glad to see that the cards have decided to be kind to you, Mr. Hornblower,” said Parry, “even though our honours have reduced your wi

“Thank you.” said Hornblower taking the money.

Bush remembered what Hornblower had said about being able to afford to lose three rubbers if he won the first two.

“Damned small stakes in my opinion, my lord,” said the colonel. “Must we play as low as this?”

“That is for the company to decide,” replied Parry. “I myself have no objection. Half a crown instead of a shilling? Let us ask Mr. Hornblower.”

Bush turned to look at Hornblower with renewed anxiety.

“As you will, my lord,” said Hornblower, with the most elaborate indifference.

“Sir Richard?”

“I don’t mind at all,” said Lambert.

“Half a crown a trick, then,” said Parry. “Waiter, fresh cards, if you please.”

Bush had hurriedly to revise his estimate of the amount of losses Hornblower could endure. With the stakes nearly trebled it would be bad if he lost a single rubber.

“You and I again, Mr. Hornblower,” said Parry, observing the cut. “You wish to retain your present seat?”

“I am indifferent, my lord.”

“I am not,” said Parry. “Nor am I yet so old as to decline to change my seat in accordance with the run of the cards. Our philosophers have not yet decided that it is a mere vulgar superstition.”

He heaved himself out of his chair and moved opposite Hornblower, and play began again, with Bush watching more anxiously even than at the start. He watched each side in turn take the odd trick, and then three times ru

“Excellent,” said Parry, “a profitable rubber, Mr. Hornblower. I’m glad you decided to trump my knave of hearts. It must have been a difficult decision for you, but it was undoubtedly the right one.”

“It deprived me of a lead I could well have used,” said Lambert. “The opposition was indeed formidable, colonel.”

“Yes,” agreed the colonel, not quite as goodtemperedly.

“And twice I held hands neither an ace nor a king, which helped the opposition to be formidable. Can you give me change, Mr. Hornblower?”

There was a fivepound note among the money that the colonel handed over to Hornblower, and it went into the breast pocket of his coat.