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Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 196 из 242”
„She is sweet on him?”
„She’s marriedto him,” Sharpe said and was puzzled because Lord Pumphrey looked startled.
„A few weeks earlier”-Hogan was talking to Wellesley now-”Colonel Christopher was courting Miss Savage’s mother.”
„Does any of this ridiculous talk of romance help us determine what Christopher is doing?” Sir Arthur asked with considerable asperity.
„It’s amusing, if nothing else,” Pumphrey said. He stood up, flicked a speck of dust from a cuff, and smiled at Sharpe. „Did you really say Christopher married this girl?”
„He did, sir.”
„Then he is a bad boy,” Lord Pumphrey said happily, „because he’s already married.” His lordship plainly enjoyed that revelation. „He married Pearce Courtnell’s daughter ten years ago in the happy belief that she was worth eight thousand a year, then discovered she was hardly worth sixpence. It is not, I hear, a contented marriage, and might I observe, Sir Arthur, that Lieutenant Sharpe’s news answers our questions about Colonel Christopher’s true allegiance?”
„It does?” Wellesley asked, puzzled.
„Christopher cannot hope to survive a bigamous marriage if he intends to make his future in Britain or in a free Portugal,” Lord Pumphrey observed, „but in France? Or in a Portugal ruled by France? (
The French won’t care how many wives he left in London.”
„But you said he wants to return.”
„I tendered a surmise that he would wish to do so,” Pumphrey corrected the General. „He has, after all, been playing both sides of the table and if he thinks we’re winning then he will doubtless want to return and equally doubtless he will then deny ever marrying Miss Savage.”
„She might have another opinion,” Wellesley observed dryly.
„If she’s alive to utter it, which I doubt,” Pumphrey said. „No, sir, he cannot be trusted and dare I say that my masters in London would be immensely grateful if you were to remove him from their employment?”
„That’s what you want?”
„It is not what I want,” Pumphrey contradicted Wellesley and, for a man of such delicate and frail appearance, he did it with considerable force. „It is what London would want.”
„You can be certain of that?” Wellesley asked, plainly disliking Pumphrey’s insinuations.
„He has knowledge that would embarrass us,” Pumphrey admitted, „including the Foreign Office codes.”
Wellesley gave his great horse neigh of a laugh. „He’s probably given those to the French already.
„She is sweet on him?”
„She’s marriedto him,” Sharpe said and was puzzled because Lord Pumphrey looked startled.
„A few weeks earlier”-Hogan was talking to Wellesley now-”Colonel Christopher was courting Miss Savage’s mother.”
„Does any of this ridiculous talk of romance help us determine what Christopher is doing?” Sir Arthur asked with considerable asperity.
„It’s amusing, if nothing else,” Pumphrey said. He stood up, flicked a speck of dust from a cuff, and smiled at Sharpe. „Did you really say Christopher married this girl?”
„He did, sir.”
„Then he is a bad boy,” Lord Pumphrey said happily, „because he’s already married.” His lordship plainly enjoyed that revelation. „He married Pearce Courtnell’s daughter ten years ago in the happy belief that she was worth eight thousand a year, then discovered she was hardly worth sixpence. It is not, I hear, a contented marriage, and might I observe, Sir Arthur, that Lieutenant Sharpe’s news answers our questions about Colonel Christopher’s true allegiance?”
„It does?” Wellesley asked, puzzled.
„Christopher cannot hope to survive a bigamous marriage if he intends to make his future in Britain or in a free Portugal,” Lord Pumphrey observed, „but in France? Or in a Portugal ruled by France? (
The French won’t care how many wives he left in London.”
„But you said he wants to return.”
„I tendered a surmise that he would wish to do so,” Pumphrey corrected the General. „He has, after all, been playing both sides of the table and if he thinks we’re winning then he will doubtless want to return and equally doubtless he will then deny ever marrying Miss Savage.”
„She might have another opinion,” Wellesley observed dryly.
„If she’s alive to utter it, which I doubt,” Pumphrey said. „No, sir, he cannot be trusted and dare I say that my masters in London would be immensely grateful if you were to remove him from their employment?”
„That’s what you want?”
„It is not what I want,” Pumphrey contradicted Wellesley and, for a man of such delicate and frail appearance, he did it with considerable force. „It is what London would want.”
„You can be certain of that?” Wellesley asked, plainly disliking Pumphrey’s insinuations.
„He has knowledge that would embarrass us,” Pumphrey admitted, „including the Foreign Office codes.”
Wellesley gave his great horse neigh of a laugh. „He’s probably given those to the French already.