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Sharpes Escape :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 24 из 283Who the hell is he anyway?"
"He's the Colonel's brother-in-law," Knowles explained.
"I know that," Sharpe said impatiently, "but who is he?"
"The man who married Mrs. Lawford's sister," Knowles said, refusing to be drawn.
"That tells you everything you bloody need to know," Sharpe said grimly, "but he doesn't seem the kind of fellow Lawford would want as a brother-in-law. Not enough tone."
"We don't choose our relatives," Knowles said, "and I'm sure he's a gentleman."
"Bloody hell," Sharpe grumbled.
"And he must have been delighted to get out of the 55th," Knowles went on, ignoring Sharpe's moroseness. "God, most of that regiment died of the yellow fever in the West Indies. He's much safer here, even with those fellows threatening." Knowles nodded down at the French troops.
"Then why the hell didn't he purchase a captaincy?"
"Six months short of requirements," Knowles said. A lieutenant was not allowed to purchase a captaincy until he had served three years in the lower rank, a newly introduced rule that had caused much grumbling among wealthy officers who wanted swifter preferment.
"But why did he join up so late?" Sharpe asked. If Slingsby was thirty then he could not have become a lieutenant before he was twenty-seven, by which age some men were majors. Most officers, like young Iliffe, joined long before they were twenty and it was odd to find a man coming to the army so late.
"I believe… " Knowles said, then reddened and checked his words.
New troops," he said instead, pointing down the slope to where a French regiment, its blue coats unnaturally bright, marched past the windmill. "I hear the Emperor has sent reinforcements to Spain," Knowles went on. "The French have nowhere else to fight these days. Austrians out of the war, Prussians doing nothing, which means Boney only has us to beat."
Sharpe ignored Knowles's summation of the Emperor's strategy. "You believe what?" he asked.
"Nothing. I said too much."
"You didn't say a bloody thing," Sharpe protested and waited, but Knowles still remained silent. "You want me to slit your skinny throat, Robert," Sharpe asked, "with a very blunt knife?"
Knowles smiled. "You mustn't repeat this, Richard."
"You know me, Robert, I never tell anyone anything. Cross my heart and hope to die, so tell me before I cut your legs off."
"I believe Mrs. Lawford's sister was in trouble. She found herself with child, she wasn't married and the man concerned was apparently a rogue."
"Wasn't me," Sharpe said quickly.
"He's the Colonel's brother-in-law," Knowles explained.
"I know that," Sharpe said impatiently, "but who is he?"
"The man who married Mrs. Lawford's sister," Knowles said, refusing to be drawn.
"That tells you everything you bloody need to know," Sharpe said grimly, "but he doesn't seem the kind of fellow Lawford would want as a brother-in-law. Not enough tone."
"We don't choose our relatives," Knowles said, "and I'm sure he's a gentleman."
"Bloody hell," Sharpe grumbled.
"And he must have been delighted to get out of the 55th," Knowles went on, ignoring Sharpe's moroseness. "God, most of that regiment died of the yellow fever in the West Indies. He's much safer here, even with those fellows threatening." Knowles nodded down at the French troops.
"Then why the hell didn't he purchase a captaincy?"
"Six months short of requirements," Knowles said. A lieutenant was not allowed to purchase a captaincy until he had served three years in the lower rank, a newly introduced rule that had caused much grumbling among wealthy officers who wanted swifter preferment.
"But why did he join up so late?" Sharpe asked. If Slingsby was thirty then he could not have become a lieutenant before he was twenty-seven, by which age some men were majors. Most officers, like young Iliffe, joined long before they were twenty and it was odd to find a man coming to the army so late.
"I believe… " Knowles said, then reddened and checked his words.
New troops," he said instead, pointing down the slope to where a French regiment, its blue coats unnaturally bright, marched past the windmill. "I hear the Emperor has sent reinforcements to Spain," Knowles went on. "The French have nowhere else to fight these days. Austrians out of the war, Prussians doing nothing, which means Boney only has us to beat."
Sharpe ignored Knowles's summation of the Emperor's strategy. "You believe what?" he asked.
"Nothing. I said too much."
"You didn't say a bloody thing," Sharpe protested and waited, but Knowles still remained silent. "You want me to slit your skinny throat, Robert," Sharpe asked, "with a very blunt knife?"
Knowles smiled. "You mustn't repeat this, Richard."
"You know me, Robert, I never tell anyone anything. Cross my heart and hope to die, so tell me before I cut your legs off."
"I believe Mrs. Lawford's sister was in trouble. She found herself with child, she wasn't married and the man concerned was apparently a rogue."
"Wasn't me," Sharpe said quickly.