My father’s appointment with Lord Nelson was an early one, and he was the more anxious to be punctual as he knew how much the Admiral’s movements must be affected1 by the news which we had heard the night before. I had hardly breakfasted then, and my uncle had not rung for his chocolate, when he called for me at Jermyn Street. A walk of a few hundred yards brought us to the high building of discoloured brick in Piccadilly, which served the Hamiltons as a town house, and which Nelson used as his head-quarters when business or pleasure called him from Merton. A footman answered our knock, and we were ushered2 into a large drawing-room with sombre furniture and melancholy3 curtains. My father sent in his name, and there we sat, looking at the white Italian statuettes in the corners, and the picture of Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples which hung over the harpsichord4. I can remember that a black clock was ticking loudly upon the mantelpiece, and that every now and then, amid the rumble5 of the hackney coaches, we could hear boisterous6 laughter from some inner chamber7.
When at last the door opened, both my father and I sprang to our feet, expecting to find ourselves face to face with the greatest living Englishman. It was a very different person, however, who swept into the room.
She was a lady, tall, and, as it seemed to me, exceedingly beautiful, though, perhaps, one who was more experienced and more critical might have thought that her charm lay in the past rather than the present. Her queenly figure was moulded upon large and noble lines, while her face, though already tending to become somewhat heavy and coarse, was still remarkable9 for the brilliancy of the complexion10, the beauty of the large, light blue eyes, and the tinge11 of the dark hair which curled over the low white forehead. She carried herself in the most stately fashion, so that as I looked at her majestic12 entrance, and at the pose which she struck as she glanced at my father, I was reminded of the Queen of the Peruvians as, in the person of Miss Polly Hinton, she incited13 Boy Jim and myself to insurrection.
“Lieutenant14 Anson Stone?” she asked.
“Yes, your ladyship,” answered my father.
“Ah,” she cried, with an affected and exaggerated start, “you know me, then?”
“I have seen your ladyship at Naples.”
“Then you have doubtless seen my poor Sir William also—my poor, poor Sir William!” She touched her dress with her white, ring-covered fingers, as if to draw our attention to the fact that she was in the deepest mourning.
“I heard of your ladyship’s sad loss,” said my father.
“We died together,” she cried. “What can my life be now save a long-drawn living death?”
She spoke15 in a beautiful, rich voice, with the most heart-broken thrill in it, but I could not conceal16 from myself that she appeared to be one of the most robust17 persons that I had ever seen, and I was surprised to notice that she shot arch little questioning glances at me, as if the admiration18 even of so insignificant19 a person were of some interest to her. My father, in his blunt, sailor fashion, tried to stammer20 out some commonplace condolence, but her eyes swept past his rude, weather-beaten face to ask and reask what effect she had made upon me.
“There he hangs, the tutelary21 angel of this house,” she cried, pointing with a grand sweeping22 gesture to a painting upon the wall, which represented a very thin-faced, high-nosed gentleman with several orders upon his coat. “But enough of my private sorrow!” She dashed invisible tears from her eyes. “You have come to see Lord Nelson. He bid me say that he would be with you in an instant. You have doubtless heard that hostilities23 are about to reopen?”
“We heard the news last night.”
“Lord Nelson is under orders to take command of the Mediterranean24 Fleet. You can think at such a moment—But, ah, is it not his lordship’s step that I hear?”
My attention was so riveted25 by the lady’s curious manner and by the gestures and attitudes with which she accompanied every remark, that I did not see the great admiral enter the room. When I turned he was standing26 close by my elbow, a small, brown man with the lithe27, slim figure of a boy. He was not clad in uniform, but he wore a high-collared brown coat, with the right sleeve hanging limp and empty by his side. The expression of his face was, as I remember it, exceedingly sad and gentle, with the deep lines upon it which told of the chafing28 of his urgent and fiery29 soul. One eye was disfigured and sightless from a wound, but the other looked from my father to myself with the quickest and shrewdest of expressions. Indeed, his whole manner, with his short, sharp glance and the fine poise30 of the head, spoke of energy and alertness, so that he reminded me, if I may compare great things with small, of a well-bred fighting terrier, gentle and slim, but keen and ready for whatever chance might send.
“Why, Lieutenant Stone,” said he, with great cordiality, holding out his left hand to my father, “I am very glad to see you. London is full of Mediterranean men, but I trust that in a week there will not be an officer amongst you all with his feet on dry land.”
“I had come to ask you, sir, if you could assist me to a ship.”
“You shall have one, Stone, if my word goes for anything at the Admiralty. I shall want all my old Nile men at my back. I cannot promise you a first-rate, but at least it shall be a 64-gun ship, and I can tell you that there is much to be done with a handy, well-manned, well-found 64-gun ship.”
“Who could doubt it who has heard of the Agamemnon?” cried Lady Hamilton, and straightway she began to talk of the admiral and of his doings with such extravagance of praise and such a shower of compliments and of epithets31, that my father and I did not know which way to look, feeling shame and sorrow for a man who was compelled to listen to such things said in his own presence. But when I ventured to glance at Lord Nelson I found, to my surprise, that, far from showing any embarrassment32, he was smiling with pleasure, as if this gross flattery of her ladyship’s were the dearest thing in all the world to him.
“Come, come, my dear lady,” said he, “you speak vastly beyond my merits;” upon which encouragement she started again in a theatrical33 apostrophe to Britain’s darling and Neptune’s eldest34 son, which he endured with the same signs of gratitude35 and pleasure. That a man of the world, five-and-forty years of age, shrewd, honest, and acquainted with Courts, should be beguiled36 by such crude and coarse homage37, amazed me, as it did all who knew him; but you who have seen much of life do not need to be told how often the strongest and noblest nature has its one inexplicable38 weakness, showing up the more obviously in contrast to the rest, as the dark stain looks the fouler39 upon the whitest sheet.
“You are a sea-officer of my own heart, Stone,” said he, when her ladyship had exhausted40 her panegyric41. “You are one of the old breed!” He walked up and down the room with little, impatient steps as he talked, turning with a whisk upon his heel every now and then, as if some invisible rail had brought him up. “We are getting too fine for our work with these new-fangled epaulettes and quarter-deck trimmings. When I joined the Service, you would find a lieutenant gammoning and rigging his own bowsprit, or aloft, maybe, with a marlinspike slung42 round his neck, showing an example to his men. Now, it’s as much as he’ll do to carry his own sextant up the companion. When could you join?”
“To-night, my lord.”
“Right, Stone, right! That is the true spirit. They are working double tides in the yards, but I do not know when the ships will be ready. I hoist43 my flag on the Victory on Wednesday, and we sail at once.”
“No, no; not so soon! She cannot be ready for sea,” said Lady Hamilton, in a wailing44 voice, clasping her hands and turning up her eyes as she spoke.
“She must and she shall be ready,” cried Nelson, with extraordinary vehemence45. “By Heaven! if the devil stands at the door, I sail on Wednesday. Who knows what these rascals46 may be doing in my absence? It maddens me to think of the deviltries which they may be devising. At this very instant, dear lady, the Queen, our Queen, may be straining her eyes for the topsails of Nelson’s ships.”
Thinking, as I did, that he was speaking of our own old Queen Charlotte, I could make no meaning out of this; but my father told me afterwards that both Nelson and Lady Hamilton had conceived an extraordinary affection for the Queen of Naples, and that it was the interests of her little kingdom which he had so strenuously47 at heart. It may have been my expression of bewilderment which attracted Nelson’s attention to me, for he suddenly stopped in his quick quarter-deck walk, and looked me up and down with a severe eye.
“Well, young gentleman!” said he, sharply.
“This is my only son, sir,” said my father. “It is my wish that he should join the Service, if a berth48 can be found for him; for we have all been King’s officers for many generations.”
“So, you wish to come and have your bones broken?” cried Nelson, roughly, looking with much disfavour at the fine clothes which had cost my uncle and Mr. Brummel such a debate. “You will have to change that grand coat for a tarry jacket if you serve under me, sir.”
I was so embarrassed by the abruptness49 of his manner that I could but stammer out that I hoped I should do my duty, on which his stern mouth relaxed into a good-humoured smile, and he laid his little brown hand for an instant upon my shoulder.
“I dare say that you will do very well,” said he. “I can see that you have the stuff in you. But do not imagine that it is a light service which you undertake, young gentleman, when you enter His Majesty’s Navy. It is a hard profession. You hear of the few who succeed, but what do you know of the hundreds who never find their way? Look at my own luck! Out of 200 who were with me in the San Juan expedition, 145 died in a single night. I have been in 180 engagements, and I have, as you see, lost my eye and my arm, and been sorely wounded besides. It chanced that I came through, and here I am flying my admiral’s flag; but I remember many a man as good as me who did not come through. Yes,” he added, as her ladyship broke in with a voluble protest, “many and many as good a man who has gone to the sharks or the land-crabs. But it is a useless sailor who does not risk himself every day, and the lives of all of us are in the hands of Him who best knows when to claim them.”
For an instant, in his earnest gaze and reverent50 manner, we seemed to catch a glimpse of the deeper, truer Nelson, the man of the Eastern counties, steeped in the virile51 Puritanism which sent from that district the Ironsides to fashion England within, and the Pilgrim Fathers to spread it without. Here was the Nelson who declared that he saw the hand of God pressing upon the French, and who waited on his knees in the cabin of his flag-ship while she bore down upon the enemy’s line. There was a human tenderness, too, in his way of speaking of his dead comrades, which made me understand why it was that he was so beloved by all who served with him, for, iron-hard as he was as seaman52 and fighter, there ran through his complex nature a sweet and un-English power of affectionate emotion, showing itself in tears if he were moved, and in such tender impulses as led him afterwards to ask his flag-captain to kiss him as he lay dying in the cockpit of the Victory.
My father had risen to depart, but the admiral, with that kindliness53 which he ever showed to the young, and which had been momentarily chilled by the unfortunate splendour of my clothes, still paced up and down in front of us, shooting out crisp little sentences of exhortation54 and advice.
“It is ardour that we need in the Service, young gentleman,” said he. “We need red-hot men who will never rest satisfied. We had them in the Mediterranean, and we shall have them again. There was a band of brothers! When I was asked to recommend one for special service, I told the Admiralty they might take the names as they came, for the same spirit animated55 them all. Had we taken nineteen vessels56, we should never have said it was well done while the twentieth sailed the seas. You know how it was with us, Stone. You are too old a Mediterranean man for me to tell you anything.”
“I trust, my lord, that I shall be with you when next we meet them,” said my father.
“Meet them we shall and must. By Heaven, I shall never rest until I have given them a shaking. The scoundrel Buonaparte wishes to humble57 us. Let him try, and God help the better cause!”
He spoke with such extraordinary animation58 that the empty sleeve flapped about in the air, giving him the strangest appearance. Seeing my eyes fixed59 upon it, he turned with a smile to my father.
“I can still work my fin8, Stone,” said he, putting his hand across to the stump60 of his arm. “What used they to say in the fleet about it?”
“That it was a sign, sir, that it was a bad hour to cross your hawse.”
“They knew me, the rascals. You can see, young gentleman, that not a scrap61 of the ardour with which I serve my country has been shot away. Some day you may find that you are flying your own flag, and when that time comes you may remember that my advice to an officer is that he should have nothing to do with tame, slow measures. Lay all your stake, and if you lose through no fault of your own, the country will find you another stake as large. Never mind manœuvres! Go for them! The only manœuvre you need is that which will place you alongside your enemy. Always fight, and you will always be right. Give not a thought to your own ease or your own life, for from the day that you draw the blue coat over your back you have no life of your own. It is the country’s, to be most freely spent if the smallest gain can come from it. How is the wind this morning, Stone?”
“East-south-east,” my father answered, readily.
“Then Cornwallis is, doubtless, keeping well up to Brest, though, for my own part, I had rather tempt62 them out into the open sea.”
“That is what every officer and man in the fleet would prefer, your lordship,” said my father.
“They do not love the blockading service, and it is little wonder, since neither money nor honour is to be gained at it. You can remember how it was in the winter months before Toulon, Stone, when we had neither firing, wine, beef, pork, nor flour aboard the ships, nor a spare piece of rope, canvas, or twine63. We braced64 the old hulks with our spare cables, and God knows there was never a Levanter that I did not expect it to send us to the bottom. But we held our grip all the same. Yet I fear that we do not get much credit for it here in England, Stone, where they light the windows for a great battle, but they do not understand that it is easier for us to fight the Nile six times over, than to keep our station all winter in the blockade. But I pray God that we may meet this new fleet of theirs and settle the matter by a pell-mell battle.”
“May I be with you, my lord!” said my father, earnestly. “But we have already taken too much of your time, and so I beg to thank you for your kindness and to wish you good morning.”
“Good morning, Stone!” said Nelson. “You shall have your ship, and if I can make this young gentleman one of my officers it shall be done. But I gather from his dress,” he continued, running his eye over me, “that you have been more fortunate in prize-money than most of your comrades. For my own part, I never did nor could turn my thoughts to money-making.”
My father explained that I had been under the charge of the famous Sir Charles Tregellis, who was my uncle, and with whom I was now residing.
“Then you need no help from me,” said Nelson, with some bitterness. “If you have either guineas or interest you can climb over the heads of old sea-officers, though you may not know the poop from the galley65, or a carronade from a long nine. Nevertheless—But what the deuce have we here?”
The footman had suddenly precipitated66 himself into the room, but stood abashed67 before the fierce glare of the admiral’s eye.
“Your lordship told me to rush to you if it should come,” he explained, holding out a large blue envelope.
“By Heaven, it is my orders!” cried Nelson, snatching it up and fumbling68 with it in his awkward, one-handed attempt to break the seals. Lady Hamilton ran to his assistance, but no sooner had she glanced at the paper inclosed than she burst into a shrill69 scream, and throwing up her hands and her eyes, she sank backwards70 in a swoon. I could not but observe, however, that her fall was very carefully executed, and that she was fortunate enough, in spite of her insensibility, to arrange her drapery and attitude into a graceful71 and classical design. But he, the honest seaman, so incapable72 of deceit or affectation that he could not suspect it in others, ran madly to the bell, shouting for the maid, the doctor, and the smelling-salts, with incoherent words of grief, and such passionate73 terms of emotion that my father thought it more discreet74 to twitch75 me by the sleeve as a signal that we should steal from the room. There we left him then in the dim-lit London drawing-room, beside himself with pity for this shallow and most artificial woman, while without, at the edge of the Piccadilly curb76, there stood the high dark berline ready to start him upon that long journey which was to end in his chase of the French fleet over seven thousand miles of ocean, his meeting with it, his victory, which confined Napoleon’s ambition for ever to the land, and his death, coming, as I would it might come to all of us, at the crowning moment of his life.
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1
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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harpsichord
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| n.键琴（钢琴前身） | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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tutelary
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| adj.保护的；守护的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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fouler
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| adj.恶劣的( foul的比较级 )；邪恶的；难闻的；下流的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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44
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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46
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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47
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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48
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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49
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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50
reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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51
virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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52
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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53
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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54
exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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55
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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56
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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57
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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60
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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61
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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62
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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63
twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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64
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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65
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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66
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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67
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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69
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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70
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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71
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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72
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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73
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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74
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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75
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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76
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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