Sharpe’s Prey. Bernard Cornwell

just fortunate, my lord?’

      ‘Don’t patronize me, man,’ Lord Marsden snapped as he climbed to his feet. ‘What was it?’

      ‘Your disengagement from the sixte was slow, my lord.’

      ‘The devil it was,’ Lord Marsden growled. He was proud of his ability with foil or sabre, yet he knew Willsen had bested him easily by feigning a squeaking retreat. His lordship scowled, then realized he was being ungracious and so, tucking the sabre under his arm, held out a hand. ‘You’re quick, Willsen, damned quick.’

      The handful of spectators applauded the show of sportsmanship. They were in Horace Jackson’s Hall of Arms, an establishment on London’s Jermyn Street where wealthy men could learn the arts of pugilism, fencing and pistol shooting. The hall was a high bare room lined with racks of swords and sabres, smelling of tobacco and liniment, and decorated with prints of prize fighters, mastiffs and racehorses. The only women in the place served drinks and food, or else worked in the small rooms above the hall where the beds were soft and the prices high.

      Willsen pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his long fair hair. He bowed to his beaten opponent, then carried both sabres to the weapon rack at the side of the hall where a tall, very thin and extraordinarily handsome captain in the red coat and blue facings of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards was waiting. The guardsman, a stranger to Willsen, tossed away a half-smoked cigar as Willsen approached. ‘You fooled him,’ the Captain said cheerfully.

      Willsen frowned at the stranger’s impertinence, but he answered politely enough. Willsen, after all, was an employee in Horace Jackson’s Hall and the Guards Captain, judging by the elegant cut of his expensive uniform, was a patron. The sort of patron, moreover, who could not wait to prove himself against the celebrated Henry Willsen. ‘I fooled him?’ Willsen asked. ‘How?’

      ‘The quarte basse,’ the guardsman said, ‘you made it soft, am I right?’

      Willsen was impressed at the guardsman’s acuity, but did not betray it. ‘Perhaps I was just fortunate?’ he suggested. He was being modest, for he had the reputation of being the finest swordsman in the Dirty Half Hundred, probably in the whole army and maybe in the entire country, but he belittled his ability, just as he shrugged off those who reckoned he was the best pistol shot in Kent. A soldier, Willsen liked to say, should be a master of his arms and so he practised assiduously and prayed that one day his skill would be useful in the service of his country. Until that time came he earned his captain’s pay and, because that was not sufficient to support a wife, child and mess bill, he taught fencing and pistol-shooting in Horace Jackson’s Hall of Arms. Jackson, an old pugilist with a mashed face, wanted Willsen to leave the army and join the establishment full time, but Willsen liked being a soldier. It gave him a position in British society. It might not be a high place, but it was honourable.

      ‘There’s no such thing as luck,’ the guardsman said, only now he spoke in Danish, ‘not when you’re fighting.’

      Willsen had been turning away, but the change of language made him look back to the golden-haired Guards Captain. His first careless impression had been one of privileged youth, but he now saw that the guardsman was probably in his early thirties and had a cynical, knowing cast to his devil-may-care good looks. This was a man, Willsen thought, who would be at home in a palace or at a prizefight. A formidable man too, and one who was of peculiar importance to Willsen, who now offered the guardsman a half-bow. ‘You, sir,’ he said respectfully, ‘must be Major the Honourable John Lavisser?’

      ‘I’m Captain Lavisser,’ Captain and Major Lavisser said. The Guards gave their officers dual ranks; the lower one denoted their responsibility in the regiment while the higher was an acknowledgement that any Guards officer was a superior being, especially when compared to an impoverished swordsman from the Dirty Half Hundred. ‘I’m Captain Lavisser,’ the Honourable John Lavisser said again, ‘but you must call me John. Please.’ He still spoke in Danish.

      ‘I thought we were not to meet till Saturday?’ Willsen said, taking off his fencing slippers and pulling on boots.

      ‘We’re to be companions for a fair time’ – Lavisser ignored Willsen’s hostility – ‘and it’s better, I think, that we should be friends. Besides, are you not curious about our orders?’

      ‘My orders are to escort you to Copenhagen and see you safe out again,’ Willsen responded stiffly as he pulled on his red coat. The wool of the coat was faded and its black cuffs and facings were scuffed. He strapped on his seven-guinea sword, unhappily aware of the valuable blade that hung from Lavisser’s slings, but Willsen had long learned to curb his envy at the inequalities of life, even if he could not entirely forget them. He knew well enough that his captaincy in the Dirty Half Hundred was worth £1,500, exactly what it cost to purchase a mere lieutenancy in the Guards, but so be it. Willsen had been taught by his Danish father and English mother to trust in God, do his duty and accept fate, and fate had now decreed he was to be the companion of a man who was the son of an earl, a guardsman, and an aide to Prince Frederick, Duke of York, who was the second son of George III and Commander in Chief of the British army.

      ‘But don’t you want to know why we are going to Copenhagen?’ Lavisser asked.

      ‘I have no doubt I shall be informed at the proper time,’ Willsen said, his manner still stiff.

      Lavisser smiled and his thin, saturnine face was transformed with charm. ‘The proper time, Willsen, is now,’ he said. ‘Come, at least allow me to buy you supper and reveal the mysteries of our errand.’

      In truth Captain Willsen was intrigued. He had served twelve years in the British army and had never heard a shot fired in anger. He yearned to distinguish himself and now, quite suddenly, a chance had arisen because an officer was needed to escort the Duke of York’s aide to Copenhagen. That was all Willsen knew, though his commanding officer had hinted that his facility with small arms might be a great advantage. Willsen had been worried at first, fearing that he would be fighting against his father’s people, but he had been assured that the danger in Copenhagen came from the French, not the Danes, and that assurance had permitted Willsen to accept the responsibility, just as it had piqued his curiosity. Now Lavisser was offering to explain and Willsen, who knew he had been churlish, nodded. ‘Of course. It will be a pleasure to dine with you, sir.’

      ‘My name is John,’ Lavisser insisted as he led Willsen down the staircase to the street. Willsen half expected to find a carriage waiting, but it appeared Lavisser was on foot even though a small chill rain was falling. ‘Hard to believe it’s July,’ Lavisser grumbled.

      ‘It will be a bad harvest,’ Willsen remarked.

      ‘I thought we might get a bite at Almack’s,’ Lavisser suggested, ‘and maybe play a hand afterwards?’

      ‘I never wager,’ Willsen answered, and even if he did he could never have afforded the high stakes at Almack’s.

      ‘How very wise you are,’ Lavisser said. They were both speaking English again. ‘And I thought it might please you if we had a word with Hanssen before supper.’

      ‘Hanssen?’

      ‘The first secretary at the Danish embassy,’ Lavisser explained. He gave his companion an earnest look. ‘I want to be quite certain that our activities are not prejudicial to Denmark. Hanssen’s a decent man and I’ve always found his advice very sound.’

      Willsen shared the desire to avoid upsetting Denmark and so he rather liked the idea of talking to someone from the embassy, but his innate caution came to the fore. ‘Are we supposed to be revealing our purposes to the Danish government?’

      ‘Of course we’re not and of course we shan’t.’ Lavisser stopped and unleashed his dazzling smile on Willsen. ‘Sir David told me you expressed scruples about visiting Denmark? Is that right? Believe me, my dear Willsen, I feel the same. My mother’s family live there and I will do nothing, nothing, that places them in jeopardy.’ He paused, then his voice became, if anything, even more earnest. ‘If you and I cannot bring Denmark and Britain into a closer friendship,