Ramage's Trial Read Online Free Page A

was nothing to prevent Rear-Admiral Tewtin holding on to the two prizes (indeed, Ramage hoped he would, after he had bought them in).
    â€œIt’s a bit of a long story, sir,” Ramage said apologetically.
    â€œWell, keep it short: you’re here now; where did you start from?” Tewtin smirked at Newick, as if to indicate that famous young captains were really rather silly fellows who needed a guiding hand from admirals like Tewtin.
    â€œAt a friend’s château near Brest, where I was spending my honeymoon, sir.”
    The smirk left Tewtin’s face, but now he was clearly puzzled: was Ramage teasing him, or…“Honeymoon? Did you finally marry that Italian woman?”
    â€œYou mean the Marchesa di Volterra, sir?” His voice was just cold enough to point out Tewtin’s lapse.
    â€œYes, I think that was her name.”
    â€œNo,” Ramage said shortly. “At the signing of the Treaty she returned to the Kingdom of Volterra – of which she is the ruler.”
    â€œBut…well, Bonaparte must have had her arrested when the war started again.”
    â€œProbably. I have her nephew serving with me. She was not to be persuaded to stay in England.”
    Now Tewtin realized he had blundered but he could see no way out. “Er, you did say you were on your honeymoon? Who was the lucky woman?”
    â€œYes, sir – I married the daughter of the Marquis of Rockley.”
    The embarrassed smirk vanished from Tewtin’s face as though a barber had wiped off shaving soap: he realized that with a few ill-chosen remarks he might have antagonized the son of the Earl of Blazey (who was still an admiral of the white although retired), referred to an Italian woman as though she was a tart (and now found out she in fact ruled an Italian state) and then discovered that this young puppy Ramage had married the daughter of a marquis (who had been the most powerful man in India and presumably had enormous influence with the present government in London).
    It would be hard, Tewtin thought ruefully, for a rear-admiral near the bottom of the flag list who had been lucky enough to get this job (and it was luck; he admitted that) to drop so many bricks in so short a time – less than five minutes. Anyway, the last had hit the deck; now he would handle Ramage carefully.
    â€œMay I congratulate you?” Tewtin said. “‘All the world loves a lover’, eh? You were describing your honeymoon.”
    â€œHardly that, sir,” Ramage said tightly. “I said I was staying near Brest on my honeymoon.”
    â€œOf course, of course. At a friend’s château when the war started again, I think you said.”
    Ramage nodded. “Yes sir. Bonaparte’s police arrested my friend, but my wife and I managed to escape. At the same time, the ship’s company of one of our brigs mutinied and ran into Brest with her–”
    â€œYes, yes, I’ve heard from Their Lordships about that.”
    â€œGood,” Ramage said, “that shortens my story. So when we reported to the Channel Fleet–”
    Tewtin held up a hand. “Wait! Their Lordships simply warned me that the men had carried the ship in and sent me a list of their names.”
    Ramage deliberately gave a gentle sigh, hoping Tewtin would take the hint. “You asked me to start at the beginning and keep my story brief, sir, but there are some details I have to give to make sense of it.”
    â€œI do understand, my boy; go on,” Tewtin said encouragingly.
    â€œAfter my wife and I escaped from the château we had to think of a way of getting back to England, and also see if we could rescue our host–”
    â€œYour duty was to return to England and report at once to the Admiralty,” Tewtin said heavily, like a bishop admonishing an errant deacon.
    â€œOf course, sir, but we had no transport, and our host was a friend–”
    â€œFriend!” Tewtin