The Best of Men Read Online Free Page A

their door tomorrow. I’d like to see your face, too.”
    “Please – let’s not talk about them.” Beaumont handed him the flask again, then got up and turned away to unlace.
    “Families are splitting over their politics,” Ingram said, while his friend was relieving himself. “If there’s a war, they’ll have to face killing their own flesh and blood.”
    “Not a happy prospect.”
    “No, it isn’t. Beaumont,” Ingram went on, “I met your brother when I was last in Oxford.”
    “What was he doing there?”
    “The same as Radcliff. Raising a troop for the King.”
    “Tom always enjoyed ordering people about,” Beaumont said, as he fastened the front of his breeches and sat back down.
    “That’s unfair, man.”
    “Why – has he improved with age?”
    “He may have. And you mustn’t fall to arguing as soon as you see him. This is no time to air your private differences.”
    “I’d say it’s the perfect time. War provides a cover for all sorts of differences, private and public.”
    “I’m serious. You must look to your duty, as he is doing. There’s more than duty at stake, especially for you, as heir to your father’s estate. Isn’t it worth fighting to protect? And you were ready to defend your religion abroad –”
    “Come on, Ingram,” Beaumont said, laughing. “I wasn’t defending my religion. You know I’ve no religion to defend.”
    “Shush, not so loud,” Ingram said uneasily.
    “We’re in a graveyard!”
    “All the same, we’re on consecrated ground.”
    “Have another drink. Those are the only spirits I believe in.”
    “I wish you would change your mind about – about that issue. No one can live without faith. It’s inconceivable.”
    “For you it may be. But if I ever had any doubts, what I saw while I was away confirmed to me that there’s no God in heaven. Though hell exists, right here on earth.”
    “You sided with the Protestants, didn’t you? You must have had some attachment to their cause.”
    “I hate to deceive you, but our friend in the taproom wasn’t so far from the truth. When I arrived, I served with the Spanish infantry. Papists to a man.”
    Ingram hesitated, as the information sank in. “You mean – you mean you fought for the Hapsburg Emperor?”
    “Yes, but not for long. At the siege of Breda I discovered I was on the losing side, and probably wouldn’t come out of it alive. So I went over to the Dutch.”
    “Sweet Jesus – you were a turncoat,” Ingram whispered.
    “I wasn’t the only one.”
    “But – I don’t understand – what made you join up in the first place, if you couldn’t care less why you were risking your life?”
    Beaumont took a moment to answer, grabbing the flask from Ingram and tipping it to his lips. “I suppose I wanted to test myself,” he said, after wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “I’d led such a soft, useless life until then.”
    “I won’t dispute that. But how could you throw your lot in with an emperor who stole the Palatinate from the brother-in-law of our own king, and has sent his dearest sister and her family into exile?” Ingram demanded reproachfully.
    “The Spanish happened to be the first troops I encountered. And I wanted to go where I wouldn’t be seen as what I am here: heir to my father’s estate, as you put it. They didn’t give a shit whether I was born in a castle or a pigsty. And they taught me a lot,” Beaumont added, passing over the flask again.
    “Such as?”
    “How to go without sleep for weeks and march day after day with my feet bleeding into my boots. They humbled me. They have great endurance and a sense of humour even in the worst of circumstances.”
    Ingram quaffed from the flask, his head spinning. “Dear God! But weren’t you under suspicion after your abrupt change of allegiance?”
    “Yes, mostly from the other Englishmen over there, though I made some friends amongst them in the Dutch service. Then you’ll be glad to hear that I
did
end up with a