All in Scarlet Uniform (Napoleonic War 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

that indicated absolute unconcern for their welfare.
    ‘Poor Robert had even presumed to pay attentions to my own sister,’ Tilney went on, ‘and so the transfer of his affections to Miss Williams came as a considerable relief to us. Can you imagine it – the fellow’s father digs coal!’ The two light dragoon subalterns sniggered appreciatively.
    ‘Not in person, one would imagine.’
    ‘Oh, of course, but that scarcely makes it any better. Such dirt does not easily rub away.’
    Pringle felt that the major’s sneers were aimed mainly at his fellow dragoons. He must appear a good fellow for condescending to befriend young Garland, without ever diminishing his own superiority. It was sad to think of the lieutenant trailing eagerly behind a man who constantly reminded the world of the junior officer’s lack of breeding.
    Thank God I’m not in the cavalry, thought Pringle, and was relieved to see Williams helping Garland walk over to join them. Matters were concluded, and arrangements made, and so finally they could get in out of the rain. Pringle longed to be warm and dry, and to eat the hearty breakfast he had been unable to face before they left. He would also be glad to see the back of Tilney, whose sneering manner was already tiresome.
    ‘A charming young lady,’ he heard the major say softly as the light dragoons and the doctor took Garland away, ‘and I do enjoy charming young ladies.’
    ‘Bastard,’ muttered Pringle, and then felt guilty and was glad Hanley had left, for he knew his friend disliked the word. He would lay ten to one that Tilney had seduced Miss Williams and then passed her on to Garland for his own convenience and amusement. Eight to one the major and not the lieutenant was the father. If that was the case then best to hope that Garland did not realise – or less plausibly that he did not care. Pringle was not inclined to worry too much one way or the other about Kitty Williams, but the contentment of her brother and older sister mattered to him a good deal. He had risked life and career for them – and because he struggled to cope with the dullness of being away from the war.
    Williams approached, holding out his hand. ‘Billy,’ he said, ‘I do not know how I can thank you, or apologise for subjecting you to this when it should have been my job.’
    There was no point explaining his fears to Williams. Perhaps he was wrong, and had simply grown too untrusting of his fellow men.
    ‘Don’t mention it, old boy,’ he said, and smiled. Sometimes it was simply easier to act a part.

3
     
    ‘ S oldiers, Daddy, look, soldiers!’ cried a small boy perched on a man’s shoulders. The father was stocky, his clothes threadbare, and although he was still young there were flecks of grey in his black hair. He neither looked nor answered his son, and instead pointedly turned away, so that the lad now saw Williams and his little face erupted into even greater ecstasy. ‘A soldier! A soldier! Look, he’s got a sword!’
    Williams smiled at the boy and ignored the father’s sour glance. A few days in charge of a recruiting party had soon accustomed him to the hostile expressions provoked by the sight of a soldier. The army was for the desperate, and he had been sent around the mill towns precisely because business was bad and workers were being laid off. The 106th was ordered to recruit itself up to full strength and its new commander, Lieutenant Colonel FitzWilliam, was determined to find the best material. They needed to act quickly. The regiments in Portugal and throughout the empire always needed men. Worse still, one of the biggest expeditions ever seen had gone earlier in the year to Holland. Most of those corps had not yet returned, and from all Williams had heard, many of the men never would. Fever had ravaged the army, taking the lives of thousands and leaving as many more unlikely to recover. Its new commander wanted the 106th to take the pick of the bunch before the whole country