Flashman in the Peninsula Read Online Free PDF Page A

hood, came and stood beside me. At first I thought it was a tart plying her trade but then I heard Mary’s voice.
    ‘Hello Thomas, I have not thanked you for your assistance.’
    I looked around to check we could not be overheard before replying, ‘It is not something that I plan to boast about, but it did seem to work rather well. I hear from Phillips that your memoirs have been written, which will increase your fame even further.’
    ‘They have been written,’ she replied quietly. ‘But they will not see the light of day.’
    ‘Why not?’ I asked, puzzled, for Phillips had been boasting that they would bring down the government and he would soon be as famous as Wardle.
    ‘Because I don’t trust either Wardle or Phillips; they are more concerned with embarrassing the government than my interests. Wardle still has not paid for my new house or furniture and now I am being chased for payment. The promised annuity has not appeared and I am sure that Phillips will cheat me on the book proceeds. I have never known such a slippery rogue. And anyway I have had a better offer.’
    ‘Who from?’ I whispered back.
    ‘Freddie has offered me ten thousand, plus the restoration of my four hundred pound annuity and new annuities of two hundred pounds each for both my daughters, with all the annuities guaranteed by three other gentlemen including an earl and a banker. In return I must hand over the manuscript and any printed copies of the memoirs as well as any letters I have from him, and promise not to write anything about the duke again.
    ‘By George that is capital!’ I was amazed at the duke’s largesse. He was certainly doing all he possibly could to limit any further embarrassment. ‘Phillips and Wardle will be furious when they find out.’ I could not resist smiling at the thought. ‘I doubt that they will ever pay for that furniture now,’ I added.
    ‘I suspect you are right but Wardle will be ruined if he doesn’t. The duke’s people tell me that the Attorney General is willing to act for the carpenter at no cost. I rather hope he doesn’t pay for he has become quite tiresome. I might have to let slip that the man who accused the duke of sexual immorality has his own mistress above a shop in Sloane Square.’
    We parted then with whispered good wishes as Mary saw someone she knew in the crowd. But she was right; Wardle did not pay and consequently was ruined. The public had acclaimed him as a man fighting corruption and vice; when they learned that he had bribed his star witness and as a married man had his own mistress, they felt betrayed and turn on him viciously. But I missed all of that because I had my own problems just then.
    A week after my meeting with Mary I received a note sent on behalf of the duke requesting that I attend a meeting the next day with a Mr Tasker at Horseguards, the building housing the headquarters of the army. A request from the duke had to be about the Clarke affair. Had Mary told the duke about my involvement now they seemed friends again, I wondered. If she had what did that mean for me? I spent much of the following morning trying to convince myself I was safe, but there was still a nervous feeling in my stomach as I marched across the Horseguard’s parade ground to the entrance of the building for my interview. The clerk at the entrance told me that Tasker was on the duke’s personal staff and directed me to the offices that had until a few days ago been occupied by His Royal Highness. It was as I was walking across a large and impressive hall that I heard someone call out my name.
    ‘Ah, Flashman, I had expected to see you sooner but you are most welcome, sir.’
    I turned and there was Arthur Wellesley, who had been my senior officer when I was in India, walking towards me and smiling warmly. Given his normal frosty demeanour, this was a rare occurrence.
    ‘Since my appointment to command in Spain was confirmed I have been plagued by various petitioners for places on