'And very nice she seems, sir,' Wedge said predictably, like an ingratiating parson entertaining the patron of his living to tea.

Ramage turned to Gianna. 'Watch this,' he said, having just realized that the two figures on the quarterdeck were Aitken and Southwick but there was not another man in sight on board the ship. Wedge had spotted this too, and was grumbling to himself just loudly enough for Ramage to ' hear. 'Seem to be asleep on board there. So much work to be done. The rest of the guns to be hoisted out...'

Suddenly the shrouds of the fore, main and mizenmasts changed in appearance from thin cobwebs of rope to thick trunks of trees as scores of men raced up the ratlines. The first kept going and a couple of dozen walked out along the topgallant yards while below more spaced themselves at arm's length on the topsail yards and the fore and mainyards. In a matter of moments the men were equally spaced out on all the yards, facing forward with arms outstretched, the tips each man's fingers touching those of his neighbours on each side.

Gianna gave a gasp of surprise and pleasure and the Countess, who had so often seen a ship's company man the yards years earlier, turned to her son. 'You shouldn't have arranged that just for us, Nicholas!'

'I didn't,' Ramage admitted. 'You can thank Aitken and Southwick when we get on board. Anyway, let's go out to her now.'

The yawl came alongside the Calypso and hooked on. The Earl looked at Ramage, who nodded. By the custom of the Navy, the senior officer was the last into a boat when leaving a ship but the first out when coming alongside.

Two side-ropes hung down, one each side of the battens forming narrow steps, or ledges, secured to the ship's side from just above the waterline to the entryport at deck level. The ropes, knotted with diamond knots and covered with red baize, hung a couple of feet away from the hull, held out by sideboys at a comfortable distance for a climber to grip them, like the banisters of a staircase, as he made his way up the side. The ship's side was manned - the normal routine for the visit of a flag officer or captain.

The Admiral went up with a briskness that surprised Ramage, and Gianna was just beginning to get up from the thwart and gather her skirt round her when Ramage gestured to her to remain seated. The Countess had not moved and smiled reassuringly at Gianna, guessing that although she had been in a frigate several times before she had never made an official visit.

Gianna's eye was caught by a red object high above her, and a rope dropped into the stern of the boat and then another dropped into the bow. A moment later a seaman slid down each one and nimbly scrambled to the middle of the boat in time to catch and hold the red object as it was lowered into the boat, and which she now recognized as a sort of chair suspended on a rope which went up to the mainyard.

Then suddenly she recognized one of the seamen. 'Rossi! Come sta!' She held out her hand and the Italian lifted it to his lips, suddenly too shy to speak.

Then she saw who the other man was. 'Stafford! What a wonderful surprise, the pair of you dropping out of the sky on me! Where is Jackson?'

Rossi pointed upwards at the deck and turned the chair, flipping back the arm but waiting for the Countess to sit in it first.

'I'll go first, dear,' the Countess said tactfully, 'then you'll see how it is done.' The remark was spoken softly, and Gianna was grateful, realizing that in the Navy's table of precedence the Countess of Blazey came first.

The Countess settled herself in the chair. Ramage quickly inspected it and swung over the bar to secure it. She smiled at the two seamen and spoke to them for a few moments while Ramage climbed up the ship's side.

Rossi, watching him disappear through the entryport, whispered something to the Countess, and then made a circular movement with his raised hand. Slowly but steadily the chair rose, taking the Countess with it. 'I love this,' she called down to Gianna, 'it gives one such an unusual view of everything!'

The chair swung slowly inboard once it had been raised clear of the bulwarks and entryport and was then lowered until it was two or three feet above the deck.

'Jackson!' the Countess said delightedly as the seaman stepped forward with two other men to steady the chair, open the bar and help the Countess out. In a moment the chair had been pulled clear and men bustled about tactfully as she shook out her skirt, adjusted her hair and acknowledged her son's salute.

While the chair soared up and was then lowered over the side again for Gianna, Ramage said formally: 'Madam, allow me to present my officers.'

Ramage guessed he had about three minutes for the presentation before Gianna soared on board, and knew his mother was accustomed to all the ritual and timing of Court and naval etiquette.

'Ah, Mr Aitken - my son's right hand! Will you have time to visit Perth? . . . Mr Wagstaffe - you had a good voyage to Gibraltar with that prize frigate? ... Mr Kenton, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, but I've read and heard all about your adventures ... So you are Mr Martin. May I call you by your nickname and ask you to play for us - it is not often we can listen to a flute. My husband has known your father for years, of course . . . Mr Renwick, I've heard so much about you and your Marines that I feel I've known you for years! . . . Mr Orsini - Paolo!' She kissed him. 'You left us a boy and you've come back a man! Your aunt will be with us in a moment! . . . Mr Southwick - not a day older. What is your secret? You have a recipe for eternal youth!... Mr Bowen, I hope my son has not been giving you too many patients! Oh, so few? That's the way it should be in every action!'

She had just spoken to all the officers, with the Earl walking beside her, when seamen hoisting on the fall of the rope brought the red chair up above the bulwarks and Jackson hauled gently on the guy, fitted to an eyebolt beneath the seat, to make sure Gianna landed in exactly the right place. She was smiling with pleasure and recognized Jackson at once, laughing as he steadied the chair while Aitken appeared, apparently from nowhere, to swing back the bar and help her stand up.

'Blower' Martin, fourth in the line of officers waiting to be introduced to her, was suddenly finding it hard to breathe: he seemed to have an invisible band round his throat, like the Spanish garotte, and it happened the moment he first saw the Marchesa's face as the chair rose above the level of the hammock nettings on top of the bulwarks. He realized that without any qualification or argument she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her face was heart-shaped, her eyes widely spaced and - from this distance - seeming black. Her hair was as black as a raven's wing. As she stepped out of the chair, he saw she was tiny. Her dress was a very pale green, probably silk. Laughing over something Mr Aitken had said, she was pointing to Jackson. Now she was pointing at Southwick and hurrying - to Martin it seemed like dancing - over to embrace the old man. Embrace be damned, she had just given him a smacking kiss on the cheek. He was laughing and now they were dancing a jig - and from aloft the ship's company were cheering and singing!

Martin glanced round nervously: such behaviour with Admiral the Earl of Blazey on board, quite apart from the Countess of Blazey, could get Mr Ramage into trouble ... Then he saw them both laughing, obviously delighted, and remembered that the Marchesa lived with them, was young Paolo's aunt, and that she and Mr Ramage were in love.

Now he understood why seamen like Jackson, Stafford and Rossi talked so much about her: she had more life and high spirits in her little finger than any woman William Martin had previously seen had in her whole body. Jackson and another seaman with Mr Ramage had saved her life. That was some years ago now, but Martin remembered he had seen the spot where it had happened: someone had pointed it out during the attack on Port Ercole with the bomb ketches. He felt a sudden jealousy: to have helped rescue such a lady, and to know her so that when she kissed your cheek the whole ship's company spontaneously cheered.