"But," protested Yorke, as if certain he had misunderstood Ramage, "it leaves the admiral no initiative! If the orchestra plays this tune, you dance these steps; if that tune, then those steps."

"Exactly," Ramage said.

"But surely there are dozens - if not scores and hundreds - of situations an admiral might meet. Surely they're not all covered?"

"There are scores of situations, but the manoeuvres listed have to be used to cover them," Ramage said in a deliberately neutral voice.

"So what happens..."

"If you're my father, you ignore them, decide on your own tactics, trust to the limited vocabulary of the Signal Book, and attack..."

"And if the wind drops, my lord?" St Brieuc asked quietly.

"If the wind drops and the government needs a scapegoat to save its own skin..."

St Brieuc nodded, deep in thought. "Yes, I can see ... In politics it is simple: proving the admiral guilty automatically proves the government innocent. The mob are too stupid to realize that finding an admiral guilty of disobeying the Fighting Instructions - however outdated and absurd they are - doesn't make a government innocent of stupidity, neglect and acting too late ... Pamphleteers, rumours, lies and accusations circulated as gossip ... The methods don't change with the centuries or the countries."

"The vendetta with this Admiral Goddard," St Cast asked - a wealth of meaning in the way he said "this" - "how did that begin?"

"My father's trial split the Navy. Most of the old admirals - those supporting the government - were against him, while the young officers were on his side because they wanted to change the old tactics."

"But the vendetta?"

"It's complicated! The officers forming the court-martial ... well, they were senior, and they knew the government could fall..."

"If they found him not guilty," Yorke commented, "they could say goodbye to further promotion."

Again Ramage shrugged. It was true; it was obvious; men as sophisticated as these three needed nothing spelled out.

"He was found guilty and dismissed the Service. The young officers protested, petitioned the King, fought the verdict - or, rather, the significance of the verdict - in Parliament, but to no purpose. There were five admirals and one captain forming the court. The captain was comparatively young but he had plenty of 'interest' - patronage in other words. His wife is a distant relative of the King...

"For reasons no one has ever understood," Ramage continued, "long after the trial was over, long after the government was saved and new elections had put them back in power and when the affair of Admiral the Earl of Blazey was a matter of history, this captain continued to attack my family in every way he could."

"And his name," Yorke said, "is Goddard."

St Cast's fingers tapped the arm of his chair. "Motives ... surely he must have reasons ... why?"

St Brieuc glanced up. "Pourquoi? I will tell you. First, he did what he thought would gain him favour. Afterwards it became a habit and later an obsession .. .Such men always become obsessed by something: religion, gambling, the mathematics of chance ... It gives them a purpose in life - something they previously lacked. In politics, certain insignificant cretins spend their lives constantly attacking a great man. When he falls - as he will, though not because of their efforts - they hope to reap a harvest. Do you agree?"

Ramage nodded slowly. "M'sieur ... I'd never thought of it as a habit or an obsession, but I think you are right."

St Brieuc also nodded, but Ramage had the feeling he had merely read his thoughts because he continued: "A vendetta is never more than a habit. Its victims, whichever side they're on, inherit it like an estate. The Montagues and the Capulets. Each family had an entailed legacy - a hatred for the other. Hatred or obsession is the easiest emotion to sustain because it feeds its own flames."

"Is it against your brothers, too?" asked Maxine.

"I am the only child."

"Against you alone, then."

"Against my father, through me."

"Have you no patrons?" her father asked.

"No, but a commodore -"

"A commodore!"exclaimed Yorke. "Why, you need at least a vice-admiral."

"As many as possible," Ramage said dryly, "but anyway, this commodore helps bring my story up to date."

"Ah, I can guess," Yorke exclaimed. "I take back what I said about commodores if this one's called Nelson."

"He is, but this was before the battle of Cape St Vincent."

"Come on," Yorke said impatiently, "the plot thickens!"

"In the Mediterranean," Ramage began, wondering quite where it had all started, conscious that he was being indiscreet, but feeling a great relief as he talked, "I was under Sir John Jervis's orders - he became the Earl of St Vincent after the Battle," he explained to the Frenchmen. "One or two things went wrong. I was court-martialled - on Admiral Goddard's orders."

"For what?" St Brieuc asked, his interest overcoming his tact.

"Cowardice," Ramage said in a flat voice.

"Were you a coward?" the girl asked, equally flatly.

"No."

"Then how could Admiral Goddard... ?"

"Another man did behave as a coward. He had to save his pride. Accusing me instead was a good solution as far as he and the Admiral were concerned. At the trial his cousin unexpectedly gave evidence against him and I was acquitted."

"Against him? He must have been an honest man to go against family ties," said St Cast.

"A woman, actually."

"Oh non!" the girl exclaimed. "Papa! It was Gianna, Papa, I remember the story now."

A dozen emotions chased across St Brieuc's face before he thought of looking at Ramage for confirmation.

"My lord," he said quietly, "was it the Marchesa di Volterra?"

Ramage nodded.

"Permit me the honour," said St Brieuc, holding out his hand. As they shook he explained, "We are old friends of her family."

"So are we," Ramage said, "in fact she is staying with my parents in England at this moment."

Maxine was watching him closely; Ramage felt she was undressing him. "So," she said, "you saved her from Buonaparte ... from under the hooves of the French horses."

"To coin an old phrase," Yorke said, "this really is a small world. We know the story of the Marchesa's rescue, my lord, but I don't think any of us understand why Admiral Goddard...?"

"He ordered the trial and sailed from Bastia, leaving Captain Croucher to be president of the court-"

"This same Croucher?"

"The same! In the middle of the trial, Commodore Nelson arrived and the trial had to stop because he ordered all the ships to sail."

"Could they not start it again?" asked St Cast.

"Fortunately no; legally the court was dispersed. And the Commodore reported the true facts to Sir John Jervis - I'd been under his orders - and the whole thing was dropped."

"The Commodore ordering the ships to sail," commented St Brieuc, "this was...?"

"Simply a coincidence."

"Ah, but he found out about the trial...?"

Ramage nodded.

"Justice sometimes waves in your direction, my lord. From what I hear, Commodore Nelson will be a powerful man one of these days ... The battle of Cape St Vincent..."

"Where Ramage turned the trick by preventing the Spanish from escaping. You must have been mad to think of throwing them into confusion by making their leading ship collide with your little cutter. But it worked, because Nelson and the rest of the Fleet were able to catch up!" Yorke interjected, adding cheerfully: "Ah well, as far as Goddard is concerned, Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris."

St Brieuc nodded, looking at Ramage, and his daughter asked: "Translate please, Papa - my Latin ..."

As he searched for words, Yorke said: " 'It's human nature to hate someone you have hurt.' Virgil, was it not?"