The dining-room was as vast as the drawing-room; the table with covers for thirty-two stood comfortably in it with ample room all round for the numerous footmen. The candlelight was more subdued here, but it glittered impressively on the silver which crowded the long table. Hornblower, seated between the Governors lady and Mrs Sharpe, reminded himself that he must be alert and careful regarding his table manners; it was the more necessary to be alert because he had to speak French on one side of him and English on the other. He looked dubiously at the six different wine glasses that stood at each placethe sherry was already being poured into the first of the glasses. He could see Cambronne seated between two pretty girls and obviously making himself pleasant to both of them. He did not look as if he had a care in the world; if he were meditating a filibustering expedition it did not weigh very heavily on his mind.
A steaming plate of turtle soup, thick with gobbets of green fat. This was to be a dinner served in the Continental fashion which had come in after Waterloo, with no hodge-podge of dishes set out on the table for the guests to help themselves. He spooned cautiously at the hot soup, and applied himself to making small talk with his dinner partners. Dish succeeded dish, and soon he had to face in the hot room the delicate question of etiquette as to whether it was more ungentlemanly to mop the sweat from his face or to leave it there, flowing and visible; his discomfort decided him in the end to mop, furtively. Now Sharpe was catching his eye, and he had to rise to his feet, striving to make his stupefied brain work while the buzz of conversation died down. He raised his glass.
The President of the United States, he said; he had been about to continue, idiotically, Long may he reign. He checked himself with a jerk and went on, Long may the great nation of which he is President enjoy prosperity and the international amity of which this gathering is symbolic.
The toast was drunk with acclaim, with nothing said about the fact that over half the continent Spaniards and Spanish-Americans were busy killing each other. He sat down and mopped again. Now Cambronne was on his feet.
His Britannic Majesty George the Fourth, King of Great Britain and Ireland.
The toast was drunk and now it was Hornblowers turn again, as evidenced by Sharpes glance. He stood up, glass in hand, and began the long list.
His Most Christian Majesty. His Most Catholic Majesty. His Most Faithful Majesty. That disposed of France and Spain and Portugal. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.
For the life of him he could not remember who came next. But Gerard caught his despairing eye and gave a significant jerk of his thumb.
His Majesty the King of Sweden, gulped Hornblower. His Majesty the King of Prussia.
A reassuring nod from Gerard told him that he had now included all the nations represented, and he plucked the rest of his speech out of the whirlpool of his mind.
Long may Their Majesties reign, in increasing honour and glory.
Well, that was over, and he could sit down again. But now the Governor was on his feet, speaking in rhetorical phrases, and it broke in upon Hornblowers dulled intelligence that his own health was the next to be drunk. He tried to listen. He was aware of keen glances shot at him from around the table when the Governor alluded to the defence of this city of New Orleans from the misguided hordes who had assailed it in vainthe allusion was perhaps inevitable even though it was over six years since the battleand he tried to force a smile. At long last the Governor reached his end.
His Lordship Admiral Hornblower, and I couple with his name a toast to the British Navy.
Hornblower climbed back upon his feet as the approving murmur of the company died down.
Thank you for this unexpected honour, he said, and gulped as he sought for further words. And to have my name coupled with that of the great navy in which it has been my privilege to serve so long is an additional honour for which to thank you.
The ladies were all rising, now that he had sat down, and he stood again while they withdrew. The highly trained footmen swept the table clear of its accessories in a trice, and the men gathered to one end of the table as the decanter
was put into circulation. The glasses were filled as Sharpe brought one of the merchants present into the conversation with a question about the cotton crop. It was safe ground from which to make brief and cautious sorties upon the much more debatable ground of world conditions. But only a few minutes later the butler came in and murmured something to Sharpe, who turned to convey the news he brought to the French Consul-General. Vautour rose to his feet with an expression of dismay.
Perhaps you will accept my excuses, sir, he said. I much regret the necessity.
No more than I regret it, Baron, said Sharpe. I trust it is only a slight indisposition.
I trust so, said Vautour.
The Baroness finds herself indisposed, explained Sharpe to the company. I am sure you gentlemen will all join me in hoping, as I said, that the indisposition is slight, and regretting that it involves the loss to us of the Barons charming company.