“He is listed as embarking at Corunna. His ship arrived.”

“And how do I find him?”

“Captain Henderson will supply you with what is necessary. Beyond that you must use your nose. Whatever else you are I believe you are a resourceful man.”

“You will need some proof of it?”

“Of it having been done? I don’t, God forbid, need any. But the Junta will.”

“Like a ring?”

“Yes. Good. I see your practical nature at work. But the Junta trusts us so little that a ring could be one we picked off the ground. It could be one of mine. They require what you do to be witnessed. To that end you will travel with one of their own.”

“Now I don’t quite follow you, sir.”

“You will be accompanied by someone whose word they will accept.”

“Like a Spaniard?”

“I would assume so, wouldn’t you? The estimable Don Ignacio is taking care of the arrangements.”

“I’d rather go alone, sir, if it’s all the same.”

“But it is not the same. Not at all. Alone is nothing. It is useless. Alone and the whole business is entirely sordid. Witnessed, it becomes an act of statecraft. It is important you understand that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have a question?”

“What if I’m taken? If I do as you say and I’m taken?”

“When you stand in the line waiting to receive the enemy, what are your thoughts? That you will live? That you will die? That you may be maimed? All of this, of course. Everyone the same, officer or private soldier. But all that matters is that we do our duty. The risk is something we put on with our jackets and boots. If you are taken you must do as well as you can. Reporting a conversation you had in the dark with an unnamed personage is unlikely to assist you. But the advantage will all be yours. The officer you are going to find might be wary. He might very well be expecting some call to account. What he will not be expecting is you.”

The voice. In the darkness it seemed to Calley the voice was half his own.

“You will be back inside a month. You will have served your country. And I will see to it that Captain Henderson has some appropriate reward waiting. Another stripe for your shoulder perhaps. What were your beginnings, Calley?”

“The house on Saffron Hill, sir. Near the Fleet.”

“By house you mean workhouse?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, Moses was a foundling, was he not? And there are many men who might have done better without the burden of a family. Now, about face and return to the door. Do not look back. You and I will neither meet nor speak to each other again. Not in this world.”