don’t suppose. What’s she like?’
‘A bit of all right. I wouldn’t mind having a quiet evening walk along the Mole with her myself!’
‘What would Bella say to that?’
‘Bella would never know!’
‘How do you know he’s brought his bird with him?’ challenged another voice.
‘I saw them at the Francia.’
‘Well, that’s the place to stay, isn’t it, if you’re like that.’
‘Your fame precedes you, sir,’ murmured McPhail.
‘Just as it should!’ said the Admiral, over a drink at lunch in the wardroom. He gave Seymour one of the knowing looks. ‘Got your girlfriend with you, I gather?’
It didn’t take long for the news to get around, thought Seymour. He began to wonder if it had, after all, been such a good idea to bring Chantale over. Suppose word got back to London?
‘Ah, I think you’re thinking of Mademoiselle de Lissac,’ he said. ‘She’s assisting me at this end.’
‘Good-looker, I hear. You obviously know how to pick them.’
‘Purely for their Intelligence skills,’ said Seymour, hoping that that would get around, too.
‘Are we going to have a chance of seeing your assistant, sir?’ asked McPhail, as he was taking Seymour back to the stores, after lunch.
‘Maybe. But she’s busy pursuing her own line of inquiries.’
‘That would be, I understand,’ said McPhail hesitantly, ‘in the way of Intelligence?’
‘Yes. She’s Intelligence, I’m policing. I think there’s a question of broadening the inquiry.’
* * *
‘Jesus!’ he heard Ferry say. ‘They’ve brought bloody Intelligence in as well?’
‘Here, I don’t like the sound of this. It sounds a bit bigger than we thought.’
‘What the hell’s Intelligence got to do with this?’ said Ferry’s worried voice. ‘Just how deep are they going?’
Not very deep, if Seymour’s own inquiries were anything to go by. He was never at his best on this kind of thing. His mind glazed over as he went from one section of the stores to another, and seized up completely when he was confronted with that mysterious thing, ‘the Books’.
‘He don’t look happy!’ he heard someone whisper to Ferry.
‘Jesus!’
Even McPhail was impressed.
‘Are you on to something, sir?’
‘Just a few questions in my mind, that’s all.’
Like, when could he decently stop for a drink?
‘You’ve got to remember, sir,’ said McPhail, already beginning to see a need to come to the defence of his men, ‘that the Navy is not quite the same as a shore establishment. We’ve got our own ways of doing things.’
‘Yes, I see that,’ said Seymour.
It was a neutral, fobbing-off remark, and he intended nothing by it; but it had a disconcerting effect in the stores generally.
‘You’re going to have to smarten up your act, Ferry,’ Seymour heard the midshipman say.
A little later Ferry approached Seymour.
‘Of course, things may not be quite shipshape, sir. The fact is, there’s a lot of pilfering when you’re on shore. These bloody natives!’
‘The Gibraltarese?’
‘That’s right. Bloody get their hands on anything. You’ve got to watch them like a hawk. And that, though I say it myself, sir, is what I do. Keep my eyes skinned all the time. Even come here after dark occasionally, when I’m not really on watch. Just to see nobody’s breaking in. Because that’s what they do, sir, all the time. Unless you’re keeping a good lookout.’
‘It’s just as well you do, Mr Ferry.’
‘Ah, it is, sir. It is. Things go missing.’
‘Ah, it is, sir. It is. Things ‘I’m sure they do.’
Again, he meant nothing by it. But it didn’t seem to assuage the petty officer’s uneasiness at all.
Midshipman McPhail’s thoughts, however, were turning, with the buoyancy of youth, away from the temporary tribulations of the store room and to more permanent interests.
‘I was wondering, sir,’ he said, as they walked away at the end of the afternoon, ‘whether your assistant would come to join us
‘A bit of all right. I wouldn’t mind having a quiet evening walk along the Mole with her myself!’
‘What would Bella say to that?’
‘Bella would never know!’
‘How do you know he’s brought his bird with him?’ challenged another voice.
‘I saw them at the Francia.’
‘Well, that’s the place to stay, isn’t it, if you’re like that.’
‘Your fame precedes you, sir,’ murmured McPhail.
‘Just as it should!’ said the Admiral, over a drink at lunch in the wardroom. He gave Seymour one of the knowing looks. ‘Got your girlfriend with you, I gather?’
It didn’t take long for the news to get around, thought Seymour. He began to wonder if it had, after all, been such a good idea to bring Chantale over. Suppose word got back to London?
‘Ah, I think you’re thinking of Mademoiselle de Lissac,’ he said. ‘She’s assisting me at this end.’
‘Good-looker, I hear. You obviously know how to pick them.’
‘Purely for their Intelligence skills,’ said Seymour, hoping that that would get around, too.
‘Are we going to have a chance of seeing your assistant, sir?’ asked McPhail, as he was taking Seymour back to the stores, after lunch.
‘Maybe. But she’s busy pursuing her own line of inquiries.’
‘That would be, I understand,’ said McPhail hesitantly, ‘in the way of Intelligence?’
‘Yes. She’s Intelligence, I’m policing. I think there’s a question of broadening the inquiry.’
* * *
‘Jesus!’ he heard Ferry say. ‘They’ve brought bloody Intelligence in as well?’
‘Here, I don’t like the sound of this. It sounds a bit bigger than we thought.’
‘What the hell’s Intelligence got to do with this?’ said Ferry’s worried voice. ‘Just how deep are they going?’
Not very deep, if Seymour’s own inquiries were anything to go by. He was never at his best on this kind of thing. His mind glazed over as he went from one section of the stores to another, and seized up completely when he was confronted with that mysterious thing, ‘the Books’.
‘He don’t look happy!’ he heard someone whisper to Ferry.
‘Jesus!’
Even McPhail was impressed.
‘Are you on to something, sir?’
‘Just a few questions in my mind, that’s all.’
Like, when could he decently stop for a drink?
‘You’ve got to remember, sir,’ said McPhail, already beginning to see a need to come to the defence of his men, ‘that the Navy is not quite the same as a shore establishment. We’ve got our own ways of doing things.’
‘Yes, I see that,’ said Seymour.
It was a neutral, fobbing-off remark, and he intended nothing by it; but it had a disconcerting effect in the stores generally.
‘You’re going to have to smarten up your act, Ferry,’ Seymour heard the midshipman say.
A little later Ferry approached Seymour.
‘Of course, things may not be quite shipshape, sir. The fact is, there’s a lot of pilfering when you’re on shore. These bloody natives!’
‘The Gibraltarese?’
‘That’s right. Bloody get their hands on anything. You’ve got to watch them like a hawk. And that, though I say it myself, sir, is what I do. Keep my eyes skinned all the time. Even come here after dark occasionally, when I’m not really on watch. Just to see nobody’s breaking in. Because that’s what they do, sir, all the time. Unless you’re keeping a good lookout.’
‘It’s just as well you do, Mr Ferry.’
‘Ah, it is, sir. It is. Things go missing.’
‘Ah, it is, sir. It is. Things ‘I’m sure they do.’
Again, he meant nothing by it. But it didn’t seem to assuage the petty officer’s uneasiness at all.
Midshipman McPhail’s thoughts, however, were turning, with the buoyancy of youth, away from the temporary tribulations of the store room and to more permanent interests.
‘I was wondering, sir,’ he said, as they walked away at the end of the afternoon, ‘whether your assistant would come to join us
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