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about in a small boat for the best part of half an hour.
    â€˜I am so sorry to have kept you waiting,’ he babbled, ‘but as you can imagine, there were certain arrangements to be made. We were not prepared for such … that is, for female company.’ He was blushing himself now, for the female company was making the most of the effect it was having on its exclusively male audience. ‘However, I have made my own cabin available and I trust you will be comfortable there until … until other arrangements can be made for you. My steward will show you below.’
    But Signora Correglia apparently had no desire to be shown below. She and her companions distributed themselves about the quarterdeck like visiting royalty, supervising the disposal of their baggage and conversing animatedly with each other in the local dialect.
    â€˜This is intolerable,’ Nathan informed the midshipman from
Inconstant
. ‘You would think they are embarked upon a pleasure cruise.’
    He was further incensed by the amount of baggage they had brought with them. Not only a remarkable number of personal items but a great deal of household furnishings including some Turkish rugs, an extraordinary number of velvet drapes and cushions, several songbirds in elaborate cages and a parrot. And a large unwieldy crate which he was informed by the midshipman contained Signora Correglia’s virginal.
    He made another attempt to engage the woman in debate. ‘This is a ship-of-war, Signora,’ he insisted. ‘We might be calledupon to fight an action at any time. I beg you to take your party below.’
    She rewarded him with another of her dazzling smiles before turning back to her companions. Nathan recalled that on their previous encounters she appeared to have very little command of the English language. He tried again in French, even in what little he knew of Genovese, and finally managed to convey his desire that the ladies should remove themselves from the quarterdeck so he could get on with fighting a war.
    They were led below by his steward, Gilbert Gabriel, who showed every appearance of complacency at this new responsibility. After a few minutes he was back.
    â€˜They are asking if I can move out the guns, sir,’ he reported with as straight a face as he could muster, ‘to make more room for their duds.’
    Nathan did not dignify this request with a reply.
    â€˜And what about your cot, sir? Shall I have that moved out, or will you be joining them later?’
    Nathan rewarded him with an icy glare but Gabriel had been his father’s servant before him and had known him when he was in skirts. The man was impervious to anything short of a kick up the arse, which was not to be undertaken lightly. He had been a highwayman in his youth and retained the murderous demeanour that had proved so useful in his former occupation. He was widely known – with that flair for irony not uncommon on the lower deck of a British ship-of-war – as the Angel Gabriel.
    â€˜You may leave the cot where it is,’ Nathan informed him. ‘They will be moving out before nightfall.’
    Nathan was already regretting his hasty instruction to have them quartered, even temporarily, in his own cabin. He hoped rumour would not spread about the fleet that he had turned it into a bawdy house and set himself up as the Madam.
    But as he had informed the purser, there were more urgent matters to consider. He returned his attention to the harbour. The
Inconstant
was standing out to sea, bringing the last of the transports with her, and as they cleared the harbour entrance a squadron of French cavalry galloped on to the mole.
    â€˜Putting on a show for us,’ Nathan murmured to the first lieutenant, for he thought he was right in assuming that the French wanted only to be rid of the vipers and parasites, as they described them in their press, who were draining the lifeblood of Italy. But the cavalry were