Young bloods - Scarrow Simon. Страница 56

'Naboleone… What are you doing here?'

'I applied for leave, Mother.'

'Leave?' Her expression became anxious. 'How long have you got?'

'A fine welcome that is!' Napoleon teased her. 'Hardly here a minute before you ask me when I'm leaving.'

'Oh! I didn't mean-'

'It's all right, Mother.' He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. 'Only joking.'

'You go away for eight years, and still you haven't grown up. How long are you staying?'

'Until April next year.'

Her tension drained away at his reply. 'Seven months. That's good.Very good… What am I saying?' She turned round to the others still at the table. 'This is your brother Naboleone, who Father took to France nearly eight years ago. Come, Naboleone or, as you call yourself these days, Napoleon.'

He smiled. 'In my heart I will always be Naboleone.'

She led him to the table, picking up her chair. 'Sit down.'

As he lowered himself into her place, Joseph set his spoon down and grasped Napoleon's hand in both of his. 'I can't believe my eyes. It is you. After so many years. When you left Autun, I didn't know when I would see you again. I never thought it would be for as long as this. God! It's good to see you!'

'And you, Joseph.' He smiled fondly. 'You have no idea how much I have missed you.' He looked round at the other faces watching him intently. 'Lucien's almost a man already. Louis was only a baby when I left. Now look at him! Almost as old as I was when I left for France. But you three – Pauline and Caroline, and Jerome there – you have only existed in letters… Have you no kisses for your brother?'

He opened his arms, but the girls blushed and felt too unsure of Napoleon to approach him. With an impatient click of her tongue his mother scurried round the table and pressed them towards their brother.They were still nervous and clung to her as Napoleon reached for their hands. He frowned, hurt and a little angry at their reticence, but it was only natural, he realised. They didn't know him. He would have to give them time to grow accustomed to him.At the moment his heart filled with an aching sadness at the lost years. It seemed there were some sacrifices for the sake of a career that could never be justified. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. Napoleon cuffed them away and suddenly leaned forward to ruffle the girls' hair, with a forced cheerfulness.

'Never mind! We'll soon get to know each other.Then there's so many tales I can tell you about France!'

Chapter 39

Later, when the children had gone to bed, Napoleon sat with his mother and Joseph at the end of the table. Letizia had closed the shutters and the room was lit by a pair of candles that left the large space around them in deep shadow. She had brought up a bottle of wine from the cellar and filled three glasses.

'Your father and I were saving this one to celebrate your becoming an officer.' She smiled sadly, then lifted her chin. 'To you, Lieutenant Napoleon Buona Parte.'

'No,' Napoleon shook his head, 'let's not toast me. To Father.' He and the others raised their glasses together and then sipped the fine wine. Napoleon slid the stem of his glass between his fingers and cradled the bowl in the palm of his hand.'Has it been difficult since Father died?'

Letizia shrugged. 'We barely manage.'

'Did he leave much money?'

'Leave money? All he left me was his debts.'

'It wasn't really his fault,' Joseph interrupted. 'He was cheated.'

'What happened?' asked Napoleon. 'Who cheated him?'

'The government. Four years ago Father signed a contract with some officials sent from Paris to find ways of expanding the economy in Corsica.They said they had the power to subsidise all sort of agricultural projects, one of which involved our family. Father bought a mulberry plantation, with a view to growing the trees for sale in the fifth year. The officials gave a guarantee that the mature trees would be bought by the government for a premium price.'

Letizia shook her head. 'I can hear him now. "How can we lose?"Well, we found out in the end exactly how we could lose.'

Napoleon nodded towards his brother. 'So what happened next?'

'Two years ago, when the first subsidy payment was due, the government cancelled the contract without any warning. Father just received notification that the trees were no longer required. He tried to find another buyer but there's no market for mulberry at the moment – at least no market that will pay enough to cover the costs of setting up the plantation. Until his death he was trying to get the government to pay compensation, but nothing has come of it. Meanwhile we couldn't afford to employ the men who were tending the trees. Since then no one has been maintaining the plantation.When Father died, the bank in Genoa, who loaned him the money to set up the plantation, called for the loan to be repaid.'

'Which we can't do,' Letizia added with a shrug. 'There's no money.The rent we get from uncle Luciano isn't even enough to feed the family and see that they get some proper schooling. If it wasn't for the small gifts of money given to us by Luciano, we'd have to sell the house, sell our land and sell that wretched plantation. Even then, I doubt it would raise enough to pay off the bank loan.'

'Can't we just sell the land?' Napoleon suggested. 'Pay back some of the money and ask them to give us time to repay the balance?'

'No.' Joseph smiled faintly. 'That's the catch. In order for us to contest the government's refusal to pay the subsidy we have to be in possession of the land to which the contract applies. We're caught between the government and the bank. The only hope I have is that the market recovers and we find buyers for those trees.'

'Is it likely to recover?'

'Impossible to say,' Joseph replied.'But if we don't start looking after the plantation soon it'll be worthless.'

'I see.' Napoleon brooded silently for a moment. He looked up at his brother.'Then we must put that plantation to rights, Joseph. You and me. Where is it?'

'Not far from here. Near Mother's house at Mellili.'

'Good! We could live there while we restore the plantation.'

'The house is almost derelict.'

'Fine.Then we'll make repairs to the house as well. Come on, Joseph! You're not afraid of a little hard work?'

'Of course not. But I can't stay here for much longer. I need to get back to my legal training.'

'Fair enough, but let's do what we can before you leave. What do you say, brother?'

Joseph glanced at his mother but Letizia was staring at her hands and saying nothing. Joseph's gaze flickered back towards his brother.'Why not? Let's do it. Maybe the market will recover after all.'

'That's the spirit!' Napoleon laughed and refilled both their glasses. 'To the Buona Parte Brothers – sons of the soil.'

Joseph laughed back and tapped his glass against his brother's. 'Death to bankers!'

'Death to the French Government!' Napoleon replied and drained his glass as his mother and brother looked at him in surprise.

Joseph cleared his throat. 'That's hardly the sort of toast one expects from an officer of His Most Catholic Majesty, King Louis.'

'French officer on the outside, Corsican loyalist on the inside – right to the core,' Napoleon smiled. 'Don't be fooled by the uniform.'

'I might not be, but there are others who will take it at face value.'

Letizia placed a hand on his arm. 'You should be careful, Naboleone. There are many people in Corsica who have not accepted French rule.'

'Including me.'

'I doubt that will carry much weight if you are caught in that uniform even a small distance from Ajaccio.Things have changed a great deal in the last eight years. The Paolists have been stirring things up. It seems that some foreign power is providing them with gold to keep the spirit of resistance alive. The French may control the towns and the roads, but they have lost power in much of the heart of the island.Their troops and their officials are afraid to venture too far from the coast. And that's given the rebels some confidence. There have even been ambushes of French patrols within earshot of Ajaccio. So, please, for me, take that uniform off while you are here.'