فصل 07

Chapter SEVEN

The Battle of Waterloo

There was great excitement in Brussels after the British army had marched out to meet Napoleon’s troops.

Jos, meanwhile, was surprised to receive a visit from Becky Sharp that morning. He had not been invited to any of the grand social events in which she had played such a brilliant part, and he was offended at her neglect. Becky, who was not sure of a British victory, decided to become friends with her old admirer again.

‘I’m sure you’re getting ready to join the army,’ she told him. ‘Soon there’ll be nobody left in Brussels to protect us poor women!’

Jos was delighted at the idea that she thought he was joining the army.

‘I should like to see the battle,’ he replied grandly, ‘but I have my sister to protect.’

‘What a good brother you are!’ Becky exclaimed. She put her handkerchief to her eyes. ‘Your heart is true to your sister,’ she went on, ‘but I remember a time when it was false to me!’

Jos blushed furiously. He did not know what to say to her.

‘I’ve avoided you here in Brussels,’ Becky went on. ‘What else could I do? Do you think my husband could bear to speak to you? You’re the only man he’s ever been jealous of, you know!’

Poor Jos was delighted at this speech. He forgot his doubts and suspicions of Becky.

Becky observed him closely.

‘At least he’ll give me a place in his carriage if the army is defeated,’ she thought.

Becky then went into Amelia’s room to greet her. She found her ill because she was worried about George. Amelia regarded her as an enemy now, and the interview was a painful one for the two women.

‘You tried to do me wrong,’ Amelia complained. ‘You tried to take my husband from me, Rebecca. But he came back to me, you see - he came back to me!’ She burst into tears.

Becky left Amelia’s room. For once she was silent. Her friend’s tears had moved her. She happened to encounter Mrs Peggy O’Dowd in the street outside, and she told her that Amelia was very upset. The good lady hurried to the house.

Brussels was full of rumours about the great battle. Jos grew increasingly nervous. He was not a brave man, and what he heard from his servants frightened him. He began to think about leaving the city. He told Amelia that he thought it was best to prepare to leave, but she refused to listen to him.

That night Jos’s fears increased to panic. Some Belgian soldiers had retreated into the city, and one of these took refuge with the maid in Jos’s house. The young soldier was tired and hungry, and he told terrible stories about the defeat of the British army.

‘The Duke of Wellington is a prisoner,’ he insisted, ‘and the whole army is in flight. Napoleon has won.’

Jos had come into the kitchen to hear the soldier’s account, and he was now wild with terror. He changed out of his military-style clothes as quickly as he could, and ordered his servant to prepare the carriage.

‘There are no horses left in Brussels, sir,’ the servant told him.

Jos dashed into the street. He ran to all the hotels in a desperate search for horses. In one hotel he saw Lady Bareacres and her daughters sitting in a carriage. They, too, were waiting for horses.

Lady Bareacres was also desperate to abandon the city. This proud lady, who had refused to acknowledge Becky when they passed on the stairs, now came to ask her to sell Captain Crawley’s horses.

‘I won’t sell you my horses, my Lady,’ Becky told her proudly, ‘not for the two largest diamonds you wore at the ball.’

Just then Becky caught sight of Jos entering the hotel. The frightened expression on his face told her everything.

‘He will buy my horses,’ she decided.

Jos and Becky were soon in earnest conversation together. The price she asked for the horses was a huge one, but Jos was so terrified that he agreed to pay.

Jos now told his servant to prepare the horses. He had decided to ride out of the city as soon as he could. He went back once more to Amelia to persuade her to come with him.

‘Emmy, I’m leaving today,’ he told her, ‘and you must come with me. There’s no time to lose!’

‘You’re a coward, Mr Sedley,’ Peggy O’Dowd told him quietly.

‘Never mind her!’ cried Jos. ‘Are you coming with me or not, Emmy?’

Amelia was too ill to move.

‘Without my husband, Jos?’ Amelia replied.

Jos saw that it was useless.

‘Goodbye, then,’ he said in a rage, and left the room. A few minutes later the two ladies saw him riding awkwardly down the street on one of Becky’s horses, followed by his servant on the other.

The noise of the great battle could be heard throughout the city all that day. At last the guns grew silent. The English had their victory.

Darkness fell. Amelia was praying for her husband, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his heart.