Charlotte Louise Dolan by The Substitute Bridegroom Page B

Corsican?”
    “To be sure, madam, if I knew that, I could make my fortune.”
    “Then you think we may be pushed out of Spain?”
    “Ah, I did not say that. The duke is definitely a better tactician than Soult or Marmont.”
    “But the French generals have more men under their command, and with their population four times that of ours, they have the ability to replace their losses faster than we can.”
    “In Spain those large armies are their biggest liability. Napoleon has made a tactical error of such magnitude, it will in the end bring about his downfall. His greatest enemy on the peninsula is Spain itself.”
    “Bah, do not try to convince me that the Spanish army is anything but a bothersome nuisance to the French.”
    “Again you are putting words into my mouth,” Darius said with a smile, liking this old lady better than anyone else he had met in Somerset. “I said nothing about the Spanish army; I said Spain. Napoleon has assumed that his vast armies can live off the land.”
    “And the Spanish refuse to sell him the necessary food?”
    “He does not worry about such niceties as paying for what his soldiers take. He has assumed, simply, that his armies will take by force whatever they need, and therein lies his error.”
    “In what way has he miscalculated?”
    “Why, ma’am, he has not properly studied his geography. It is the land itself that will defeat Napoleon.”
    Lady Letitia gave a bark of laughter. “You are saying the food is not there for the taking.”
    “Indeed, Spain is a poor country; in the best of times she barely raises enough to feed her own population. She has no stores set aside in case of droughts or plagues of locusts. And the French army is itself a plague of epic proportions; the soldiers not only steal the food whenever they find it, but also kill off all the livestock, leaving none for breeding. In addition they burn the barns and fields and drive off the peasants, who then become ardent partisans, harassing the French flanks like pesky horseflies.”
    “And what of Wellington?”
    “Ah, Wellington pays in gold for the food he receives from the Spanish and Portuguese, but it is Wellington’s supply trains that will win Spain for him. The only way Napoleon could defeat us in Spain would be to cut our lines of supply, and that he will never do so long as the British lion rules the seas.”
    “So tell me, did you take part in the battle at Albuera? I am interested in hearing what tactics Beresford used against Soult.”
    They continued to talk of battles and strategy while the party swirled around them, the laughter ebbing and flowing, punctuated by an occasional squeal when some young person was caught standing under the mistletoe.
    Darius was at first amazed at the old lady’s wit and then impressed by the speed with which she grasped the essentials and was finally moved to compliment her.
    “Madam, I regret sincerely that you do not have a position of authority in the War Office. I have spent days trying in vain to explain to some of the old men there what you have understood in an instant.”
    “Do not think that I have not had similar thoughts on occasion. I have enough summers behind me now to accept my role in society, but as a young girl, I would have sold my soul to the devil to have been born a man.” She paused and looked at him, as if checking to see if he were shocked, but then proceeded with a faraway look in her eyes. “I would have made a dandy general, and with me in charge, we would undoubtedly not have lost the colonies. Or perhaps I would have been an admiral and discovered new lands for England. But,” she added briskly, “I have long ago accepted the restrictions society places on women and have still had more than enough adventures to fill one lifetime.”
    “Then I believe it is your turn to tell the stories, and my turn to be the avid listener.”
    “Are you sure you have the courage? My activities are fearsome enough to make the strongest