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By Root 1457 0

of children. But when Mrs. Gibson heard that Horatia would be leaving her care, she began to demand money. Horatia was an easy, well-behaved charge, and Mrs. Gibson had been paid about £50 every two months, much more than the going rate. Since Emma bought the clothes, trinkets, medicines, and toys, Mrs. Gibson had only to shell out for food and mending. It was not uncommon for a nurse to refuse to give up her charge until she was given a golden handshake, and Mrs. Gibson saw her chance to extract a fortune from Emma. She had arranged the false baptism, knew the identity of Horatia's parentage, and almost certainly knew about the second child. Emma begged Nelson to solve the impasse, and he instructed his solicitors to offer a pension to Mrs. Gibson of £20 a year, on condition that she make no attempt to keep Horatia or communicate with her again.14 Five-year-old Horatia arrived to live at Merton in May 1805.

That summer, Emma, desperate for a respite from the demands of her creditors, traveled to Southend. The fashionable Essex resort on the south coast was popular with Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince of Wales, and sometimes Princess Caroline, his estranged wife. A theater was erected in 1804, and there were plentiful bathing machines, an indoor warm bath, a billiard room, and gardens. The Royal Hotel had a coffee room, a giant ballroom, a music gallery, and supper and card rooms. With England at war with France, people had to holiday at home, and British sea resorts were crammed. Newspapers published lists of the fashionable in attendance every day. They reported that Emma was holidaying with Charlotte Nelson, Mrs. Billington, and some other "young ladies who composed the family party," Horatia and Cecilia Connor, and possibly Emma Carew, as well as the little Matcham and Bolton sisters. The journalists tracked her every move. On August 19, the Post's Southend correspondent filed an excited report: "Lady Hamilton suddenly quitted this place, in a chaise and four, at five o'clock this morning. She took her departure, I understand, in consequence of an express that arrived here yesterday evening."15

The express brought Emma the news she had waited so long to hear: the Victory had landed.16 Terrified Nelson would arrive and find her absent, Emma hurried Horatia out of bed, packed some of her belongings, and dashed back to Merton.

CHAPTER 47

Relighting the Fire

Nelson drove through the night. He arrived at 6 a.m next day to see Merton looking at its very best in the early morning sunlight. As soon as he entered the hall, he saw Emma's visions of his grandeur: busts, paintings, and decorations, curtains draped in his honor, and elaborate new furnishings. "Merton is become a perfect Paradise," he exulted. "The house is so entirely different, the water changed, and the grounds laid out in the most beautiful manner, and all by her taste."

They had not seen each other for two years and three months, and there was so much news to exchange. "What a day of rejoicing," sighed Emma. Emma desperately wanted to fall pregnant again, frantic to wash away the pain of losing little Emma. "She is a clever being after all," wrote Lord Minto on the first Saturday after Nelson's arrival. "The passion is as hot as ever."1

London was wild to see him. "He is adored as he walks the streets, thousands follow him, blessing him," gloried Emma.2 While Nelson visited the Admiralty and conducted business meetings, Emma received his family at Clarges Street. Nelson bought his daughter her own small fork and spoon and ordered them to be engraved with "To my much-loved Horatia." When they returned to Merton, guests, including the Duke of Clarence and his mistress, Dora Jordan, flocked to dine, and Nelson's siblings arrived frequently with their many children. She played the graceful hostess to them all. "What a Paradise he must think Merton, to say nothing of the Eve it contains," wrote Mrs. Bolton flatteringly3 Minto extolled how Emma "has improved and added to the house extremely well and without his knowing she was about it." She