Redemption - Leon Uris [296]
“Not that I know of, sir. My mother’s parents are both English. Dad is Swedish, German, New Zealand, one of those mongrel mixes.”
“Catholic?”
Rory shrugged. “Not seriously,” he said.
“Any political feelings about the so-called Rising here last month?”
“I’m a New Zealander, sir. The business over here didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Didn’t we have Irish troops, Dubliners, down at Cape Helles?”
“Indeed we did and we have Irish in the trenches in France. We are all British, wot?”
Rory smiled in agreement.
“You missed a hell of a show. I personally attended the execution of all sixteen of the blighters. Bloody interesting. Unfortunately, a temporary suspension has been called in the executions…against my strong objections…but…we still hold eighty of them under sentence of death.”
“Are you going to resume the executions?” Rory asked. “I’d like to see one.”
“God knows what the politicians are up to, but I think for now we are going to have a wait and see how they behave. If they stir things up with their editorials, streetcorner rabble-rousing and rioting, we can always resume the firing squads….” He paced and lectured. “For the moment there is only one traitor who matters. Sir Roger Casement. He’s in the Tower of London, where he belongs. He will be given a good English trial, then we’ll hang him. It is imperative. Casement must be the one public showcase.”
“Sorry, sir, but you’ll have to excuse my ignorance. Can’t read a newspaper without a magnifying glass.”
“That son of a bitch, Casement. An Ulsterman, yet! After he was knighted, mind you, that son of a bitch conspired with the Germans against us. He’s a fucking queer, you know. We’re going to get him the same way Edward Carson got that other Irish queer, Oscar Wilde. Runs in the race.”
Brodhead was quick to refill both glasses, warming up to the principal gist of his invitation for Landers to come to Ireland.
“Landers, the Gallipoli Commission of Inquiry is still open-ended, apt to keep digging up what is past. I think everyone knows what they have to know about a very dicey military situation. The only purpose now for further inquiry comes from those Liberals who are trying to pin a black eye on our military. You might be called to testify.”
“Me, sir? I certainly have no qualifications to render opinions.”
“Don’t be too modest. You were privy to a great many planning meetings. That Victoria Cross makes your word extremely important in their eyes. Specifically, I am told, you may be wanted to testify on what took place atop Chunuk Bair.”
Rory sensed that he had fallen into a situation of splendid serendipity. Brodhead would owe him a great deal if he played the General’s game now.
“I don’t know how to answer that, sir.”
“There’s talk that, when Colonel Markham arrived from headquarters, he placed Colonel Malone under arrest on my orders. Furthermore, Major Hubble is alleged to have refused to carry out the arrest.”
“I can’t help you on that, General. I wasn’t anywhere near them at the time.”
“You heard nothing between Markham and Malone?”
“No sir.”
“You’ve heard nothing since?”
“Christ, I hear all sorts of things every day. Rumors fly, you know. If the two colonels were in disagreement, I just didn’t know.”
Brodhead took his seat and edged forward. “They are looking for a scapegoat, you see. And I’ll tell you why. After the war, they want to stand the Army down to nothing. The more upper echelon staff they can discredit, the greater the argument to cut off our funds. Do you realize we may not end up with an army large enough to defend the Empire? They have destroyed Churchill. Well, Churchill wasn