He repeated what
Tremayne had already stated, with some few additional details.
"This wretched fellow sent Lord Wellington a letter dictated from
his bed, in which he swore that the duel was forced upon him, and
that his honour allowed him no alternative. I don't think any
feature of the case has so deeply angered Lord Wellington as this
stupid plea. He mentioned that when Sir John Moore was at Herrerias,
in the course of his retreat upon Corunna, he sent forward
instructions for the leading division to halt at Lugo, where he
designed to deliver battle if the enemy would accept it. That
dispatch was carried to Sir David Baird by one of Sir John's aides,
but Sir David forwarded it by the hand of a trooper who got drunk
and lost it. That, says Lord Wellington, is the only parallel, so
far as he is aware, of the present case, with this difference, that
whilst a common trooper might so far fail to appreciate the
importance of his mission, no such lack of appreciation can excuse
Captain Garfield."
"I am glad of that," said Sir Terence, who had been bristling.
"For a moment I imagined that it was to be implied I had been as
indiscreet in my choice of a messenger as Sir David Baird."
"No, no, Sir Terence.
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