HORSE GUARDS, LONDON, OCTOBER 1865
“Make no mistake, Windrush, the Fenian movement is the most serious domestic threat that Great Britain has faced for the last half-century, more serious than the Chartists, and they were peril enough. If we can"t depend on the army, what hope have we of keeping order in this country, let alone maintain the Empire?”
Jack nodded. When Colonel Hook had asked him to drop into Horse Guards during his home leave, he had thought it was little more than a courtesy call. Instead, an officious clerk had immediately ushered him into a quiet office on the upper floor where a dapper, intense man invited him to sit.
“My name is Smith.” The man wore elegant civilian clothes but spoke with the clipped, authoritarian tones of a man used to command. “I expected you last
