'I don't want a closer acquaintance!' insisted Welbeck. 'I joined the army to get away from my family. As far as I'm concerned, they don't exist.' He glowered at Hillier. 'Did you hear that?'

'Yes, Uncle,' said the drummer, backing away. 'I'm sorry. Forgive me for intruding.'

After bidding them farewell, he turned on his heel and walked disconsolately away. Daniel watched him go.

'You're being very cruel to the lad, Henry,' he said.

'Tom needed to be told the truth.'

'He's your nephew!

'Yes,' said Welbeck, 'and that's what unnerves me. He reminds me of all the things I've struggled to put behind me.'

'Try to see it from his point of view.'

'He's a drummer, Dan. He doesn't have a point of view.'

'Tom is a callow youth, chasing his ambition. He's alone in a foreign country, cut off from his family and friends. He deserves a little guidance from his uncle. Is that too much to ask?'

'Yes, it is.'

'Even you are not that hard-hearted, Henry.'

'I don't want him here.'

'Why ever not?' said Daniel.

'Because he's a responsibility — Tom is someone I ought to care for, Dan. As soon as I do that, I know I'm going to be hurt. Let myself grow fond of the lad,' said Welbeck, ruefully, 'and what will happen? He'll be shot to pieces or trampled to death by a cavalry charge at the Lines of Brabant and I'll be the one who has to write to his mother.'

'You could at least be civil to the lad.'

'He has to respect my rank. Tom has to look at me as an army sergeant and not as a relative of his. If he were my own brother, I'd treat him the same way.'

'Blood is thicker than water, Henry.'

'It can be spilt just as easily.'

'Encouragement was all that Tom was after.'

'Well he won't get it from me,' said Welbeck, firmly. 'I'd never encourage anyone to join the army. It's a dog's life and my nephew will soon find that out — if he manages to stay alive long enough, that is. When he sees how many French regiments are defending the Lines of Brabant, he'll wish he stayed at home on the bloody farm.'