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that he was the only one who could restore her to her rightful station. The King noticed little that did not relate to his own concerns.
    As a full member of Sir William’s household, Nelson learned to relax. He entertained in the company of the Hamiltons as though he was as much the host as they, and watched as Emma played cards well into the night, at which she won and lost prodigious sums that he had either to lend or hold for her.
    While still eager to defeat the enemy he knew that he had done, for the moment, all that he could do: without soldiers he could not recapture either Naples or Malta. His cruisers, British, Portuguese and a few loyal Neapolitans, were at sea, ensuring that the shipping lanes were covered to strangle French trade, and that any French warship that ventured out would therefore meet a force large enough to destroy it.
    At night, he and Emma retired to bed where, to his delight, her passion increased. He could not and would not explain to her how her ardour pleased him. As a shy man, to have the burden of initiation removed was bliss. He had always been easily rebuffed, especially by Fanny. That was never the case with Emma.
    For Emma, marriage to Sir William had entailed duties, pleasant enough but rooted in a degree of practicality, but with Nelson she could recall the excitements of her youth. She could not get enough of him: his company, his gentle wit, his forgiving nature – for she knew that she sometimes overstepped the bounds of good taste – his naked presence.
    Like any lovers, a great deal of their conversation was inconsequential, yet physical. Familiarity brought with it an intimacy of mind, the beginnings of a private language, an awareness of desires unfulfilled, not least Nelson’s to be a father. Emma did not make an issue of her craving to oblige that, but after six weeks of close company, Nelson knew that she had abandoned all attempts to avoid a pregnancy.
    Emma was thrilled that when she talked he listened to her. Nelson, the most powerful man in the Mediterranean, lionised by his fellow countrymen and foreigners alike, from the lowest to the highest, discussed his most pressing concerns with her. The Queen – who had lost most of her power to her husband and ministers who seemed to blame her for the loss of Naples – had come to depend on Emma more than ever. Now she acted as a conduit between Nelson and Maria Carolina to ensure that Nelson knew of every stratagem hatched by Ferdinand and de Gallo.
    Gifts and praise poured in from foreign courts. Disappointed that his request to London regarding recognition of Emma’s services had been ignored, Nelson was delighted when the Tsar of Russia bestowed on her the Order of St Catherine. This came with a jewelled cross that Maria Carolina pronounced a sad affair: to prove her own attachment to Emma, she had it reset with precious gems, and Emma wore it at her neck with pride.
    On her advice, Nelson, despite initial unease, had taken to wearing his Chelenk in his hat. The plume of triumph glittered mightily in the Sicilian sun, and gave him an exotic air to go with his surroundings.
    Emma was Cleopatra to everyone in the fleet, most happy, others less so. Some were furious, even if they were well disposed to her, convinced that the association would tarnish Nelson’s reputation. Yet another group cared nothing for that reputation, or for Emma, and letters winged their way back to England, to become part of a talethat would not rebound to the credit of the man who had thumped the French.
    For Emma and Sir William trouble emerged with the sudden arrival of a Mr Charles Lock and his wife, Cecilia, daughter of the well-connected Duchess of Leinster. Without much wealth, Charles Lock was a man in a hurry who made no secret that he had designs on Sir William’s position as ambassador, a natural step up from his present appointment as Consul General to the Court of Naples. But natural only if Sir William retired, on which he was