Girdwood escapes and goes to Simmerson's estate, where he collects the incriminating paperwork, and then heads to Simmerson's London house. Sharpe arrives at Simmerson's house too late to stop Girdwood, but he sees an invitation to a party hosted by the Prince of Wales. Sharpe also learns from Jane that Simmerson regularly beats her (her father was a lowly saddler), and Sharpe rashly proposes marriage as a way of enabling her to escape Simmerson's abuse. Jane agrees to try to steal the paperwork from Simmerson's house. Sharpe forms up the recruits of the Second Battalion and takes them to London, where they march in on the Prince of Wales's party, with Sharpe bearing the eagle he took at Talavera. The Prince gleefully claims them as his own, making the regiment the Prince of Wales Own Volunteers, instead of the South Essex.