From that pesky clue, was Sharpe’s father a cavalier?  (‘Clue ?  take you out put me in and a horse appears in this happy person’  So ‘clue’ with the ‘u’ taken out and an ‘i’ (i.e me) put in gives ‘clie’.  I think there was racehorse called Var so ‘a horse’ becomes ‘a var’ to complete the anagram.  The happy person would be a reference to Frans Hals’ famous painting The Laughing Cavalier).

I know the word is a bit anachronistic for Sharpe’s period, but I guess it could still describe a sort of semi-aristocratic wastrel.  It would be a nice irony if it turned out to be a visiting French chavalier…..

Chris O’Brien