“Not more so than you, ma’am,” he said. “You might be anaccomptant.”
“I might, if I was not a woman.” It was a shame that accounting, estate management, and book-keeping were not considered women’s work—she felt she might have done well at that.
She re-focused on the game. It could not be denied that a large part of cribbage was luck, but far less than roulette or faro or other games that men wagered large sums upon in gaming hells. That was another job she thought she might have been good at: running a gaming house. But that required both capitalanda descent in society that would be even more impossible to reverse that what she had already done.
Caroline’s eyes were sharp with concentration, while Anne was serious, but nervous. She looked as if she expected someone to turn on her the moment she made a poor play—even if it was not her fault. Despite the competitive energy, they all three were tacitly united in treating her kindly, and even Mr. Belvedere did not need the quiet threat in Captain Wentworth’s gaze to be uniformly encouraging.
In the end, it came down to the dealer’s crib—those last four cards which were hidden until the end—and Mr. Belvedere was the dealer.
He turned over each card slowly, with his eyes on Sophia. The others in the dining room may as well have disappeared as she held his gaze, unwilling to back down. Sophia felt a little breathless and light-headed by the time he had turned over the last. He had not even glanced at them as he laid them out. Somehow it was as intimate as if he had kissed her in public.
Finally, he smiled and looked down. Everyone’s eyes fell to the four cards. There was silence as they all contemplated—were there any pairs, triplets, fifteens, aces, or face cards?
Slowly a smile grew on his face. “It is enough.” He rechecked his work for them, pointing at each combination, and they tabulated the points as a group. “I believe I have won, ma’am.”
Sophia narrowed her eyes, searching the cards for a mistake. He was right. She hadn’t been beaten at a run of cards in a very long time. She gave a heavy sigh. “I concede. I suppose that is my punishment for wagering.”
“I’m sorry,” Anne said.
“No, please don’t apologize,” Sophia protested. “I am disappointed but not devastated. I must have the true gambler’s temperament—I could lose all week and still be foolishly confident I will win tomorrow.” She held out her hand to Anne. “Will you shake to a good game?”
“Certainly; itwasa very good game. I think if Mr. Belvedere and I had not had some luck there at the end, you and Caroline would have had it.”
Sophia pressed her hand gently. “No, you mustn’t pass it all off as luck. Both of you played very well!”
Caroline looked more annoyed than anyone, but she tried to shake it off. “How I hate to lose! My sister, Louisa, would make such game of me. That is, she did so until I learned to beat her, then she would no longer play. I suppose it is good for me to lose, or some such moral lesson as that.”
“I never said so,” Richard protested.
Mr. Belvedere congratulated Anne and then held his hand out to Sophia. “No hard feelings?”
She could hardly refuse to shake hands after instigating the ritual. She took his hand, and he shook hers once, firmly, as men did when sealing a bargain. “To a worthy opponent.”
“I—I hope so.” She was startled by how large and warm his hand felt around hers. “Oh, and I owe you five pounds. Excuse me.”
She went into her dark cabin and shut the door, pressing her cold fingers to her warm cheeks. She did not know why he should make her blush. He was bold and impulsive but that was because he was young—barely out of school! It was ridiculous to let a boy’s attentions rattle her.
When she was less flushed, she fished her five-pound coin out of a woolen stocking among her unmentionables. She hadthirty-five shillings other than this. Perhaps she could win it back before Lisbon…
He took the coin with a good grace, tucking it away in a coat pocket without making a large to-do. Perhaps he realized he had been a little too forward, a little beyond the bounds of propriety.
The only unhappy note was when the captain joined them. He looked dour about the whole thing. “I don’t know what you are about,” he said to Captain Wentworth, “to let that bounder rob a lady in broad daylight, in addition to what he has done in secret!”
Captain Wentworth shook his head. “I hope that is not so, but this, at least, was above board. And it was Mrs. Scott who suggested the wager; I was hardly in a position to protest.”
The captain shook his head. “Unless another culprit is found, I shall lay information against that young man the moment we reach Lisbon.”
Sophia hopedMr. Belvedere had not overheard the captain, but she was proved wrong the following morning.
For a man who had previously claimed—during a conversation about town hours—that he did not rise before noon if he could help it, he was often awake early. He joined Sophia again just as the sun began to break the horizon. He planted his hands on the gunwale as the ship rocked in the dark waves. It had rained the night before, leaving the deck wet and slick. The sky was low with clouds also, quite unlike the sunny days that had just passed. Sophia had not yet felt a drop, but it looked very much like more rain would come soon.
“Couldn’t sleep again?” Mr. Belvedere asked. “Or do you merely haunt the deck all night, and we have not noticed?”
“I am accustomed to rising early. But you are not, so what is your excuse? A guilty conscience?”
He gave her a strange, hurt look.
She grimaced. “Oh! I meant that as a joke—because you won five pounds off me!—notbecause of this necklace business.”
