“You can keep all hundred.”
“Very well, I’ll go. If I am wrong—well, then I apologize. But I don’t think I’m wrong.” He smiled winningly, with such warmth in his expression that invited her to confide in him. She was almost tempted to tell him whatwasgoing on?—
Goodness, was she doomed to be a fool who attracted scoundrels? Worse, a fool who was attractedtosuch scoundrels? Her late husband and now Mr. Belvedere, both criminals of some sort. How unutterably awful. Did Mr. Belvedere sense the lawlessness of her past—did it cling to her like a persistent aroma?
“If you decide you need help withwhateveris going on, I do hope you’ll tell me. I’m good in a tight spot.” He put his ear to the door and listened intently. Between one breath and the next, the door opened and he was gone.
“I really hate that man,” Sophia muttered. She ignobly put her own ear to the door to be sure. No, nothing. There was only the creak and whine of the next cabin door, and then his footsteps retreating back to the upper deck. He had probably—to give him his due—fetched something from his cabin to excuse his absence from the upper deck.
He was undoubtedly a problem.
14
Luckily for all the passengers, who were almost as one in their reluctance to think on unpleasant matters again after the trials of the storm, another distraction came to divert them. The only one who resented this interruption was Lady Marston, who would have been happy to keep everyone searching for her amethysts; but “what odiously short attention spans the youth had!”
No, they were all glad when another ship was spotted behind them in the mid-day haze on the horizon. The ship flew British colors, and it was traveling south-south east, “much on the same line as us,” the first mate explained. Everyone came up to see—even Lady Marston.
“A ship of the line!” Captain Wentworth grinned. “Shall we make a race of it—at least until they overtake?”
“By Jove, we shall!” answered Captain Smythe. “They’re bigger, but you see how their square sails don’t let them run as close to the wind as we with our center rigging! We’ll see how we compare.”
He gave the orders, and it was a fine, breezy race as the larger British ship slowly grew on them. Smythe knew he couldn’tprevent them drawing abreast, nor did he want to, but he was proud to give them a merry chase. Eventually it was ship against ship, with barely a tow-line distance between their two sides.
Caroline and Anne were at the starboard gunwale with everyone else, and they waved at the passengers on the other ship as they drew close enough to see them. There were two ladies in jewel-toned cloaks and capes who waved merrily back at them. It was wonderful to see other faces after two weeks of only themselves. By mutual agreement, the captains made signals to draw up to one another.
“Why, it’s theQueen Charlotteherself!” Captain Wentworth exclaimed. “This is the secondQueen Charlotte, you see, the other was lost, but they relaunched this beauty a few years ago. I wonder if Admiral Hood—why, yes, it is he!”
Caroline had never seen this procedure of drawing near a ship amid sea, and she now appreciated the great skill in bringing these great ships within a few feet of one another. Cries ofhalloo!andGood race!were heard from the other ship. TheLady Maryrocked strangely under their feet now that it had ceased forward motion. There was less sway, but the deck moved more erratically.
Caroline held onto a rope for balance as she craned her head to look up. The other ship’s deck was some eight feet above their own. Someone on the other ship let down a rope ladder, which their men secured on theLady Mary.
An officer shimmied down to them, somehow not smashing his fingers or splashing into the water below as both ships rocked on uneven waves. Admiral Hood followed, and clapped Captain Wentworth on the back. “Mary thought she saw you, but I said she must be mistaken! And yet here you are on a packet!”
It was determined that Admiral Hood’s wife and daughter were with them; those were the two ladies they had seen. “I know, I know,” he said ruefully to Wentworth. “I wouldn’t havebrought my women-folk, but my lady decided to plant herself in Cadiz for the next year. I won’t deny it’ll be merry to have them nearby.”
His wife and adult daughter descended next, and there were general introductions. Their ship had left directly from the Port of London, nearly a week after themselves, but they had got very good wind and had missed the storm which blew theLady Maryabout so much.
Caroline suggested they should stay for dinner, but Admiral Hood shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we cannot! We are not stopping at Lisbon at all. We will swing around the point and get to Cadiz as fast as may be.”
Anne found herself the subject of intense scrutiny by Admiral Hood’s wife. She must have passed inspection, for that lady—who looked quite as good-tempered, kind-hearted, and intelligent as Mrs. Croft—suddenly embraced Anne. “I cannot tell you,” she said quietly, drawing her apart from the general conversation, “how happy I am to see Frederick Wentworth married! But I had no notion of this when I last saw him. Was it a whirlwind romance?”
“Er—sort of.” Anne felt herself blushing.
“I am glad. I always fancied he must’ve experienced a disappointment in his youth or something of that sort—so implacable and cynical he has always been! And I told the Admiral, it is a dreadful shame for such a fine man to turn his face against us poor creatures.”
Anne hardly knew what to say, for she was certain thatshewas the great disappointment the lady referred to. But Mrs. Hood mistook her face. “Oh, I am an idiot! Please don’t take my words to heart, dear. See him look at us and smile! He is wondering what I am pouring in your ears. And I do haveseveralgood stories I could tell you, but I want to hear about you. Whendidyou meet, my dear? Was it in Bath?”
“Yes, it was—that is, most recently, yes. We were acquainted some years ago in Somersetshire.”
“Oh, I love a reunion. I—” She stopped short with twinkling eyes surrounded by fine wrinkles. “Ihavestepped in it, haven’t I?Youwere the past love. You must forgive my blunder, for I am so pleased that you should both have a second chance. I can see already how happy he is.”
“Thank you, I hope he is. It has indeed been a blessed second-chance to me.”
“Ugh, and we must away so soon to Cadiz! I wish I could further our acquaintance at once, for I can tell by your face that we should be great friends. Do you stop in Lisbon?”
“Only very briefly, ma’am. Our aim is Istanbul, where Captain Wentworth and Colonel Fitzwilliam—our good friend—have work for the Foreign Office.”
“Ah,I see. I wondered that Captain Wentworth could sell out, but between you and this other work—yes, I see. Well, perhaps Julia and I—my daughter—may visit you there! I have always longed to visit the Orient. Either way, I hope I may write to you.”
