“I would love that, thank you.”
Mrs. Hood kissed her cheek. “Thankyou.Wentworth is a little too old to be my son, but I have always had a maternal feeling for him. I hope I may extend that to you.”
“I’d be honored.” Anne felt confirmed that the naval community was the most welcoming and genuinely good-natured in the world.
The guests had to take their leave all too soon, but at the last minute, the first officer, a handsome lieutenant, called down to them.
“Hold a moment! The Admiral says his wife is finished with all the latest papers from London, and your passengers may enjoy them.”
The possibility of newspapers operated powerfully on several members of the party, and nearly everyone asked to read them.
“Do allow me the society pages,” Caroline requested. “Until this trip, I have read them every day foryears.”
“You can hardly claim as long a loyalty to themas I,” put in Lady Marston regally, “for I have been reading them these forty years, at least. Would you allow me?”
Caroline pursed her lips. “Of course. I—I am always willing to put others first.”
“If no one minds, I’d like to see the racing pages,” Sir Mark put in. “If I’d’ve been at home, I would’ve dropped a monkey on Grapeshot at Ascot. I must know how he placed!”
Even Sophia ventured quietly, “When it is convenient, I should like to look at the births and marriages.”
Mr. Belvedere laughed. “You may all share the paper withmygood will. I’m happy to read it second-hand.”
The lieutenant on the ship above them reappeared with a large bundle of newspapers tied with a ribbon. The rope ladder had already been stowed.
“Here they are!” he shouted. “I’ll toss ‘em down to you, sir. We have six or seven—theStar, theCourier,twoGazettes,aLondon Chronicle?—”
He tossed the papers down in a light underhanded throw. It should’ve carried the bundle safely to Captain Smythe’s outstretched hands, but—the greatest mischance! The boat tipped astern and sent Sophia stumbling into the captain. He bobbled and exclaimed, clutching futilely as the bundle glanced off his outstretched hand toward the dark water below.
Richard—standing closest to the captain—lunged forward and grabbed at it. The ribbon came free—and he was left with one newspaper in his hand. The others fluttered to the gray waves in the heavy shadow of theQueen Charlotte.
There was a sudden silence as they all watched the majority of the papers float on the water, swiftly becoming water-logged and then shifting into the deep like leaves in a pond.
Sophia pressed a hand to her mouth. “Forgive me! I am dreadfully sorry.”
“Jolly bad luck!” the officer called down.
“It can’t be helped,” Captain Smythe said. “Safe sailing!”
The accident left the party subdued and a little dispirited as they watched theQueen Charlottedrift away. Smythe’s first mate began the orders to “haul sheets.”
It took theQueen Charlottea little longer to get back up to speed, so at first theLady Marypulled ahead, but soon, off to their right, the ship of the line passed them like strong man to run a race.
Richard unfurled the one paper he’d managed to save. “It’sTheLondon Gazette,dated Friday a week ago. I know everyone is eager to catch up on news, but I really must let Caroline have first dibs. I am a newly married man, after all—no one can blame me for a little favoritism!”
“Well—” Lady Marston looked primed to object, but she could not seem to come up with an excuse for such brazen rudeness.
No one else was petty enough to gainsay him, and Anne drifted back to the railing as they dissipated. She slipped her hand into her husband’s. There was a slight look of regret on his face.
“Was it pleasant to see Admiral Hood? Do you wish you had not sold out?”
“No, hardly that. Only—in another life Iwouldhave stayed longer. But I don’t in any way regret this.” He kissed her forehead. “I made my fortune and my happiness, and there is still much I can do for my country.”
“But you love the sea.”
“And I always will; but it does not follow that I love nothing else.”
“If you want to go back—I’m sure the admiralty would take you in a heartbeat.”
