‘Almost a year’s sailing,’ said Martha. ‘Via the Cape of Good Hope and India.’
‘During which Lady Foxmore was attacked,’ said Crumpacker. All eyes turned to Martha, who Thea could see was trying to remain serene.
‘Oh, that is very much overstating it,’ she said, and Thea paused, laying her fork on her plate. How had Martha not told her about being attacked?
‘It is not,’ said Crumpacker.
‘Lady Foxmore, you were attacked by a tiger?’ asked Cecily with wide eyes. Thea looked at Martha with wide eyes too, who hesitated and looked back warily, but it was Crumpacker who spoke.
‘By a disgraceful gentleman by the name of Richard Lynch.’
Martha swallowed and looked away. Thea knew her eyes challenged why this was the first time she was hearing about Martha being attacked. She knew she had been shot accidentally, but this was new information.
‘I am sure the table doesn’t need all the details,’ said Martha quickly. Crumpacker nodded and returned to his prawns. ‘Anyway,’ said Martha, looking relieved that his interjectionshad ceased for now. ‘We climbed for a few days into the island and found a great many plants, loading them onto oxen for the locals to take back to the town where they would be waiting when we returned.’ She was getting into her stride, and the table was rapt.
‘One night, we heard Lynch – who I will concede was not the nicest of men,’ she eyed Crumpacker carefully, ‘leave the camp, and thought he might have gone to look for the tigers.’
‘Why would he do that?’ asked Harriet. ‘Surely it’s dangerous by himself?’
‘Well–’ Martha started.
‘To kill them,’ said Crumpacker. ‘They were sacred animals to the islanders and so Lady Foxmore and I vowed to protect them, but he wanted one to bring home, so he went by himself.’
‘Well, yes,’ said Martha, stalling a little. ‘So, in respect to the islanders we went after him and stopped him and that was the end to that, really.’ She picked up her cutlery and made to begin eating again, but Crumpacker let out a snort.
‘By killing him.’
The clattering of cutlery ceased immediately. Even the staff looked to Martha who had paused with a morsel of curried beef halfway from her plate. She tried a small laugh to lighten the mood, and Thea saw her struggling with how to counter Crumpacker’s clumsy storytelling. ‘Not on purpose.’
‘It was on purpose,’ said Crumpacker directly. ‘I had to kill him, otherwise he would have killed Lady Foxmore. And he almost did.’ Thea was only aware of the silence and Martha’s awkward glances between her and Crumpacker.
‘Well, we don’t know that,’ Martha started, but Crumpacker looked away from Martha and to the middle of the table.
‘Lady Foxmore had bravely placed herself between Lynch and the tiger. It had two cubs, and she had agreed with the islanders that we would not take one and she was faithful to that. I am inno doubt that he would have shot her to get to them as he said it in no uncertain terms and he had a musket pointed directly at her.’
Thea’s heart raced. She thought she and Martha shared everything, but here was information she had withheld. Dramatic information. Her stomach dropped further than it had through the conversations with George or the humiliation of the science demonstration.
Martha looked resigned now, and Thea heard herself ask quietly, ‘What happened then?’ She directed it at Martha, but Martha hesitated. It was Crumpacker who spoke.
‘Thankfully, I shot him first. He fired but his aim was off on account of him being hit a fraction of a second earlier. He hit Lady Foxmore beneath the glenohumeral joint of the shoulder. A little further to the right and she would have been dead.’ The table stared at him in silence, but he was apparently unaware. ‘As it was, she regained consciousness a few days after we returned to the town.’ He sliced off another piece of prawn and popped it delicately into his mouth.
Martha stared at him, and then at Thea. From the look on Martha’s face Thea had no doubt that Crumpacker was telling the truth, and that Martha had severely edited the story in its retelling. Presumably not to worry her, but this made it worse. And made Martha even more of a hero. But Martha was her safety, and now there were so many unknowns. Thea was torn between love, admiration, horror and rapidly multiplying feelings of her own inadequacy.
‘That. Is. Heroic, Lady Foxmore!’ Cecily’s eyes were wide, and she leaned towards Martha. ‘You saved a savage, wild animal which might have killed you from a man who wanted to kill it and would think nothing of killing you. And Mr Crumpacker,’ their hostess now turned to him. ‘You saved them both.’ Her tone was so adulatory that it even drew a small smile from him.
‘Lady Foxmore is quite the bravest person I know,’ he said simply.
‘And then you brought back seeds for everyone to grow,’ said Cecily. ‘You went through all of that to deliver a small taste of the exotic here in our gardens.’
‘And some are more successful than others,’ said Dr Herbert, raising his glass to Knatchbull. Thea suddenly felt very small. And useless. Even Martha hadn’t been honest with her, presumably because she thought Thea was too weak to take the truth. Thea took a sip of wine, as her throat was thick and she didn’t think she could manage anything more solid. She hated feeling like this. This wasn’t her, not how she wanted to be, but everything felt so overwhelming. She was terrified about what was coming from George, couldn’t keep her staff safe, couldn’t give Martha the life she deserved and if she did succeed in growing, was forbidden from making that success her own. Self-doubt was crippling. And she felt selfish about that, given that she had so much.
‘I think that is quite enough of our chit chat,’ said Martha, and Thea could tell she was casting around for a change of subject. ‘Perhaps Doctor Travers can tell us more about his plans for developing his lecture series in London?’
Poor Doctor Travers looked a little alarmed. ‘Well,’ he said, his eyes darting around the table to consider his eminent company. ‘I have premises in Piccadilly and am in the process of developing my show–’
‘I am glad to hear it,’ Emma Fairclough’s voice cut through the polite murmurs – presumably she had become tired of hearing voices other than her own. ‘Your demonstration tonight was…’ she paused, ‘…diverting. However, you find yourself in such company tonight that I am sure you could use to your advantage. I am sure you have rarely been in such company that displays asfine tastes as this?’ She gestured around the table and Thea took a swig of wine. Fine tastes and little modesty, she thought.
‘Well, I have to admit it is an honour to be amongst such company,’ Doctor Travers said, his finger running around the collar of his cravat.
