From Artemis? Or Papa, perhaps? Persephone watched his entrance with eager anticipation. Barton stopped at Adam’s side.
So not from home, after all. Persephone tried to refocus her mind but found the task nearly impossible in her disappointment. The longer she was away from her family, the more she missed them.
“What did you think of our resident spinster?” Harry asked.
For a moment, Persephone fumbled over the question but then realized he referred to Miss Greenburrough, whom she’d mentioned meeting during her visit that afternoon.
“She was very quiet, so I was not able to form much of an opinion of her.” Miss Greenburrough’s head of gray hair had reminded Persephone so forcefully of her grandmother that she felt certain she would like the lady.
“Persephone.” Adam cut into the conversation. He held his letter out to her.
“It is for me?”
“It is addressed to me,” he answered. “But it will explain the other letter.”
“The other letter?”
Adam all but dropped the letter into Persephone’s lap, at which point she realized that along with a single sheet of high-quality parchment was a second, sealed letter. She began with the opened missive.
Your Grace,
Lord Barham, First Lord of the Admiralty, has relayed to me your inquiries regarding two midshipmen aboard the HMSTriumphant.As captain of theTriumphant, I will make every attempt to provide you with the information you seek.
Midshipman Evander Lancaster, as you have been informed, succumbed to injuries sustained at Trafalgar and, as with most lost at that time, has been buried in a cemetery on Gibraltar alongside his fallen shipmates.
Midshipman Linus Lancaster—
Persephone held her breath. How long she had waited to have news of Linus. Her uncle’s inquiries had produced nothing. She’d alternately pictured him lost at sea and horribly injured or ill. There would be no more wondering now, and in a way that frightened her.
“Go on, Persephone.” Adam apparently noticed her hesitation. She would have expected impatience from him but heard none in his voice. “It is not bad news.”
Midshipman Linus Lancaster sustained only minor wounds in that battle and remains aboard theTriumphant. He will, of course, be granted shore leave when we return to home port. Our navigator has begun tutoring young Lancaster, as he has found the lad to have a natural aptitude for nautical mathematics.
The Admiralty has instructed me that should Midshipman Lancaster wish to leave the navy and return to his family, he will be permitted to do so and receive an honorable discharge from the Royal Navy. Should he remain, however, I am further informed, upon completing the required six years of service, a lieutenancy will be purchased for him.
I have enclosed a brief missive from Lancaster to his sister, the Duchess of Kielder.
I am pleased to have been of service in this way to Your Grace and remain,
Your humble servant, etc.
Captain Gregory Hattfield, HMSTriumphant
Persephone eagerly grabbed the letter sealed and lying on her lap. She studied the handwriting but didn’t find it familiar. Evander had always written in behalf of both brothers. Could this truly be a letter from her baby brother? The brother she’d feared for weeks was lost forever?
She pressed the letter to her heart, fighting back a fresh flood of tears. She hadn’t cried in days.
“I thought you said it was good news,” she heard Harry say under his breath to Adam.
“Oh, it is.” Persephone quickly answered for him. “I am only . . . oh, overwhelmed, I suppose. My brother Linus is alive and well, you see.”
Harry smiled at her. “That is good news.”
“I will probably weep like a baby when I read his letter,” Persephone said with an amazed laugh, the shock of actually holding a letter from Linus, almost as if he were back from the grave, had her wits at loose ends. Persephone stood, still clutching the letter for dear life. “If you will excuse me, I’d rather do so without witnesses.”
Harry and Adam rose as she did. Only then did Persephone realize that Captain Hattfield’s letter had fluttered to the ground when she’d risen. She scooped it from the floor. “I am sorry, Adam,” she said, unsure why she kept smiling like a ninny. “I’ve dropped your letter.”
He shook off her apology. “It is truly more yours than mine.”
