Page 24 of Scandalous

“I promise not to seize any guns or to accost Captain Bouchard, Mr. Daniels.” She smiled to show him she took no offense.

He gave her a boyish grin. “Very good, miss. I’ll be back in a jiffy,” he said.

Sarah looked down at her clothing as she listened to the murmur of voices beyond the door. She was wearing the slippers Captain Bouchard had given her, but otherwise was dressed in Graaf’s clothing. Well, her options for clothing were rather limited right now. She could hardly wear the satin robe or either of the other scandalous gowns.

The door opened, interrupting her thoughts. “He’ll see you now. I’ll wait for you out here, Miss Fisher.”

Graaf’s cabin was much like Sarah’s, except for a glass-fronted cabinet that was filled with simple medical supplies. He began to stand, and she held up a hand.

“Please, you need to be resting.” Sarah took the only chair in the room. “You are looking much better, Captain.” That was not a lie. He was pale, but no longer the shade of yellow-gray he’d been a mere day before.

“I feel much better, although not as a result of any medicine, but rather because of the weight that has been lifted from my conscience. I must thank you for that. If you hadn’t come along, most likely I would have either died or wished that I had. I have no excuse for what I did to you and the people of your village.” His was a pale pink when he finished.

Sarah was nonplussed by his apology. She suddenly realized it had been easier to despise him than it was to forgive him. The thought shamed her. She’d been preaching forgiveness and mercy to Captain Bouchard and not practicing it herself. She should start forgiving Graaf now, even though she had little hope of succeeding.

“Can you forgive me for lying to you about your illness?”

He gave a low chuckle that turned into a cough. When he was able to speak, he was smiling. “I’d like to think I would not have been so credulous had I not been so ill. Thank you for helping yesterday. You would make an excellent captain, Miss Fisher, much better than I could ever be.” He no longer looked so amused. Sarah thought he was imagining his father’s reaction to the news of his son’s capture and the loss of a ship.

“I’m sorry for what you will have to undergo, but I don’t believe you are the type of person who could have sold other human beings and lived comfortably with yourself afterward. I know you will face reprisals, but it is better for everyone this way.”

He grimaced. “Nobody should be comfortable with such a thing. Unfortunately, we all tell ourselves the lies we need to hear. You are an exception, Miss Fisher. You had the courage of your convictions even when you could have saved yourself and left everyone else to fend for them-sleves.”

Sarah brushed away his praise. “Let us talk of something else, Captain Graaf. Although I gave your sickness a spurious name, it is an illness I have seen many times. There is usually very little anyone can do, but if a person can make it through the fever stage, they recover. You are no longer feverish?”

“Bouchard’s man assured me I am within a normal range. I think I may have suffered the worst of the sickness before we left Ouidah. I was fortunate, I suppose, that we were at anchor and my lack of wits was less obvious to my crew.”

“You are fortunate you did not die. Every year such sicknesses carry away dozens in my village.”

His enormous blue eyes were less watery, although the white portion was still discolored. “I never learned how you came to be in such a place. Are you from the British fort? I had thought the fort in Ouidah abandoned?”

“My village was in the jungle a few days from Ouidah. My father was a doctor, and my parents were missionaries. I was born in Africa. I am English, but African, too.”

“Where are your parents? How is it that you were taken with the, er, other captives?” he asked, carefully avoiding the word “slave.”

“My parents died two years ago.”

“Two years? How have you survived?”

She was amused by his shocked expression. “I continued to live as I always did. The people in my village are the only people I have ever known. They fed me and, in exchange, I tended to their illnesses. First I was the helper of my father and the village healer; later I was the only healer. I was content.”

Graaf shook his head, a look of wonder on his face. Again Sarah changed the subject, not interested in trying to make him understand her life.

“And you, Captain, what were you doing before your father pressed you into his business?”

“I was in Leiden, at the university.”

“You must be very clever. Tell me, what did you study?”

“Mathematics. My father told me on my last visit home that he needed me to join my two elder brothers in our family business, shipping. When father began to suffer difficulties, he refused to seek help from his family, no matter that they are very wealthy.” Two spots of color appeared on his pale cheeks. “Now he will have to approach my uncles for aid, and they will help him because they could not bear the scandal of the Graaf name being associated with bankruptcy.”

“What do you think will happen in Freetown?”

“The British will seize my ship and compensate Bouchard for his efforts. They will most likely hang those involved in the mutiny. As for me?” He shrugged. “Perhaps they will transport me for breaking the law. But what about you? Will you return to your village?”

“Captain Bouchard made the point—a good one, I daresay—that the captives would be in danger of recapture if they went back. He believes they will be safer in Freetown. I don’t like it, but I think he is probably correct.”

“So you will stay in Freetown?”