Page 21 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
The captain shook his head.“I think that what you wish is what everyone, man or woman, wants. Few have the temerity to list it.My congratulations.”
“But... why did he leave like that?”she asked, bewildered.
The captain sighed and filled her glass again, this time to the top. He pushed aside his own wineglass and pulled forward a tumbler, which soon was brimming withMadeira.“He’llhave to tellyou himself, Lady Amber. I don’t uncloak others’intimacies. God knows, I can’t understand my own.”
It was a quixotic comment,and she knew better than to follow up on it. Hannah sipped herMadeira, the pleasure gone out of the drink. The captain downed his tumbler ofMadeiraand tipped the bottle toward his glass again. He lookedat her,his eyes faint with amusement.
“You probably have something on your list about men whodrinktoomuch.”
“Well, no, actually,”she said,“but I could certainly add a rider.”
He did not pour the wine, but set the bottle upright and pushed it away, clearing a space on the table in front of them.“I really had another reason for asking you here, beyondtable talk and cornering you with my limp wit.”
She watched him, her eyes wary.
“And don’t look like that!”he protested, throwing up both hands.“I have no designs on your person! What I need is some help.”
“Ask away then,”she replied, trying and failing to keep the tremulous relief from her voice.
He noticed it anyway, and touched her hand.“Lady Amber, you needn’t worry about preserving your virtue on this ship, not while I command. I know this is a difficult situation for you,but we will notmakeit worse. Please believe me.”
“I do now,”she replied softly.
“It is this, then. I am shorthanded since my last encounter with the French. I would like to use my midshipmen for other purposes, but I must maintain a watch in the lookout. Can you do that for us?”
She considered his request.
“I didn’t think of it until this morning’s little diversion in the rigging. If you could take one watch a day,perhaps even two, that would help me.”
Hannah nodded.“I would be glad to.”She hesitated then.“There is one condition,sir.”
“Fire away.”
“I will not call down to tell you I have spotted American vessels,”she said.“But I canlook for the French.”
He took her hand again to shake it.“Very well, Lady Amber, very well. Your terms are not onerous, and I do respect your Federalist tendencies. Tomorrow then, the forenoon watch? I know you will miss the oakum,but after all,Englandis at war. You may use my glass.”
“I shall do it,sir.”
Chapter Seven
She slept well that night, full of plum duff and too much poached Madeira, eaten off Wedgwood and drunk from Waterford crystal. Thehammockrocked her to sleep, and she succumbed to a pleasant dream that may have included a curly-headed man, but which, upon awakening, she could not quite recall.
Hannah put her hands behind her head and wriggled more comfortably in the captain’s nightshirt. I should be practically bleeding with homesickness, and yet I am not. She considered the matter, staring at the deck overhead. My life has been so circumscribed, she thought. Everything I have done, has been at the instigation of others. Butnow...I do not know what will happen.
The knowledge did not frighten her, and she wondered why, but only for a moment. It is that I trust Captain Sir Daniel Spark, she thought. He is a hard man in a hard service,but he is fair. He runs an orderly ship. She turned onto her side, and stared down at the cannon. I wonder if he can fight? She swallowed and felt the hair on her neck raise. More to the point, can I?
“Well, Hannah Whittier, thee can climb a rigging,”she told herself as she carefully stepped onto the gun and then the deck below.“Such knowledge can only be expanded.”
She dressed quickly and opened the door. The Marine clicked his heels and stood at attention, then held out a smallparcel for her.“From Trist, ma’am,”he said.
She took the package and went back into her cabin. She read the note:“For a change from the vanilla extract, Lady Amber. Yrs, Spark,”and opened the package. Chortling with pleasure, she took out a bottle of extract of almond. She sniffed its sharp scent anddabbeda bit on her neck.
Cookie had the green coffee beans ready for her to roast, and she made short work of her morningritual, humming to herself. Cookie sniffed the air suspiciously, then looked into his pantry, when he thought her attention was occupied elsewhere. Hannah smiled to herself as he located his own almond extract, and could make no complaint, or demand an extra peeling of potatoes.
The air was brisk with the feeling of a more northerly latitude as she came on deck with the captain’s coffee. Hestoodas usual on thequarterdeck, his glasstrained on the distant horizon. He wore the heavy woolen boat cloak that swept to his ankles,pulled back to reveal his impeccable whites. He turned around at her approach and nodded a greeting.
She set the mug on the deck by the gangway as usual, and as usual, he crossed to the rail and squatted gracefully beside her as she sat on the rung of the ladder. She watched as he took a sip and pronounced it successful.
