Page 57 of Lady Sophia's Lover
Huddling in the corner of the seat, Sophia sent him a cold glare. “Explain, then. And afterward you will return me safely to Bow Street.”
Gentry’s white teeth gleamed as he appeared both amused and admiring of her fearlessness. “Agreed,” he said quietly. “Very well. What I wish to talk about are the last days of John Sydney.”
“You knew my brother?” Sophia asked warily.
He nodded. “I was on the prison hulk where he died.”
“Why should I believe that?”
“What reason would I have to lie about it?” Something in his eyes compelled her to accept his claim. The words plucked painfully at the inner wound that John’s death had left. No one had ever told her what her beloved younger brother had suffered on the prison hulk, or how he had died. She had always longed to know, but now that the information seemed to be forthcoming, she was filled with dread.
“Go on,” she said hoarsely.
Gentry spoke slowly, allowing her time to digest the information. “We were on theScarborough, anchored on the Thames. Six hundred convicts were housed below the decks, some in iron cells, some shackled to iron shafts embedded in oak planks. Most of us were fitted with a ball and chain around one leg. Thieves, murderers, pickpockets—no matter how great or small the crime, we were all subjected to the same treatment. The younger boys, such as John and myself, got the worst of it.”
“In what way?” Sophia brought herself to ask.
“We were chained beside men who had been deprived of…” He paused, apparently searching for a proper word that she would understand. “Men who hadn’t ‘known’ a woman in a long time. Do you understand what I mean?”
She nodded cautiously.
“When a man is brought to that state, he is willing to do things that he would not ordinarily do. Such as attack more vulnerable creatures than he…and subject them to…” He paused, his mouth twisting. His gaze became very distant, as if he were looking through a window at some unpleasant sight. He seemed removed from the memories, detached and somewhat contemplative. “Unspeakable things,” he murmured.
Sophia was silent with anguished horror, while one part of her mind summoned the question…why would Nick Gentry confess something so private and agonizing to a woman he didn’t know?
He continued, his voice low and matter-of-fact. “The prisoners were starved, filthy, choking on the foul air, riddled with prison fever. They kept us all together—the living, the dying, the dead. Every morning the bodies of those who hadn’t survived the night were taken to the top deck, carried ashore, and buried.”
“Tell me about my brother,” Sophia said, fighting to keep her voice from trembling.
Gentry’s gaze met hers, and she was struck by how vibrant and hopelessly blue his eyes were. “John became friends with a boy who was nearly his own age. They tried to protect each other, helped each other when possible, and talked of the day when they would be released. Although it was selfish, John dreaded the day that the boy would be released. That day was not long in coming. And when his friend was set free, John knew he would be alone again.”
Pausing, he raked a hand through his thick brown hair, disheveling the gleaming locks. It seemed increasingly difficult for him to speak. “As fate would have it, a fortnight before John’s friend was to be released, there was an outbreak of cholera on the ship. John’s friend took ill, and despite his efforts to care for him, the boy died. Which left John in a rather interesting position. He reasoned that since his friend was already dead, there was no harm in taking his place.”
Sophia was utterly bewildered. “What?” she asked faintly.
He did not look at her. “If John assumed the boy’s identity, he would gain release in a matter of days, rather than staying another year on the prison hulk. And there was no doubt that John would not have lasted that long. So in the night, he switched clothes with the boy’s corpse, and when morning came, he volunteered the body as belonging to John Sydney.”
The carriage rolled to a halt, and the putrid stench of Fleet Ditch began to seep inside. Sophia’s heart beat with terrible force, seeming to drive the air from her lungs. “But that doesn’t make sense,” she said woodenly. “If your story is true, then—” She broke off suddenly, aware of an high-pitched buzzing in her ears.
As Gentry stared at her, the coldness seemed to leave his face, and his chin shook as if he were struggling to master overpowering emotions. He set his jaw and forced out more quiet words. “The name of the dead boy was Nick Gentry.”
Suddenly Sophia burst into violent tears. “No,” she sobbed. “It’s not true. Why are you doing this to me? Take me back to Bow Street!”
Through the hot, watery blur, she saw his face draw closer. “Don’t you know me, Sophia?” came his anguished whisper. He shocked her by sinking to the floor and clutching handfuls of her skirts, his dark head buried against her knees.
She was dumbstruck as she stared at the hands tangled in her skirts. A harsh sob lodged in her throat as she touched the back of his left hand. There was a small, star-shaped scar in the center. It was the same scar that John had gotten in childhood, when he had carelessly brushed it against a fireplace iron still hot from the coals. Tears continued to slip down her cheeks, and she covered the mark with her own hand.
His head lifted, and he stared at her with eyes that she now recognized were exactly like her own. “Please,” he whispered.
“It’s all right,” she said unsteadily. “I believe you, John. I do know you. I should have seen it at once, but you are much changed.”
He responded with a sorrowful growl, struggling to contain his feelings.
Sophia felt her own face contort with a confounding mixture of joy and wretchedness. “Why didn’t you come to me years ago? I’ve been alone for so long. Why have you stayed away and let me grieve for you?”
He scrubbed the sleeve of his coat over his eyes and let out a shuddering breath. “We’ll talk inside.”
The footman opened the carriage door, and Gentry—John—swung down easily and reached for Sophia. She put her hands on his shoulders, felt him grasp her waist, and he lowered her with great care to the ground. However, her knees quivered like jelly, and she was surprised when her legs began to collapse.
