Page 18 of The Captain of Betrayal
"No."
"Accidentally skin her cat?"
"Good God, no!" James looked around the room in shock, feeling genuine pity for the women-folk of St Jarvis if these were the type of acts their men considered "transgressions". "It was nothing illegal, nothing to do with sisters or cats, it was..."
The customers of The Fisherman's Friend looked at him expectantly.
"It was a betrayal of our friendship," he elaborated, not wishing to reveal any more to the men, who were as hungry for gossip as any member of the ton. "I broke her trust in me."
"Aye," Jack looked glum, "That's a hard one to rectify. Have you apologised to her?"
"Yes, but she won't listen. Polly can be quite stubborn."
"Polly Jenkins?" Jack looked at him queerly, the tips of his ears red.
"Yes," James nodded, wondering what had the man so hot under the collar. "We were friends as children--closer than that actually."
"Well, if she won't forgive you, there's good reason." Jack Lawless snapped, turning his back on James to angrily polish a glass with a rag. "Best plan would be to forget all about it and up and leave St Jarvis."
"What?" James looked in confusion at the man who had, just moments ago, been his ally. The other customers of the inn guffawed with laughter, both at the look of confusion on James' face, and the mask of dark anger on Jack's.
"Your friend there thinks that he and Polly are fated," the fisherman with the bushy beard called to James. "He believes 'is own hype--thinks that young Miss Jenkins will fall for him, even though 'es old enough to be her grandfather."
"Hardly her grandfather," Jack interjected, his lined face puce with embarrassment. "Her uncle maybe..."
"Aye, her great-uncle," the bearded fisherman agreed with a laugh.
To Mr Lawless' credit, he gave James an apologetic look.
"It's just I am rather fond of Miss Jenkins," he said, "And her sister as well."
"What do you know of Emily?" James asked eagerly. When he had left Newcastle, Emily had been a silent child, who had refused to speak. After meeting her today, and after the initial shock at realising she had recognised him, James had a slight suspicion that Emily was a little different.
"A lovely young woman, in her own right," Mr Lawless professed, taking James' tankard and filling it to the brim once again. "Some people might say that she's a few shillings short of a pound--but I don't stand for talk like that in my pub."
"Of course," James agreed, a feeling of protectiveness for the petite, young woman piercing his heart. At that moment he felt that if anyone tried to disparage Emily before him, that he would run that man through with a sword. His mind drifted to how life must have been for Polly, having to provide not only for herself, but for her sister too. She had done well, despite the lot that life had handed her, though he had no doubt that over the years she had struggled, both emotionally and financially. A wave of guilt, different to the usual guilt he felt when he thought of Polly, washed over him. Before, he had always thought of his act as having been one moment of hurt, but now he saw that the pain he had caused had echoed across the years. If he had not disowned Polly that day, and had returned to her in Newcastle, her life would have been far easier. He would have provided an income and security for the two Jenkins sisters, and their lives--and his--would have taken an easier path.
He could not keep dwelling on the past, however, for it was the present where he needed to do the most work.
"If I could just get her to talk with me," he said aloud, more to himself than to the others, though his fellow drinkers once more took up his cause.
"Mayhap, a bit of an abduction is in order," said the grisly fellow in the corner, the one who had made the cat comment.
"I did say nothing illegal," James replied, wondering how on earth any females still resided in the village, given the male St Jarvians' propensity toward mayhem.
"Nothing illegal about an abduction, as long as you let the lass go in the end," said the bearded fisherman, his eyes twinkling. "And don't try any funny stuff, once you have her alone, or you'll soon find yourself taking a long march across a short cliff."
"Young Squireens have been abducting heiresses for years," Jack added with a wink.
"In Ireland, perhaps," James replied, wondering if he were in his cups, for their plan was starting to sound appealing despite his reservations. "And those men were hung for abducting the Kennedy sisters."
"Hush now, no one's suggesting you hold the girl hostage until she agrees to wed you," Mr Lawless said, looking offended at James' thinking. "Just get her into a carriage, take her somewhere nice, and then you'll have your opportunity to apologise."
It was an absurd idea. Completely ridiculous and morally dubious.
"Aye," James finished off the last of the ale in his glass, and set the tankard down on the bar with a bang. "Alright lads, tell me how to set up an abduction, Cornish style."
CHAPTER NINE
