Page 13 of Unforeseen Affairs
Indeed, both Lieutenant Pearce and Miss Pearce were in high spirits, glancing about the room in excitement. And despite his own misgivings about the event, Colin found himself swept up in their eagerness for something new and exotic.
It felt good to be happy, after the week he’d had. Colin had suffered an episode after the tense exchange with his father in the morning room, which had laid him low for the next two days. Now, as he had begun to feel steady again, he was desperate for a friendly face.
Like Alice’s.
He felt his cheeks warming, and he quickly looked away.
There had never been any use in thinking of Alice that way. Not while he’d been at sea, and not now, either. He knew she’d always be here. And she ought to know, as a captain’s daughter and a lieutenant’s sister, that Colin was in no place to offer for her.
Not yet, anyhow.
When the time came that he could finally put this whole business with the dizziness behind him, he’d be off again—with a ship of his own, at last. Perhaps in a few years’ time he might be in a position to think seriously of Alice as something more than his friend’s younger sister. Of course, he could well afford a wife now, with the prize money he had been awarded for his deeds, but it still felt incorrect somehow. Lieutenants didn’t marry.
Colin must go back to sea and earn promotion first. That was what was expected, what needed to be done.
His mother was chatting animatedly with Captain and Mrs. Pearce, as well as an unfamiliar pair of gentlemen. Colin’s own father, of course, was nowhere to be found. More than likely at the club, unwilling to entertain this sort of endeavor. Or to hear any mention of Bernard.
His mother caught his eye, and waved him over excitedly.
“Colin, Colin!” she called. “Come, allow me to introduce you—Mr. Bass is desperate to make your acquaintance!”
As he crossed the room, he realized that he hadn’t seen the Sedley girl, or her bizarrely dressed associate.Huh, he thought.One would think they’d be here by now. After all, it was they who were to run the entire affair.
The two strange gentlemen were quite opposites of one another—one was tall and broad-shouldered, with a neatly combed mustache and side whiskers, and uniquely garbed in a lavender neckcloth, while the other was stout and clean-shaven, with a sour expression to match his dark clothing.
“Mr. Bass, this is my son, Sir Colin Gearing,” his mother said, her cheeks rosy with pride. “The hero of theIapyx.”
“Ever so pleased, ever so!” the mustachioed man greeted him with a lilting accent. “Why, I must’ve read the account of your adventure several times over. Not one, but two vessels! My, my.” He smiled and inclined his head. “Thaddeus, if you would. Thaddeus Taggart Bass. Lovely to have a sitting with someone of your esteem, sir.”
Colin nodded, unsure of what to say to that.
“The strength of will that must have required!” Mr. Bass waxed on, becoming more animated with each breath. “The sheer masculine determination, the character necessary for such an act! And here you are, so calm and steady. I don’t know how I’d ever manage such a thing, with all those sailors rushingabout, manning the cannons, with watery death lapping at our heels at every turn!”
“I acted only as any lieutenant would, I assure you,” Colin said awkwardly.
He scanned the room, searching for Beaky.Hewould certainly attest to that, were he party to this conversation.
“And humble as well,” Mr. Bass said. “The rarest of all virtues, indeed.”
Colin glanced back at Mr. Bass with a half-smile. Something about his manner felt smarmy.
“Oh,tch,” his mother cut in with a laugh. “Mr. Bass is quite humble as well, for he hasn’t spoken a word of his own accomplishments, which are assuredly vast.”
Mr. Bass flashed a wide, disarming grin in response.
“And this,” his mother said with a gesture to the other, more dour gentleman, “is Mr. Trenwith, his companion—”
“Assistant,” Mr. Bass cut in, with a glance at Mr. Trenwith. “He’ll be assisting me—well, all of us, really—tonight as we reach out into the void to commune with the spirits.”
Mr. Trenwith, still scowling, did not reply.
“I suppose you ought to fetch the bag, Trenwith,” Mr. Bass directed.
Mr. Trenwith nodded and went off.
“Our materials for the evening,” Mr. Bass said. “Nothing exciting, I assure you, just small necessities. A cloth for the table, that sort of thing.” He waved a dismissive hand.
Mrs. Gearing’s face was so full of hope it nearly broke Colin’s heart in two. “As I said, Mr. Bass is far too humble himself. Do you not recognize him?” She looked at Colin expectantly.
