The French Admiral

Their hostess appeared at that moment, an older woman crowned by a pale blue wig adorned with false flowers and effigies of songbirds, her face boldly painted white, as was fashionable in years past. One cheek sported a large beauty mark, and her lips glistened with red paste. She was dressed in a morning gown in contrast to the care with which she had attended her toilet.

'Young genl'men, ah swear y'all took me unawares, callin' so early,' she gushed, sweeping into the room in grand, fluttery style. 'How good o' y'all ta think o' mah humble li'l establissement.'

'You are Lady Jane?' Alan asked, bending deep in a bow before taking her hand and bestowing a kiss. 'A young man named Mayhew made us aware of your services as we were dining.'

'Such a darlin' boy, as are y'all, o' course,' she said in reply. 'Do be seated now an' take yore ease. Mose shall fetch us some… oh, here he is as ah speak. Do have some wine with me, though 'tis early in the day for mah usual practice.'

The servant had donned a red coat tailored from some cast-off army uniform but now sewn into civilian splendor with many brass buttons and gilt appliques suitable for livery. He set down a tarnished silver tray on the table between them and uncorked a bottle of hock, which he poured into three glasses that at least looked reasonably clean.

'An' y'all're from the harbor garrison, mah dears?' she asked.

'Off a frigate, ma'am,' David answered, a bit shy still.

'An' just in from a deprivin' spell o' sea duty.' She smiled.

'Aye, ma'am,' Alan said, sipping his wine. It wasn't what he'd put on his own table, a little acrid on the tongue, but still potable. Seeing that David was shy, he led off by introducing themselves, told the mistress that it was David's birthday. 'So you see the reason for our visit, Lady Jane. Mother Abbess, we come for sport.'

'An' how old would ya be on this August day, David Avery?' Lady Jane asked, making a jape as to the date and the month.

'Seventeen, ma'am,' David said.

'La, ta be that young again,' Lady Jane said. 'Ah b'lieve ah have just the girl for you. Of a good family from up-country, cruelly orphaned bah Rebels. She is new ta our callin', so ya will be gentle with her, ah trust, young sir?'

'Oh, indeed, ma'am,' David gulped.

'An' fer you, Mister Lewrie?' the abbess asked. 'What sort o' girl excites yer humors? Or shall ah just ask mah ladies ta come down an' join us so you can make yer selection? Ah only have the five at present, but ah kin assure you they are all above average in comeliness, an' none so jaded nor lowbred as ta displease the most discernin' taste.'

'Aye, fetch 'em down,' Alan said, shifting on the settee.

Lady Jane tinkled a bell on the table and, minutes later, a bevy of young women entered the room in morning gowns thin enough to exhibit charms that could be theirs for a fee. David was paired with a young girl named Delia, a petite blonde who indeed seemed a homeless waif—fortunately a most womanly young waif. They sat down together and Mose fetched more glasses. Alan looked over the rest of the party and settled on a brunette with a sleepily sultry expression and long, slim limbs.

'Ah urge y'all ta linger over yore pleasures,' Lady Jane said as the rejected girls went back to their rooms. 'We us'lly ask a guinea for mah ladies, but… since this is such a slow day for trade, and David's birthday, let us say… ten shillings each? Plus whatever gratitude ya may wish't'extend t'mah darlin's here?'

'And the wine?' Alan asked, having been caught by hidden additions to the tariff in his past experience with knocking shops in London.

'Say a bottle each, another two shillin's, mah dears.'

'My treat,' Alan said, laying out two crown pieces on the table.

'Take joy, mah dears,' Lady Jane said, sweeping up the money and rising. 'Ah shall have Mose fetch yore wines. If there is anythin' else y'all require, ya have but ta ring.'

Alan was led to a small bedroom over the house's side porch that had a balcony of its own. The windows were open for a breeze and the gauzy drapes stirred in a soft river wind. Once in the room he shucked his coat and removed his neckcloth. His girl, named Bess, came to him and kissed him gently, playing the innocent at first, but warmed up quickly when he embraced her and began to fondle her firm buttocks and hips. The servant arrived with a bottle and two glasses, interrupting them. Alan almost kicked him out the door and shut it.

Bess poured them each a glass of hock, then arranged herself on the narrow bed, parting her morning gown to reveal splendid legs.

'Ya been long in the King's Navy?' she asked as he undressed.

'Too damned long,' he laughed, removing his waistcoat. 'You been long with this Lady Jane?'

'Too damn' long,' the girl smiled back with honest amusement.

'I'm off a frigate,' he told her as he kicked off his shoes and began to undo his breeches. 'The Desperate, twenty guns, just put into port this morning,' he went on, intent on his prize lolling on the sheets. Once in his birthday suit, he slipped into bed beside her and they embraced once more, and she began to moan expertly at his touches, shamming high passion at once, 'Oh, mah chuck, oh, ya make me tangle all over.'

'Here, how long do we have?' Alan asked.

'This ain't no hop-about place,' Bess said throatily as he kissed her shoulders and neck. 'No rush, ah reckon. What tahm hit be?'

'Just after one,' Alan said. 'We have to leave by five.'

'Well, we kin have hours t'gether, then,' she groaned, pawing at him as though she was trying to save herself from drowning. 'Mos' men don't come hyuh 'til way after dark, hit bein' so hot an' all.'

'Then let's not play as if we're on the clock,' Alan said, undoing the last lacings to her bodice. 'Let's spend our hours together trying to please each other, instead of all this sham.'

Bess smiled up at him, broke off her acting and gave him a hug which almost resembled fondness. She rolled over to fetch their wine.

'Ah thank ahm gonna lahk ya, Alan,' she said. 'Hyuh, have a drank. Le's do take ouh tahm. Hit happens sa seldom.'

After that, Bess was pleasantly exuberant in bed, eschewing the normal bawd's loud performance that could not be credited. She was only seventeen, she told him as they fondled and nestled in postcoital ease, once a virgin in the Piedmont but ruined by soldiers from both sides in the partisan fighting, left behind when her last lover marched off to Wilmington. Whether true or not, Alan found it a better-than-average whore's tale.

Other than whoring, she had no trade skills and no regard for the usual servant's or washerwoman's wages. The work was easy, the money she got to keep was good, and Lady Jane took care of all her needs. She did not cry penury or guilt like most of the sorrowful stories Alan had heard from rented quim, and seemed content and blase with the life, as long as her beauty and health lasted.

'And what will you do when you're older?' Alan asked her as he stretched naked beside her after another bout.

'Take me passage ta London an' open a house o' my own, ah reckon,' she said with a smirk. 'Bigges' city ah ever seed was Chawlst'n, but ah'd admire ta see London.'

Alan described his former life and all the pleasures of the world's greatest city, which delighted her. In the process he touched on why he had been banished to the Navy, and under further careful coaching he bragged on what he had seen and done in the Indies.

'But whut brought ya hyuh ta the Caralinas?' she prodded.

'Going north to New York,' Alan said without thinking. 'There is a French fleet on the loose under an Admiral de Grasse. We took a Frog merchantman two weeks ago and found out what they're up to in the Chesapeake or the Delaware, and we're going to find them and stop them. It was me that found the letters from de Grasse to Rochambeau and Washington.'

'Jus' one li'l frigate's gonna stop 'em?' she teased fetchingly.

'Whole damn' Leeward Islands fleet,' Alan boasted. 'Ships up from Saint Lucia, too. Fourteen sail of the line. Would have been more, but Rodney took his treasure fleet home and took three ships with him. It's going to be one