The French Admiral

Treghues led the women aft toward the entrance to their cabins, and Alan was in their way. He looked at Caroline and tried to smile politely, but could not find it in him to be that charitable; he doffed his hat in a civil gesture, then turned away to his duties once more and missed the sudden frown that knit Caroline's brows together, hearing only Treghues inviting them to dine with him and share a captain's largesse.

There was a full moon that night that rode through a cold and clear sky. The stars stood out like candle flames, and the sea shone a lambent silver in the moon trough, each wave-top to either side to moonward flecked with sparkling glints. At the cast of the log, Alan found that Desperate was sailing at a fair five and a half knots even with three reefs in courses and tops'ls so that the slower and shorter merchantmen could keep up with her. He was aft, using the night glass to study their charges and count them, when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned to see Caroline Chiswick pacing the deck, and he stiffened as much as if Commander Treghues had caught him napping. He could see in the faint light of the taffrail lanterns that she wore her hooded traveling cloak and muff.

'Good evening, Mister Lewrie,' she said, hesitant about approaching him.

'Good evening, Mistress Chiswick,' he replied civilly.

'I could not sleep,' she said. 'All the creaking and groaning the ship makes. And footsteps overhead constantly.'

'I shall order the quarterdeck people to walk softer,' Alan said.

Two bells had already pealed from the fo'c's'le belfry, so it was after one in the morning, he knew. An odd hour for a girl to be up and about, especially without her momma or servant as chaperone. The lack of supervision intrigued him.

'Do not do anything on my account, sir,' Caroline said, stepping to the rail for a secure hold on the canted deck. 'You must not make any changes in routine for our sakes, I pray.'

'Do your parents rest well, miss?' Alan asked.

'They sleep soundly, thank you for asking, Mister Lewrie,' she replied. 'Um, this afternoon, Mister Lewrie, did I do something to disturb you?'

'I cannot think of anything, Mistress Chiswick.' Alan frowned as though sifting his memory.

'When we went below, you answered my smile with such a look of complete… disinterest… that I feared I had inadvertently angered you in some way,' she said with a haste that was out of character for the studied girl Alan had learned she was in their short acquaintance.

'I was on watch, after all.' Alan shrugged in dismissal. 'Our sailing master had already cautioned me to be attentive to my duties, and Captain Treghues was present as well. He's the one made me an acting mate, and I am still on sufferance to keep the rating.'

'I see,' she said, a slight line still creasing her forehead. 'And you can do nothing to hurt your career in the Navy. You must love it, then, in spite of what you said before dinner.'

'Actually, I detest it like the Plague,' Alan confessed, screwing his mouth into a wry grin. 'It was not my idea to enter the Navy, but I have become competent at this life, and it's most likely the only career I shall have.'

'I had not gained that impression,' she said. 'Not the competent part, I assure you. You seemed most competent, in all things, when we sailed today. And competent at organizing our entrance into this ship, in everything. Surely, it's not that awful for you, is it?'

'I have come to accept it,' Alan replied stiffly.

'I am sorry, I did not know that they could press-gang people as midshipmen,' she said, attempting a smile as wry as his. 'I had heard the food was bad and all, but… well, I'll not pry into a private concern of yours if it is bothersome to you to speak of it.'

'I suppose you could call it press-ganged,' Alan told her. 'My family… look, I'm a second son, not in line to inherit, and there wasn't much to go around even then, not enough to keep me as a gentleman at home in London. And I was only an adopted son at that, without the blessing of the family name.'

That sounds innocent enough, he decided. If she knew my real background, she'd go screaming for the ladders.

'And what did your father do?'

'Not much of anything.' Alan grimaced. 'He was knighted for something in the last war on Gibraltar—Sir Hugo St. George Willoughby. We lived in St. James, at the mercy of his creditors, most of the time. Had land and rents in Kent, nothing big, though, far as I know.'

'But the Navy is a respectable career for a gentleman,' she pressed, shifting a half step towards him. 'Your captain was kindly disposed to you when we asked of you at supper. He said you were, how did he say it… shaping quite well as an officer-to-be.'

'He did?' Alan marveled. Which only goes to prove that he's as barking mad as a pack of wolves, he thought.

'Oh, yes, he did. Though I am afraid he seemed a little put out that you were such a prominent topic,' she whispered hesitantly.

'Oh?' Alan marveled some more, quite happy to hear that Treghues had been put out, and that he had been talked of.

'He said you came aboard after you had fought a duel for a girl's honor, the daughter of an admiral?' Her voice had a shiver of dread.

'The admiral's niece,' Alan said, preening a little. 'He has not seemed enamored of me, for that and a few other reasons.'

'Did you hurt your foe?'

'I killed him,' Alan informed her. 'That's where I got this,' he went on, lightly touching his left cheek which still bore the faint horizontal scar that Lieutenant Wyndham of the Twelfth Foot had administered.

'Because he ruined your beauty?' Caroline chuckled waggishly.

'No, that was a by-blow,' Alan said, unable to credit a woman who could jape about something like that. 'Excuse me, but I must return to the helmsmen. I have spent too long aft.'

'Have I angered you again?' she asked.

'No, you haven't,' Alan said. 'And if you can stand the wind, I would be delighted to converse with you further, but I cannot skylark back here. I've the ship to run, and don't want the captain to catch me.'

'Then I would be delighted to join you,' she said, slipping her arm between his for support as they walked forward. 'Your captain is a bit stiff, isn't he?'

'Absolutely rigid,' Alan snickered softly, leaning his head near her so the hands would not hear him make complaint of a captain.

'Dining with him was like having a traveling evangel making free with your hospitality when he's out riding the circuit in the backcountry,' Caroline whispered. 'I was quite relieved when we retired.'

'I am sorry you had such a poor time.'

'Are you?' she wondered aloud, one eyebrow lifted.

'Yes, for your sake,' Alan rejoined.

'Ah, now I see why you treated me so coldly,' she said, dragging him to a stop before they reached the wheel.

'Nothing of the kind,' he assured her, damning himself for looking so obvious. 'It was fear of seeming slack on watch.'

'From someone my brothers said fears nothing?' she teased. 'From what little I know of you, Mister Lewrie, I could not imagine there is anything in this life you fear.'

'I hide it damn well, just like everyone else does.'

'Such language in the presence of an impressionable young lady!' she gasped in mock distress. 'Where will it all end? Tsk, tsk.'

'My ar…'he began to say, but stopped himself before he could utter his favorite expression. Even joshing with a girl had its limits, especially if he truly nettled her and it was reported.

'My arse on a bandbox?' She blushed, as though she had stepped over her own line and was abashed at her own daring. 'Remember, Mister Lewrie, I have two rowdy brothers and have lived in the country around ordinary yeomen farmers all of my life. Could I have been allowed to speak freely when vexed, I might use the phrase myself, instead of just thinking it. I hope I have not shocked you, instead.'