Mrs. Hoyt nodded approvingly. “Indeed, dear. If you want a lad to run your letters to the post office, you just let me know.”
“Thank you.” With a noncommittal dip of her head, Aileen walked on and up the stairs.
Her room was on the first floor. A pleasant corner chamber, it faced the street. Lace curtains screened the window, lending an aura of privacy. Before the window sat a plain ladies’ desk with a stool pushed beneath it. Aileen laid her packages and reticule on the desk, then stripped off her gloves before unbuttoning her lightweight jacket and shrugging it off. Even with the window open, there was little by way of a breeze to stir the air.
She pulled out the stool and sat at the desk. She opened her packages, set out the paper and ink, and fixed a new nib to the pen, then without allowing herself any further opportunity to procrastinate, she got down to the business of informing her parents where she was and explaining why she was there.
She’d been in London staying with an old friend, with no care beyond enjoying the delights of the Season before returning to her parents’ house in Bedfordshire, when she’d received a letter from her parents. They’d enclosed an official notification they’d received from Admiralty House, stating that their son Lieutenant William Hopkins had gone missing from Freetown, and that he was presumed to have gone absent without leave, possibly venturing into the jungle to seek his fortune.
Her parents had, unsurprisingly, been deeply distressed by that news. For her part, Aileen had considered it ludicrous. To suggest that any Hopkins would go absent without leave was ridiculous! For four generations, all the men in her family had been navy through and through. They were officers and gentlemen, and they viewed the responsibility of their rank as a sacred calling.
As the only girl in a family of four children, Aileen knew exactly how her three brothers viewed their service. To suggest that Will had thrown over his position to hie off on some giddy venture was pure nonsense.
But with both her older brothers at sea with their respective fleets—one in the South Atlantic, the other in the Mediterranean—as Aileen had been in London, her parents had asked if she could make inquiries with a view to discovering what was going on.
She’d duly presented herself at Admiralty House. Despite the family’s long connection with the navy, she’d got even less satisfaction there than she had at the naval office here.
Goaded and angry, and by then seriously worried about Will—he was younger than she, and she’d always felt protective of him and still did—she’d gone straight to the offices of the shipping companies and booked the first available passage to Freetown; as she’d brought ample funds with her to London, cost had not been a concern.
She’d arrived two days ago. She’d had plenty of time on the voyage to plan. Although her station and family connections meant that there was almost certain to be some family from whom she could claim support and a roof over her head while she searched for Will, she’d decided on a more circumspect approach. Hence, Mrs. Hoyt’s Boarding House, which was located on Tower Hill, the province of local British society, but below the rectory rather than above it. The houses of those moving in what passed for local society were located on the terraces higher up the hill.
Aileen had no time for social visits. Her sole purpose in being in the settlement was to find out what had happened to Will—and, if at all possible, rescue him.
At twenty-seven years of age and as naturally inclined to command as her brothers, she’d seen no reason not to come to Freetown and see what she could do. She was as capable as her brothers, and the other two were not in any position to help Will at that time.
There was also the underlying niggle of knowing that if she hadn’t been the only one of their brood available and, moreover, already in London, her parents would never have turned to her for help.
She was the girl in the family. No one expected her to contribute to anything in any way. She was supposed to be decorative rather than effective, and the only expectation anyone seemed able to credit her with was to make a comfortable marriage and keep house for some husband—most likely another naval officer.
In her heart, she knew that such a future was unlikely to ever come to pass. Aside from all else, her temperament and the odd itch beneath her skin—the same impulsive longing for adventure that had compelled her to set sail for Freetown—made her unsuitable for the position of meek and mild wife.
Even as she sent her pen scratching across the paper, she felt her lips quirk. Meek and mild was not an epithet anyone had ever applied to her.
After outlining her decision to come to Freetown and her intention to discover where Will had gone, she devoted several paragraphs to describing the settlement and where she was staying with a view to easing her parents’ minds, then briefly outlined what she’d ascertained from her first inquiries.
Yesterday—her first full day in the settlement—hoping to gain some casual insights before she called at the naval office, she’d sought out the usual taverns around the docks where naval officers were wont to congregate. There were always certain establishments that attracted their custom, and while in general she would never have ventured into a tavern alone, in those places that catered to naval officers, her family’s connection to the service—and the Hopkins name was well known throughout the navy—gave her a degree of protection.
She’d relied on that, gone in, and as she had hoped, she’d found several old sailors who knew her brother and had shared drinks and tall tales with him. She’d reasoned that if Will had been sent ashore on some mission that involved the settlement, then these were the men from whom he would have first sought information.
If Will had asked questions, she wanted to know what about.
And she’d been right. According to the old sea dogs, shortly before he’d disappeared, Will had asked questions that circled two subjects. First, an army officer called Dixon, who was stationed at Fort Thornton, which squatted at the top of Tower Hill. That was puzzling enough, but Will’s second area of interest had been some local priest who held services in the settlement. Apparently, Will had attended several services, possibly as many as three.
Of all her brothers, she knew Will the best, understood him with the greatest clarity. That he’d voluntarily attended a church service meant he’d gone for some reason that had nothing to do with religion.
She lifted her pen and read over all she’d written. After a moment’s deliberation, she decided against sharing her intention to rescue Will; there was no need to add to her parents’ anxieties. Instead, she concluded with a less stressful repetition of her intention to discover where Will had gone. She ended with a promise to be in touch in due course.
While she sanded the sheet, then sealed her missive, she debated her options.
She set aside the letter, then glanced at the small clock on the mantelpiece. Lips firming, she pushed back from the desk and walked to the low chest that served as a dressing table. In the mirror above it, she considered her reflection, then grimaced and started unpinning her hair.
As she did, she considered the image the clerks at the naval office had seen. A gently bred English rose with pale skin and roses in her cheeks. Her face was close to oval, her nose unremarkable, her forehead wide. Her bright hazel eyes were her best feature, large and fringed with long brown lashes and well set under finely arched brows; other ladies might have used them more, but she rarely thought of it. Her lips were well enough—pink and softly plump—but they were usually set in a firm if not uncompromising line above her distinctly determined
