another look, Oliver handed back the miniature.
“Pretty, isn’t she?”
More than pretty, Oliver thought.
“She’s old now. Twenty-one. This was painted when she was sixteen.” Ratliffe sighed heavily, almost theatrically, to Oliver’s ears. “She lives in Plymouth in a rundown inn owned by her grandmother, Nancy Massie, a regular shrew. Twenty-two years ago, I was in Plymouth. I made the mistake of dallying with the shrew’s daughter. Eleanor is the result.”
Oliver couldn’t think of anything to say. “So you fathered a bastard?” hardly seemed appropriate, and to offer his condolences seemed even less palatable. He knew the viscount would continue, however.
“I did the right thing by Eleanor,” Lord Ratliffe said, putting down the miniature. “As soon as she was five, I had her sent to a female academy in Bath, where she was raised and educated.”
Oliver hoped he covered up his surprise. The country must be full of by-blows, and his superficial acquaintance with the viscount gave him no inkling Lord Ratliffe was one to own up to his responsibility. Imagine, he thought, bracing himself for whatever favor Lord Ratliffe had in mind.
Ratliffe threw up his hands. “When the child was sixteen, she suddenly bolted from Miss Pym’s school and returned to Plymouth! I had made her an excellent offer regarding her future, and she thanked me by leaving my care and bolting to that wretched seaport!” He glanced at Oliver. “You’re a man of the world. You know what Plymouth is like. Imagine my distress.”
Oliver could, even as he could also feel his suspicion growing. Although he had only been a post captain for two years, he had commanded men for many more. Something in Ratliffe’s tone did not ring true.
“Would you do me the favor of staying at the Mulberry Inn—that’s the name of it—during your time in Plymouth? Look things over and let me know how things are with Eleanor.” He leaned closer. “I am certain a few days would suffice to get the drift of matters. I could not bear it if Eleanor has fallen on hard times.”
“I usually stay at the Drake, my Lord,” Oliver temporized. “My sea chest is there already.”
Ratliffe sighed again, which only irritated Oliver. He was ready to say no, when the viscount shifted his position, and there was Eleanor Massie smiling up at him from the desk. Captivated in spite of himself, he wondered how an artist could capture such youthful promise in so small a space. A moment earlier, he might have just felt old. Now he felt something close to joy. For all he knew, the earth’s axis had suddenly shifted under Admiralty House. Was the Astronomer Royal aware?
What harm would it do to stay a week at the Mulberry? He could look over the situation, make sure the shrew wasn’t beating her granddaughter twice a day before breakfast, pen a report to the viscount and retreat to the Drake.
“I’ll do it, my lord,” Oliver said.
The viscount looked for a moment as if he were going to take Oliver by the hand, but he refrained. “Thank you, Captain Worthy. You’d probably understand my concern better if you had a daughter.”
That will never happen, Oliver thought, as he returned his attention to the November scenery outside the post chaise window. Only a crazy woman would marry a captain on the blockade. And only a crazier captain would ever offer.
He closed his eyes after Exeter, deciding to abandon Miss Eleanor Massie to her fate. But as the post chaise stopped in front of the Drake later that afternoon, he knew he couldn’t go back on his word, no matter how much he wanted to.
If Mrs. Fillion had been standing inside with a pitcher of water, he would have changed his mind again, but she was busy arguing with a tradesman. Oliver had quite forgotten into what octaves her voice could rise when she was on a tirade, and it made him wince. He came inside the inn and looked into the Den of Thieves. Sure enough, the perpetual whist game was in progress. Whist anywhere but the Drake tended to be a polite game, but he knew how noisy poor losers could be, and the room he usually rented was right overhead.
Mrs. Fillion drew breath from her rant concerning greengrocers in general, and this one in particular, and glanced his way. She came over immediately, which gratified him, but did not change his sudden resolve.
He held up his hand before she could even begin, trying to look apologetic and adamant at the same time. “Mrs. Fillion, I know my sea chest is already here, but I believe I will stay at the Mulberry this time. Can you direct me to it?”
You would have thought he had requested her to strip naked and turn somersaults through the Barbican, so great was her surprise at his request. Then a funny thing happened. She got an interesting look in her eyes, one he couldn’t quite read.
“Captain, that is probably an excellent choice right now,” she said. “It’s only a mile away and not fancy, but you look like someone who could use some solitude.”
I look that bad? he asked himself, amused, in spite of how dreadful he felt. “I think you’re right,” he said. “Let me send in the coachman and you can give him directions. And if Lieutenant Proudy is here, could you summon him? I’ll just wait for a moment.”
After letting his lieutenant know of his change in plans, Oliver struggled to his feet and walked slowly to the post chaise, hating the thought of getting inside again, but desperate to lie down, no matter how horrible the Mulberry Inn was.
If that was a mile, it was a longer one than found most places, Oliver decided, as the post chaise finally stopped in front of a narrow building of three stories. It was covered mostly with ivy that continued to cling stubbornly to the stonework, even though the November wind was trying its best to dislodge it. Paint flaked on the windowsills and door, but the little yard was as neat as a pin. He looked back toward the harbor. It’s a wonder anyone stays so far away, he thought.
The post boy shouldered his sea chest and leather satchel and took it to the front door, which was opened by an old man with a wooden leg.
“Have you room?” he asked, as the old fellow—he had to be a seafaring man—took the chest from the post boy.
“Captain, you’re our first lodger in at least six months.”
Oliver stared at him. “I’ll be damned! I thought this was an inn. How on earth do you manage to stay open?”
“We’ve been asking ourselves that lately,” the sailor said and shook his head.
Oliver came toward him, trying to walk in a straight line. “Maybe I shouldn’t even ask this,” he began, “but is lodging just room, or does it include board?”
“Just room right now, sir,” the old sailor said uncertainly. Oliver watched him glance at the post chaise, which had only gone a little way down Gibbon Street. “If you want, I’ll call ‘im back, sir. We won’t deceive ye.”
Oliver stood there on the front walk, undecided, when he heard someone else at the front door. He turned his head, even though he ached from the neck up.
It must be Eleanor Massie, even though her hair was cut quite short, in contrast to the miniature Lord Radcliffe had shown him. Her eyes were the same, though: pools of brown, and round like a child’s. She wore an apron over a nondescript stuff dress, but Oliver couldn’t think of a time when he had ever seen a lovelier sight. Even
