A True Account by Katherine Howe

Author:Katherine Howe [Howe, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Invisible ink,” Marian muttered. She still couldn’t get over it.

Kay had proposed one theory when Marian first voiced her utter disbelief.

“Didn’t you do Campfire Girls?” Kay asked, incredulous.

Marian looked at her blankly.

“You know. Campfire Girls. You do crafts, go on hikes, wear Indian headdresses,” Kay explained. “Sleepover camp. You know. All that stuff.”

Marian had tried to imagine the late Mrs. John Beresford, née Livingston, permitting her daughter to do any activity that might have encouraged her any further in the direction in which Marian had so clearly been inclining when she was a small child. Mrs. John Beresford would have presumed that tomboyish activities like camping and hiking would only have made Marian worse, no matter how fancy the headdresses involved. Instead, Marian had stumped her awkward and reluctant way through ballet and dancing class at her indomitable mother’s insistence, determined as she was that Marian’s dangerous tendencies be nipped in the bud, only brought to a merciful end at the tactful suggestion of the dancing mistress.

“I’m unfamiliar,” Marian said.

“Oh, it’s fun. We had a ball. And one of the things we did my Bluebird year was writing messages with invisible ink,” Kay said, a curl coiled around one freshly manicured finger.

“Your Bluebird year?” Sometimes Marian thought of Kay as a visitor from another planet. That planet being the real world as it began in earnest, the moment one set foot across the Hudson.

“It’s a cinch. All you do is use lemon juice,” Kay said brightly.

“Lemon juice? That’s it?” said Marian.

“Sure. Then when you bring it close to a heat source, the lemon juice oxidizes. It’s too fun. We did it with a clothes iron. I used to send secret messages to my baby brother when he was a Webelo.” Marian hadn’t the least idea what Kay was talking about, but she got the larger point. Lemon juice could function, incredibly, as invisible ink.

Now Marian sat in her office, looking down at Hannah’s manuscript. Lemons and limes were in high demand in the age of sail to guard against scurvy. Ships would often keep some citrus fruits aboard for just that reason. It wasn’t impossible to imagine that Jim would have had access to a lemon. Or even a discarded lemon rind and a quill nub, or the tip of a finger, to note the exact location of the most important secret of his young life.

An X, though! X marks the spot! It was preposterous. But also perfect. Less ambiguous than a circle or an arrow. Why wouldn’t Jim want to have that information at his disposal to bargain for his life if he needed to? But when John and the other mystery pirate came upon him, there hadn’t been any time for bargaining. The way Seneca described it, killing Jim may have been a hasty mistake. Violent men like Ned Low’s pirate band could be blunt instruments, ill-suited to the sometimes-delicate tasks of negotiation and persuasion. They would be prone to making deadly mistakes.

“Dr. Beresford?” asked someone from her office door.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.