Abounding Might by Melissa McShane

Author:Melissa McShane [McShane, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2017-10-02T06:00:00+00:00

In which women’s knowledge proves valuable

aphne and Bess stood next to the sweet-seller’s stall, eating morsels and dropping the bright green leaves on the ground. “Nothing,” Daphne said. “Gopika seems to have disappeared.”

“At least we have not been accosted, or threatened,” Bess said. “I can imagine how these people might grieve over such a death as that. Grief can make one irrational.”

“I am afraid for Gopika. Suppose the murderer draws the same conclusion we did and tries to kill her?”

“How could he? It is not as if he knows of her existence.”

“He might. I am beginning to be afraid of what our enemy is capable of.”

Bess sucked her fingertips clean, then wiped them on her handkerchief. “He is still just a man, albeit one with resources. I have told Captain Fletcher and Lieutenant Wright where we are—is Captain Ainsworth still nearby? I find it difficult to pick our officers out of the crowd when they do not wear their coats.”

“He is conversing with an old man just across the way. I imagine he is inquiring about the possibility of food rather than the location of Gopika.”

“At least he is consistent in his passions. I worry about Lieutenant Wright. Does he not seem different since his head injury? Perhaps we should request an Extraordinary Shaper for him, after all.”

“He is quieter, and he has stopped flirting—but I believe he has simply become more serious now that we face a serious challenge. I like him better now.” He still moved oddly, less freely, and Daphne had nearly resolved to suggest he see a doctor, or an Extraordinary Shaper, but she did not like to interfere in the life of someone who was barely more than an acquaintance. Wright no doubt knew his own business.

“I hope his seriousness is not because of pain.” Bess adjusted her spectacles and squinted against the indirect light filtering through the heavy cloud cover. The day was hot and muggy, the air oppressive on Daphne’s skin. She had changed into a gown at Fletcher’s suggestion that they not draw undue attention to themselves, though she felt she was alien enough that the difference between a gown and a Bounder uniform would not make an impression on the Hindoos.

Daphne licked the last hints of sweet stickiness from her fingers and, like Bess, wiped her fingers on her handkerchief. Her mother would no doubt be horrified at her lack of good manners. Her father, on the other hand, would laugh and ask her to show him how to eat the still-unnamed morsels. Then he would tease her mother into trying some, and in the end her mother would be sucking her own fingers clean. Lord and Lady Claresby were not typical examples of the nobility—only observe their treatment of their only daughter, who had been indulged in her every whim and had managed not to grow up spoiled. A pang of homesickness struck her, and she blinked tears away.

“Memsahib?” A thin brown hand plucked at her sleeve. “Memsahib?”

“Oh!” Daphne exclaimed.

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.