Almost a Scandal by Elizabeth Essex

Author:Elizabeth Essex [Essex, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250003799
Amazon: 1250003792
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Published: 2013-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The noon hour saw Audacious standing ten miles northwest off the island of Ushant, itself off the west coast of the Department of Finistère, with the city of Brest lying along the Atlantic Coast a further fifteen miles or so to the southeast. And Kent was nowhere to be found.

Only a moment ago, she had been at the rail with all of the other midshipmen—all in this case including Mr. Gamage, who, for the first time in recent memory, had appeared with his sextant to take the noon reading. But now neither Kent nor Gamage were anywhere within sight. A wash of apprehension swilled around his gut like a cold swallow of salty seawater.

Col knew he ought to be grateful that she was keeping assiduously out of his way, that she appeared to be applying herself with all diligence to her sworn duty. That he hadn’t seen her in days. It had been his objective in rearranging the watchkeeping schedule to keep them apart.

And he couldn’t stand it.

“Mr. Worth,” he called to the nearest boy. “Pass the word for Mr. Kent.”

“If you please, sir. Mr. Kent is in the cockpit, sir, working with Mr. Gamage. If there is anything you require, I’d be happy to do it for you, instead of Mr. Kent.”

So she really was doing it—tutoring Mr. Gamage. Or at least she was trying. And if Mr. Worth’s offer was any indication, the rest of the midshipmen would do just about anything to see that she remained trying.

“No need, Mr. Worth. I’ll see—” Col had no excuse that wouldn’t make him look three ways to foolish. “I’ll see to it myself.”

Col made his way belowdecks quietly, almost surreptitiously, so he could fetch up outside the cockpit unannounced and unseen. Low light from a lantern shone from under the closed door, and he paused there at the threshold to listen.

“I tell you what.” Kent’s voice was clear and low. “We’ll go over the projection again, but this time, we’re going to use different colors of ink for each one of the lines, transects, and arcs. It will make it easier for you to differentiate them, both in your mind and on the paper. So let’s make the rhumb line yellow, to stand for the foam in the wake of the ship, because that’s the direct line that represents the course you want the ship to hew to. And we’ll make the horizon line black, because that’s what you see when you look at the horizon…”

Amid the clinking of pens and ink bottles, Col let himself into the room as silently as possible so as not to disturb them, or wake Jellicoe and Beecham, who were asleep in their hammocks. Kent and Gamage were seated with their backs to the door, side by side at the table, which had been moved so that it canted across the small room at an angle. The reason for which was soon explained.

“Exactly,” Kent was encouraging her pupil. “And remember again that north

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