Discerning Grace by Emma Lombard

Author:Emma Lombard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emma Lombard

The next morning, Seamus was roused by a familiar “Sail ho!” Scrambling to dress, he rushed from his cabin and opened the binnacle housing near the helm in which he kept a spare spyglass. He went to stand beside Lieutenant Wadham, whose own glass was already trained on a distant ship. Fitting his eye to one end of the brass tube, Seamus swept the other end across the water until he fixed upon a two-masted brigantine with a black hull. The penguin chorus ashore carried loudly in the cold morning air.

“Visitors, Wadham?” Seamus enquired casually.

“They show no colours.”

Steadying the glass, Seamus stared at the passing ship for a while longer, his instincts prickling uncertainly. He lowered his telescope, his wrist aching in the icy breeze.

“Who is she?” Wadham gave Seamus a doubtful flick of his eyes.

“Hard to tell.”

“She shows no intention of anchoring.” Wadham squinted across the expanse of water.

Seamus trained his telescope on the shore, surveying the scene the passing ship would be observing just as clearly as he was. A handful of his men, guarding the canvas-covered survey equipment, stamped their feet against the early cold, hands tucked deep in pockets. Smouldering grey pits were the only remnants of the massive bonfires from the night before. Brave seagulls strutted fearlessly past the men, pecking at morsels from the previous night’s feast.

“Should we hail them?” asked Wadham, his breath curling white. “Find out who they are? It’s a little unusual for a small ship flying no flag to be in this desolate part of the world.”

Seamus swung his spyglass towards the receding vessel working her way through the scattered maze of islands in the archipelago. “They look harmless enough. And they’re leaving.”

“Lieutenant Fitzwilliam.” The seriousness in Wadham’s tone did little to ease the weight of recent events pressing on Seamus’s shoulders. “I must ask of your intentions.”

“Intentions?” Towards Miss Baxter? Seamus lowered the glass and drew his brow tight.

“Will you not take us to Montevideo now that we are without a captain?”

“My priority right now is to return this ship to order and continue our surveying.” Seamus waved the spyglass at the shore.

“I’m not sure you’re the right man for the job, Fitzwilliam.” Wadham shuffled his feet, facing Seamus square on.

Seamus clasped the spyglass behind his back, his spine rigid. “Might I ask why not?”

“I believe your judgement to be compromised by Miss Baxter’s presence.”

And there it was. She was never far from Wadham’s mind, was she? “As the senior officer, my duty is to take command of the ship,” said Seamus. “Though, pray tell, what would you do in my position?”

“Miss Baxter must be returned to England—to the bosom of her family. A naval vessel is no place for a woman.”

Seamus narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those who believes a woman aboard to be ill luck? I took you for a liberally educated man. Am I so sorely mistaken?”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. You took her under your protection to unburden Captain Fincham of the responsibility so that he could continue with his orders.

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