Stars Across the Ocean by Kimberley Freeman

Author:Kimberley Freeman [Freeman, Kimberley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Historical
ISBN: 9780733633553
Google: Cwl3DQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B01N8T4KYP
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2017-04-25T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Once the ship was clear of the Thames and out into the open waters, Agnes decided to see her cabin. The ship would make her way through the English Channel then out into the Bay of Biscay sometime in the evening. The trip to Colombo was said to take three weeks: she would have plenty of time to look at the sea, and she was curious about what a second-class cabin on a Royal Mail Ship looked like.

She found a steward, a very tall man with round spectacles, who read over her ticket and smiled down at her. ‘I will take you directly there, Miss Resolute. I am bound by the rules of the company to remind you about your return journey.’ He pointed at small writing at the bottom of the ticket. ‘You’ll see the date here.’

‘The date?’ She peered at it. ‘You mean my return passage is already booked?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

The date was two weeks after her arrival. Two weeks? Even if that were enough time to find Genevieve, it wasn’t enough time to get to know her. ‘Is that able to be changed?’

‘I’m afraid not, ma’am. It is one of your conditions of passage. We do like to know how many guests we will be carrying on any journey.’ He smiled. ‘But they would have told you all this when you booked it.’

‘It was booked for me,’ she said, taking the ticket and folding it away.

‘Ah, of course.’

‘Are you telling me that the person who paid for this ticket chose the return date?’

‘That is right, ma’am.’

Now she knew for certain the money was not freely given by Julius. It had conditions: her return on a date of his choosing.

Agnes softened as she thought of what Julius might say, were she to question him sharply. He would say he didn’t want to be parted from her so long, that he was only trying to protect her. She supposed she understood; the problem was that his care and protection resembled restraints and control, just the way she had been treated for nineteen years at Perdita Hall, where nobody had cared for her.

She followed the steward along the deck and then through a door and down a narrow flight of stairs. The air here seemed stale and trapped. They arrived on a long corridor, barely more than a shoulder span across, with brass railings running the length of both walls between a series of numbered doors. He pointed out the two bathrooms at the end of the corridor, but then stopped at room twelve.

‘This is yours, ma’am. The keys will be inside, but …’ He paused and listened, and Agnes could hear it too: raucous laughter. ‘It sounds as though your roommate is already here.’

‘I was led to believe I had just one roommate,’ she said.

‘Yes, that is correct. It sounds as though she may have some friends with her.’

Agnes steeled herself. The steward backed away and strode off down the wooden corridor, his white suit bright in the gloom. Agnes turned back to the door and pushed it open.

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