The Unmapped Sea by Maryrose Wood

The Unmapped Sea by Maryrose Wood

Author:Maryrose Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-02-24T16:00:00+00:00


THAT EVENING THE BABUSHKINOVS AGAIN invited Penelope and her pupils to join them for dinner at the hotel. Penelope said they would, for the Incorrigibles and the Babushkawoos were quickly becoming inseparable; in any case, she was so distracted she hardly knew what to do with herself. A governess in love with a pirate playwright! It was like something out of a play Simon himself might write.

“I so am disappointed not to meet Lord and Lady Ashton.” Madame Babushkinov gestured toward the two empty seats at the long table. “I think they are avoiding us.”

“Don’t take everything personally, dear wife,” the captain said lightly.

“We are the only other guests here, dear husband. How else am I to take it?” Sharply, she bit into a breadstick. It snapped in her mouth like a bone.

“Papa, we have a question for you!” one of the twins blurted, and elbowed his brother. “You say it,” he hissed.

Obligingly, the other one asked, “Papa, would you challenge a megalosaurus to a duel?”

“Of course,” the captain said. “I challenge anyone.”

This made the Babushkawoos laugh, for of course their father had no idea what a megalosaurus was. To be laughed at made the captain scowl, but the children quickly explained about giant extinct lizards from countless years ago, with thighbones the size of the axles on a hay wagon.

“I do not understand,” he said when they were done, but at least he was not angry.

“Nor do I. And I see no point in a museum devoted to strange objects. Surely life is strange enough!” Madame Babushkinov turned to Penelope. “What did you think of the place, Miss Lumley?”

“It was . . . like life, just as you say. Strange and terrible,” she offered, remembering her talk with Master Gogolev, which she felt had provided valuable insight into the Russian temperament. “Full of happiness and woe.”

Madame Babushkinov lifted a glass. “So wise for one so young! Is that what you learned at the Swanburne Academy?”

Briefly Penelope imagined a small pillow embroidered with the words Happiness and Woe, and how it might look tucked in the window seat of Miss Charlotte Mortimer’s office at Swanburne. “Not exactly,” she replied. “But there is more to life than what one learns at school.”

“Also true,” the captain said approvingly, and raised his drink as well. As they clinked the glasses together, he and his wife exchanged a look full of meaning.

The doors to the dining room swung open, and a butler announced, “May I present . . . Lord and Lady Ashton.”

Lord Fredrick entered the room with Lady Constance on his arm and led her to the table. “Good evening! Sorry we’re late for dinner. Busy afternoon, what?” Waving away a servant, Lord Fredrick himself pulled out a chair for his wife, and introductions were made all around.

“Buona sera!” Lady Constance chirped, and placed her napkin in her lap.

The Babushkinovs exchanged puzzled looks. “Does your wife speak English?” Madame Babushkinov inquired.

Lord Fredrick gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Yes, certainly! Constance, dear, will you parlare



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