“He’s got my map-book, then,” said Cammock. “He’s gone with my
map-book.”
“Yes,” said Margaret, getting out of the chair. “Your map-book. It’s
in his pocket. I think I saw it there.”
“Lean on me, sir,” said Cammock. “The lady’s expecting you. She’s
sitting up in the cabin.”
“Let me go. You turn in. I’ll break it to her,” Perrin said.
“No. I must go,” Margaret answered. “How has it been here, captain?”
Feverish as he was, he felt that he had been away for many days. The
ship was strange to him.
“I’ve been throwing the ship overboard, looking for my maps,” Cammock
answered. “How is your hurt, sir? When you talk to the lady, you had
better have a drop of something. Just stop at my cabin for a moment.”
He fetched wine and bark from his cupboard. Then the three men entered
the cabin, where Olivia stood expectantly, her cheeks flushed, waiting
for her husband’s return. She had made the most of her beauty for him.
She had decked herself out with an art that brought tears to Perrin’s
eyes. She had done her best, poor beauty, to keep the heart which, as
she thought, she had won back again. Looking at her, as she stood
there, Perrin learned that Stukeley had commended a slip of black
velvet round her throat, that he had praised her arms, that he liked
the hair heaped in such a fashion, with a ribbon of such a tone of
green. He guessed all this at a glance, telling himself that he must
never again speak of these things to her. And the poor girl had rouged
her cheeks, to hide the paleness. She had pencilled her eyebrows. She
had drunken some drug to make her eyes bright. In the soft light of
the lamp she looked very beautiful. She stood there, half-way to the
door, waiting for the lover of her love-days to take her to his heart
again.
“Where is Tom?” she said. “You’re hurt, Charles. Where’s Tom? He isn’t
killed? He isn’t killed?”
“He went into the city,” said Margaret dully.
“He went into the city.” His teeth chattered and clicked; he seemed to
have been repeating his phrase for hours. “Into the city,” he
repeated. He was ill, really ill. He was in a dream of fever. He was
dreaming, he was in a nightmare, giving a message in that dream-speech
which none comprehend save the speaker.
“He went into the city,” said Olivia slowly. She sank backwards, till
she leaned against the bulkhead, her arms straying out along the
beading. “But he came back. He came back.”
“No, ma’am,” said Cammock gently. “He didn’t come back.”
“He’s not killed? Not dead? Oh, can’t one of you speak?”
“I don’t know,” said Margaret. “We waited. He went into the city with
them.”
“They made friends,” said Perrin. “Your husband went with the
Spaniards.”
“Oh, won’t you tell me what has happened?”
“They waited in the boat, ma’am,” said Cammock. “But your husband
didn’t come back. And then the Spaniards attacked the boat. Captain
Margaret was wounded.”
“And you came away without him?”
“Yes, Olivia. He’s in the city.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account