“Well, anyway, they’ve been there, and that’s what they say. And some of them. That Bill Adams fellow in my watch. He was there for five years, and he said it was hell.” “What was he doing?” “Working in the tobacco fields.” “As a slave?” “No. A redemptioner.” “Kidnapped?” “No. Transported.” “I think we’d better wait till we see Virginia for ourselves. This is my plan, Edward. We had better do this, I think. I’ll explain things to Howard, and get him to give Stukeley a place.” “And compromise himself?” “Not necessarily. Then they had better stay in Virginia. And perhaps I’ll give up the Darien scheme and go home, find out what sort of a mess he is in, and see if I can make some sort of a composition with his prosecutors.” “You can’t. You’re wanted in England yourself. We’re all outlaws, Charles. We’re flying with ropes round our necks.” “Yes. I suppose we are. Well. Shall we all stay in Virginia?” “Till we’re taken and sent home?” “Till my committee of merchants procure our pardons.” “We shall get no pardons till our Darien scheme is a big success.” “That’s true, too.” “Old Cammock was saying that Carolina is a good place. They call Charleston Puerto Franco; everybody’s safe there, he says.” “God deliver Olivia from a place so lawless that every one is safe there.” “Yes. My word, yes.” “Suppose, now. Suppose there is an arrest. Suppose Howard should be firm. It seems hard. My God, I know I meant well; but I’ve got her into a cruel fix. If we let them go. Go back to England, for him to be tried. D’you know, Edward, I think it would be best.” “I’m quite sure it would be.” “But you would have to go with her, Perrin. You would have to go. I’d go, too. I’d take my chance.” “No you wouldn’t. You’ll do nothing of the sort. You’ve enough trouble as it stands.” “Oh, I’d have to go. I couldn’t stay here and eat my heart out for her.” “Yes, you will, Charles. Be sensible. I’ll see her safe home, if it comes to that.” “And the instant you land, Edward, you’ll go to Flaxley, to her uncle, and then to her aunt Pile. Get them to come to her. My God, love blinds a man. I ought to have seen all this. But I could only see what was pleasant to myself.” “Ah. Don’t say that, Charles. It’s not true. You didn’t know Stukeley.” “No. Stukeley then was the man Olivia loved.” “And now?” “Now? Now? We won’t talk about that, Edward. Get your Donne and read to me.” “I read so badly.” “You read excellently. You’re a little slow sometimes.” “I can’t vary my voice. I could, before it broke. Now I read so monotonously.” “Verse ought to be read in a monotone, but there is a passionate monotone. Read me the Second Anniversary, and we’ll forget our worries. That sounded rather like a step in the alleyway.” Perrin leaned out of the door and looked aft. “It’s no one,” he said. “A beam creaked. Stukeley’s asleep on the cabin lockers.” “It sounded like a step.”