Chapter 16
Caroline and Richard were quiet when Donny came to pull off his boots that night.
The boy was still somewhat small for his age, and although he made no more noise about his lost parrot, it was easy to see that he was less friendly and more downcast than he had been.
Apparently an older sailor had given it to Donny a year ago, after acquiring it in Rio de Janeiro.
And perhaps the bird had died only of old age, which the first mate said was possible, but with the continued upset, the sailors were convinced it had been foul play.
When Donny had gone, Caroline asked Richard, “Do you think that perhaps we ought to find the incriminating letter that Mr. Belvedere searched for amongst the mail—if it exists? I feel it would be better to know the worst at once or exonerate him if there is nothing. If he truly was responsible for killing Donny’s parrot, it was so—cold-hearted. ”
Richard untied his cravat. “You’d have us look in the bags? Tampering with the mail is a serious offence that is still prosecuted up to and including the death penalty—”
“Really?”
“Yes, the 1765 Post Office Act makes tampering with the mail a hanging offense. I hardly think we would be punished to the extremity of the law, but it is worth consideration. But even if we found a letter from the East India Company, what would we do with it? I’d be honor bound to turn it over to either Captain Smythe or the intended recipient in Lisbon. ”
“Ugh, I suppose you would.”
“Sorry to trouble you with my morality. I am employed by the government.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she snapped. She caught herself. Anne would be kind; Anne wouldn’t vent her ill-humor on her husband. “I mean, I hope I know better than to question you, my dear.”
“Caroline…”
“What?”
“Nothing. You were saying?”
Caroline had not noticed the coolness in Richard’s manner, but she did now. “Have I offended you?”
“No, just—no.” He could hardly himself have put into words that her continued effort to be—what was it?
Perfect?—was both unnecessary and frustrating.
He had tried to articulate it before, but it only seemed to annoy her.
He was frustrated with himself for being so easily provoked by—well, nothing really. Nothing that he could explain.
“Well. I just think we must do something,” she said. “Won’t he try to get to the mail again, if he has not yet found the incriminating documents?”
“He may, or perhaps he has already found it.”
“Does the captain still keep a sailor on guard outside the cargo hold?”
“I think he has relaxed it since the storm and the theft of Lady Marston’s necklace, which indicates the thief is after valuables, not the post itself—” He frowned. “I had almost forgotten about that blasted necklace. Do we lay that at Mr. Belvedere’s door also?”
“Perhaps you’ve hit it,” Caroline offered. “He did it to draw suspicion away from the mail?”
“Ah…that does make sense. If he is really so desperate, perhaps we should turn him in. I begin to feel less sympathetic for the young man every moment.”
“But death—Surely we must be certain before we alert Captain Smythe”
And so, Richard found himself spending the bitter watch of the night in the cargo hold with Caroline.
It was rather cold, but no colder than their cabin had been of late.
Caroline huddled alone under her warm cloak, and Richard rubbed his gloved hands together to stir the blood.
He stepped on the vermin occasionally, and Caroline didn’t even flinch at the sound.
The cargo hold was redolent of brine and salt fish and sharp cedar, which many of the chests and crates were lined with.
Cedar was known to be more resistant to rot and shipworm.
Caroline looked longingly at the cinched, buckled mail bags, but didn’t ask to open them. If anyone was to open the mailbags, it could only happen under Captain Smythe’s observation, and Richard wasn’t sure even the worst emergency would cause Smythe to allow it.
Caroline eventually regretted her decision to entrap Mr. Belvedere. It was nearly four in the morning by Richard’s pocket watch, and they were both cold, stiff, and without even the easy camaraderie they sometimes had…
But then the door to the hold finally creaked open. It was done slowly and with stealth.
Caroline stiffened and Richard put his finger to his lips for silence. She glared, offended that he would think she needed that reminder. They both looked to the door, and when it opened—
“Sophia!” Caroline exclaimed.
“Mrs. Scott?” Richard repeated, non-plussed. “What are you doing here?”
Her face was quite pale, and her dark hair was a cloud around it. “Oh! I—I—I can explain.”
If her stuttering was not enough to cause suspicion, her trembling lip told its own tale.
“Come in,” Richard said sternly. He drew her into the cargo hold, not unkindly, but shut the door behind her. “I fancy I know why you may be here, but it is a very serious business. You would do best to make a clean breast of it at once.”
“A clean breast of what?” Caroline said. “She cannot be searching for—” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no.”
Richard nodded. “You were the one who said she and Mr. Belvedere were growing too close.”
“I—and Mr. Belvedere?” Sophia choked. “You could not be more mistaken.”
“What other reason could there be for your presence here, ma’am?
” Richard said. “If he has entreated you to do this task for him—it is the greatest take-in imaginable and the most unchivalrous thing I have ever heard of. Your only hope is to tell us the truth. If you are as blameless as I think you are, I’ll do my best to shield you from this. ”
“From this—” Sophia was accustomed to thinking on her feet, and rarely had she been caught so flat-footed.
How her late husband would laugh at her…
! And not kindly. After the first year, he always said she was far too top-lofty for a woman who was little better than a second-rate pick-pocket, a second-rate wife, and a bastard into the bargain.
“You weren’t born to it,” her husband had said, “and it’ll never come natural.
You aren’t better’n us, for all your high ways. ”
And he was right, when push came to shove, she wasn’t better than any of his set.
She’d thrown away morals and respectability when she ran away and sank herself to that class, and she’d been a fool to think she could leave it behind when Lady Marston offered her this position.
But here they were, this oh-so-honorable couple, ready to offer her a way out.
In panic, Sophia seized it. “I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have listened—to Mr. Belvedere. ”
The hubbub was immense when Captain Smythe was roused, though at first Richard tried to keep it quiet.
His discretion was not out of consideration for Mr. Belvedere, but rather for Mrs. Scott’s great humiliation.
Any pity or tolerance Richard felt for Mr. Belvedere was ended.
The cad had manipulated the lady to do his dirty work, putting both her reputation and her future in danger.
“We suspect he is this man,” Richard told the captain, spreading the paper on the dining table in the semi-dark, and moving a lamp to illuminate it.
He pointed to the incriminating notice. “And that he is escaping the country, while also hopeful to destroy the first Writ of Arrest from the East India Company that is no doubt following him to the continent.”
“But—of course!” Captain Smythe said. “I knew that smirking blackguard was behind it all! Counterfeit to the bone—did I not say it?”
“I suppose you did.”
“But Mrs. Scott is involved? Surely not,” Smythe said.
She shivered slightly, resting her hand for balance on one of the solid dining chairs.
Richard felt very bad for her, but nothing would do but the truth now.
“Her part was very small, and I’d much prefer to leave her out of it.
It seems Mr. Belvedere recruited her help while here on the ship.
While she was very foolish and very wrong to listen, I think we can all agree the far greater blame lies with him. ”
“Of all the terrible—”
“What is the meaning of this noise?” Lady Marston emerged from her room with Sir Mark behind.
“I can hardly tell you yet,” the captain said, “for we are still getting to the bottom of it! We must get Mr. Belvedere out here.” He strode down the long room and banged on the door of that gentleman’s cabin with his fist. “Here, sir! Come out at once!”
Mrs. Scott twitched. “May I retire, please? It is so awkward.”
Richard looked stern. “No, we really must hash this out.” He knocked on Captain Wentworth’s door also, although they must’ve heard the captain’s shouts.
And indeed, Wentworth joined them in record time, already dressed. “I heard something going forward. What’s happened?”
Mr. Belvedere emerged as well, not in his nightshirt as previously, but with sadly creased trousers and a shirt buttoned by guess.
“I say, is this becoming a habit? Night owls all around, eh?” He licked his lips as he took in the temperature of the room. “Blast—you all look as if I’ve murdered someone this time. Swear I haven’t, on my honor.”
Richard wrinkled his nose in disgust. He’d thought the young man harmless before, but now the act was odious. “Sit.”
“Certainly, I’ll sit.” Mr. Belvedere cautiously seated himself at the far side of the table, as if there might be a snake in the room.
“This is very serious,” Richard said. “Caroline and I saw an advertisement that made us consider recent events in another light.” He handed the page to Wentworth as he explained.
“We were unwilling to accuse you on such slight evidence, so we set a small trap—to see if you would try to sift through the mail again. You did not, but you entreated Mrs. Scott to be your proxy. It was very ill-done, sir.”
Mr. Belvedere’s mouth opened and closed twice before he spoke. “Did I? Very unhandsome of me.”
“Do you deny it?” Richard asked.
Captain Smythe finally spluttered back to life.
“Deny it! Who cares if he denies it? Not I! I only regret I have not a brig on this ship, but I can clap a man in irons as well as anyone!” The first and second mate were now hovering in the passageway, and the captain jerked his head toward the youngest. “See to it!”
Mr. Belvedere looked at Mrs. Scott. His voice was still conversational. “So—Mrs. Scott snuck into the cargo hold? How shocking.”
Caroline made a noise of disgust. “To think I defended you—! Tampering with the mail is a criminal offense. It’s punishable by execution, my husband tells me, and that you would risk Sophia on this… I cannot fully express my disdain.”
Wentworth looked very grave. “And if you did defraud the East India Company—you are in great danger. The time for levity is over.”
Mr. Belvedere looked from one to another and then straightened his shoulders. His chin rose a fraction, and his eyes grew harder. “This is some sort of misunderstanding, but I believe it behooves me to say nothing further until I can speak to a consul or barrister in Lisbon.”
Anne, who had drawn near, perhaps hoping that there was some mistake, took a step back from Mr. Belvedere’s hard look. “I truly thought you were innocent—oh, I have been very foolish.”
Mr. Belvedere’s eyes softened a little, as apparently even he could not look on Anne’s gentle face and stay bitter. “Not so mistaken, ma’am, but I know when I am rolled up. I shall say no more at present.”
“See his impudence!” the captain snapped. “A criminal if ever I saw one. Speak to whoever you want. You’ll hang regardless.”
The hubbub was complete when Mrs. Scott fainted. Neither Richard nor anyone else was close enough to catch her, and she crumpled to the planked floor.