mantelpiece and turned to stare at Mary. Her thick hair hung in a plait down her back. Her shift was of pink flannel, and voluminous. One finger was lifted to her mouth; she was worrying at the nail with her teeth. Distracted with exhaustion and fear, she looked a disconsolate child up long past her bedtime. I took her hand and found it cold as death.
“He has not come home,” she muttered. “Nearly three o'clock, and he has not come home! What if the worst has happened, Jane?”
Violence was not an unreasonable worry; a seaport overrun with sailors released from men o' war was not always the safest of habitations. We had often caught a faint echo of the revels at quayside—the drunken laughter and occasional shrieks, the explosions of breaking glass. But I trusted Frank to know how to defend himself. His uniform alone must demand respect of any fellow seaman.
“You should try to sleep, my dear,” I told Mary gently. “Frank shall come to no harm.”
“It is not harm I worry of, Jane,” she retorted bitterly. “Oh! That everyone would cease to treat me like a child! It has been many years since I enjoyed the privilege of innocence, I assure you. In my own home—in Ramsgate—I was accustomed to regard myself as quite the eldest of the family; my advice was sought, and my opinions respected. I know that I am not half so clever as you, nor half as kind as Cassandra—but I am not a simpleton!”
“My dear Mary!” I cried in return, “I have never regarded you as one! Gould my brother have loved a fool? It is only that you are a full ten years younger than myself, and younger still than your husband—”
“—and you are a decade junior to Martha Lloyd,” she returned impatiently, “yet you do not suffer her to treat you as anything but her equal in sense and experience. I am sure that it was always so, when you were but four years of age and she fourteen! You have never allowed anyone to regard your opinions as of little account, Jane. Confess that it is true—and accord me the same privilege you have always seized for yourself.”
“Very well.” I sank down upon the foot of my bed. “I shall tell you that you have every right to worry, and to remain sleepless. Frank's behaviour is abominable. He should have considered of your feelings, and sent a boy with a note, long since. You have my permission to scold him roundly when he reappears.”
“Scold him—Lord, how can I? He is only a man, and must behave as any man would.” She took a turn upon the carpet, unable to meet my eyes. “I simply expected— that is, I hoped … we have been so happy, despite the suddenness of this child—but he is restless, turned on shore. My mother warned me how it would be.”
“How what would be?” I enquired, bewildered.
” 'It is always the same with the Navy/ Mother said. 'They cannot keep their breeches on.' Those were her only words of congratulation, Jane, when I pledged myself to Frank/
“Forgive me, Mary, but your mother is a fool.” I raised a hand to forestall her protests. “Frank may be a post captain, with all the glories and perfidies attendant upon that rank, and all the dubious practise of a lifetime spent at sea; but I would remind you that he was known in Ramsgate as the captain who knelt in church. Do not let the fears of the dark hours cloud your judgement Frank has hardly sought solace in another's arms.”
“Then why would not he disclose his business?”
I drew her down to sit beside me, and felt her trembling—with anger, or cold? The air in the room was quite chill, and I wished for the means to kindle a good fire; but that was several hours distant, at least. All Frank required to entirely lose patience with me, was that Mary should fall ill as the result of her night's walk. He should not hesitate to blame the French of Wool House, Cecilia Braggen, and Mr. Hill together. I must get her back to bed at any cost
“Frank learned some distressing news while visiting in Portsmouth,” I began. If Mary's understanding demanded respect, and a degree of trust in keeping with her position, then I ought to accord her both. “A fellow captain, a man Frank has known from his earliest years in the service, is to appear before