left off, as if the two of them had not shown themselves to be human and vulnerable like the other Gunwharf Rats. “Choose another name besides St. Anthony. Something tells me you will go far in the fleet. You need two names. What’ll it be, lad?”
“I’ve been Smitty a long while and I like it, master.”
“It suits you,” Able agreed. “How about this? Brendan for our school, and Smith for your surname? Smitty is a logical nickname.”
Smitty considered the matter and nodded, serious as ever. “I like it.”
“We’ll enter that name with the Navy Board,” Able said. “Remember to say Brendan to yourself now and then, you know, so you don’t forget.”
The boy grinned. “Or better yet, how about Gunwharf? Or would the Board prefer Rat?”
Delighted at finding quick wit where he had not expected it, Able laughed. Smitty joined in. It was the first time Able had ever heard the boy laugh with such ease and it warmed his heart. “Stick with Brendan, you Rat,” he said when he could talk, which only set Smitty off again.
Able considered one thing more. “When we get to Trinity House, I have something to show you.” He wondered briefly at his own trepidation, him, a grown man. “It’s a portrait that has given me food for thought.”
“I would think you have plenty of food for thought already,” Smitty said, with a small, lurking smile that told Able something had happened between the two of them. He sensed their relationship changing from teacher and student, to colleagues.
“I have ample food for thought, and it’s a burden at times. I’d rather be like everyone else, truth be told,” he said.
“Thank’ee, sir,” Smitty said. “We know you are a genius, all of us Gunwharf Rats, but we wouldn’t be here without your particular burden. Thank’ee from all of us.”
Able leaned back, at ease with Smitty, probably for the first time. “D’ye mind my putting you on the spot as my sailing master, when I am relegated to captain of the…the Mercury? I know it is what Sir B stipulated in his will, but if you’d rather not…”
“I can do it,” was Smitty’s quiet reply. “Could it be Sir B’s way of making amends with me, now that I think of it?”
“I doubt it not.”
The sun was moving deep across the afternoon sky when the post chaise pulled up in front of Trinity House. Sutton, the one-legged doorman, must have been alerted to watch for them. Able remembered earlier visits to Trinity House, when Sutton was of all men most suspicious.
There was no mistaking the disappointment on the doorman’s face. Able thought he understood; he felt the same way. “Sutton, are you languishing because my better half – certainly the prettier one – did not make the journey?” Able asked, by way of greeting.
Sutton was made of stronger stuff. “Nay, Master Six, nay,” he said, then reconsidered. “Well, a little. Even a one-legged tar gets the dismals seeing mostly wind-scoured faces and squinty eyes. Your lady is a welcome antidote.”
Wind-scoured faces and squinty eyes, the Royal Navy badge of office. Trust a former deep-water seaman to notice. “Aye, she can cure most ills, but sometimes duty calls at home.”
The doorman sighed as he held out his hands for boat cloaks and lids. “I’ll take ye to Captain Rose.”
Trinity’s newest warden waited for them at the top of the elegant branching staircase. Able glanced at Smitty, amused to see the look of wonder on his face, as if he could not fathom why a workhouse boy stood in such a place. He leaned closer to Smitty. “Until quite recently, I had the same look on my face, lad. Let’s go upstairs and see what the good man has for us.”
The good man had advice. After introductions, he asked them into his office, even as he swung his boat cloak around his shoulders. “Let me explain. We Brothers” – he gave a deferential nod to Able – “are keeping our oar in the water, when it comes to St. Brendan’s. The Sea Lords have an urgent request for you already, you and the soon-to-be-named Mercury.” He gave Able a longer glance. “You, Master Six, and your mentor Sir B – God rest him – are casting a long shadow. Since the Admiralty came calling, I thought you might like a little moral support. I’ll walk you over. We’ll sup here when you’re done.”
God bless the man, but he understood. Able heard faint clapping inside his skull. “Aye, sir,