Rebel Heiress (4 page)

‘Bonaparte,' said Henrietta. ‘It's hard to believe I may live to see him.'

Captain Gilbert laughed. ‘I devoutly hope you do not. Unless it's in chains in Whitehall. The world would be a sorry place with him for its master. But you do not drink, Miss Marchmont.' He filled her glass. ‘I hope you will take wine with me.'

She had heard about what Aunt Abigail called this immoral custom, but had never before touched anything stronger than sweet cider. Now, she bravely lifted the glass to her lips and drank. Although she was far from liking its taste, the rough red wine seemed to warm her heart. She found herself smiling as she emptied the glass.

‘Good girl,' said Captain Gilbert approvingly. ‘Your first taste, eh? We'll have you as good a judge of wine as your father before we land. But you must excuse me.' A sudden lurch of the ship had sent crockery chasing to the raised edge of the table. The light flickered wildly, Henrietta's hands held tight to the seat of her chair. ‘I thought we were in for some rough weather,' said Gilbert as he left the cabin. ‘You will soon find out what kind of sailor you are, Miss Marchmont.'

She did indeed. For the next three days, while the little
Faithful
tossed in the grip of the gale, she lay on the narrow bed in her cabin and wished she was dead. From time to time, a gruff voice from the door would ask whether she lacked anything, and she would groan out an incoherent reply. Hurried footsteps and shouts overhead made her wonder if their position was critical, but she did not really care. Shipwreck could not be worse than what she was already suffering.

On the fourth day, the ship steadied in her course and Henrietta gratefully swallowed a little gruel. Then, feeling suddenly much better, she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. She was roused, much later, by a loud knocking on her cabin door and sprang from her bed with a cry of ‘Who's there?'

‘It is I, Captain Gilbert,' came the answer. ‘May we speak with you for a moment?'

Much surprised by the sound of several voices outside, she hurried to smooth her dress and tidy her hair. As she did so, she realised that the motion of the ship had changed. Could she be lying to? What disaster could have struck them? At a renewed knocking, she abandoned her attempts at tidying herself and opened the door. Captain Gilbert stood outside with two uniformed strangers.

‘Miss Marchmont,' he said formally, ‘may I present Mr. Forbes and Mr. Clinton, both of the American Navy. They have boarded us for news and find themselves unable to believe my assurances that our countries are not yet at war. I told them we had an American citizen aboard who would assure them that I am in the right of it.'

‘Why, of course.' Henrietta took the cue he gave her. ‘There is no question of war yet, nor will be, I sincerely hope. Do you think,' she addressed the elder of the two Americans, ‘that I would have risked travelling in an English ship if I had thought such a thing even likely?'

‘Ah …' The American smiled back at her. ‘You're from Boston all right; I would know the accent anywhere. Whereabouts do you live, Miss Marchmont? I've a cousin there myself, a Mr. Anderson, a minister. Perhaps you may know him?'

‘But of course I do.' Henrietta let her relief show. ‘Indeed, he arranged my passage with Captain Gilbert.'

‘Did he so? And is he as redheaded as ever?'

‘Red?' She looked at him in surprise, then recognised the
trap. If she had not in fact known Mr. Anderson she would certainly have fallen into it. ‘You must be speaking of another Mr. Anderson, sir. Our minister has dark hair — though I confess his face is often red enough'

He laughed. ‘My cousin to the life. Forgive me for cross-questioning you, Miss Marchmont, but we had to be sure. You will understand, of course, that should war have actually broken out between our two countries, it would be our duty to take the
Faithful
. I am only glad I have not been compelled to inconvenience a parishioner of Cousin Henry's. But are you sure you wish to go to England? My information is that war is very probable. You may find yourself in an awkward position over there. It would be a breach of regulations, but if you wish it we will take a chance on it and carry you home with us.'

Was this another trap? Henrietta knew she must take the greatest care what she said. Any minute the Americans might ask to see her papers which might well be fatal. She thought quickly, then: ‘You are mighty good, sir,' she said, ‘and in truth your offer is a tempting one. But I think I must continue with Captain Gilbert. This is no frivolous journey of mine. I have just learned that a relative has died in England leaving me heir to a considerable fortune. I must appear in person to claim it and you will understand my anxiety to do so before war does break out; though I continue to hope that it will be averted. The latest news when I left Boston was that the Orders in Council were likely to be repealed, and matters to come to an amicable settlement'

Impressed at such knowledgeability in a female, Forbes did not pause to question the truth of what she said, but thanked her and turned to Captain Gilbert. ‘Very well, I am satisfied, and must apologise for having doubted your word. But you must see that it might have been somewhat tempting to you to tell us a tall story, since you knew we had been at sea this month and more and were in no position to disprove it.'

‘Of course, of course,' Captain Gilbert said, a hint of patronage colouring his voice. ‘You acted like wise men, sir, and I have no quarrel with you on that score. Now, perhaps, you will come and drink a glass of wine with me before we part.' He led them next door to his cabin and Henrietta listened in an agony of suspense while they drank toasts to each other's countries and to enduring peace between them. Then, at last, a slight quickening in the motion of the ship gave them their cue to
leave. Henrietta stayed cautiously below while Captain Gilbert saw them to their longboat. There was no use risking their suddenly thinking of her papers. It was only when she heard them pulling away from the ship's side that she dared go up on deck. The frigate
Constitution
from which they had come, lay alarmingly close to the little
Faithful,
whose entire crew were on deck, silently watching as Forbes and Clinton returned to their ship. Their freedom depended on how her captain received his officers' report. An anxious ten minutes passed, then a farewell signal was run up by the
Constitution
.

‘Good,' said Gilbert laconically. ‘Answer 'em, Forster, and we're away.'

With a sigh of relief, Henrietta saw the distance between the two ships begin to lengthen. She stood at the rail for a long time, watching the
Constitution
dwindling in the distance and thinking of the sang-froid of these Englishmen who had bluffed their way so calmly out of capture.

When he had the
Faithful
safely on her course again, Gilbert handed over to Forster and came down from the bridge to join Henrietta.

‘Thank you, Miss Marchmont,' he said formally. ‘You're a quick-witted lass and we all owe you our liberty. Your father has a right to be proud of his daughter.'

She blushed and changed the subject, but had to bear its renewal over dinner when the officers drank her health and even Singleton mastered his bashfulness sufficiently to pay her a stammering compliment. It was only as she was parrying it, and drinking the necessary glass of wine with him, that she remembered she had been feeling good for the last few hours and had not even noticed it. The excitement had cured her of her seasickness.

From that moment began her enjoyment of the voyage. The crew, who had begun by regarding her with suspicion as a possible Jonah, now took her to their hearts as a mascot. Wherever she went, there were smiles and greetings, while strange objects found their way to her cabin: a tiny model of the
Constitution
carved out of cork, a set of spillikens made from an old cask, and even a seagull with a broken wing. Somewhat to her relief, this poor creature came to a rapid end when the ship's cat paid her its next visit. The crew also discovered that she had brought her Aunt Abigail's well-stocked medicine box with her and was a very much gentler and more skilful surgeon
than Henry Trenchard, to whom they had previously had to apply in case of sickness. She soon found herself unofficial ship's doctor, drawing out splinters, dressing wounds and doling out physic very much as she had in the old days among Aunt Abigail's poor. Captain Gilbert, finding her one day calmly lancing the infected foot of a large and moronic seaman, laughed and told her he would have to take her on the strength. As for Trenchard, he was delighted. It was a part of his duties he had always detested, and he handed over his store of laudanum and ipecac to her with a sigh of relief.

Perhaps as a result, he was the first of the officers to ask her to marry him, doing so abruptly, and immediately after breakfast, one fine morning two weeks or so after they had left Boston. She answered him as abruptly, though with more feeling than she had been able to spare for Mr. Anderson, and was relieved to find that her refusal made not the slightest difference to their good relations. It merely made her feel pleasantly at ease in his company, so that meals in the captain's cabin, which had begun by being something of an ordeal, became a positive pleasure to her. She had not realised how, under Aunt Abigail's wing, she had been starved for masculine company. Now she had nothing else, and enjoyed it immensely. The officers were busy teaching her how to behave in English society, and she proved an apt pupil, though the little cabin sometimes echoed with their laughter at her gaffes. She had so much to learn. She did not know how to behave when a gentleman asked her to take wine with him, nor what one said when offered a pinch of snuff, nor how one accepted a partner for the dance … Nor, indeed, could she dance the fashionable dances, since Aunt Abigail had frowned upon all such pastimes.

This discovery delighted her tutors. Mr. Trenchard got out his fiddle and strummed away at a rudimentary quadrille, while Mr. Singleton solemnly approached Henrietta, and with his best bow solicited the honour of her hand for the dance. Blushing and curtseying, she accepted it with a good grace and the lesson began. Luckily for her instructors' rather limited supply of patience, she was a quick pupil so that the lessons soon became a pleasure to everyone. The officers took turns to instruct her, and only Trenchard grumbled as he worked away on the fiddle.

When they, were exhausted with laughter and exercise — for dancing on a small boat in mid-Atlantic is no mean acrobatic
feat — they would pause to draw breath and cross-examine Henrietta once again on points of etiquette. How would she greet a duke? An archbishop? The Prince Regent? An elderly lady she disliked and distrusted? Her maid when she brought her up her morning chocolate?

‘For,' said Mr. Singleton, ‘you must expect to find your most rigorous critics in your father's servants. Now, again: I am the Prince Regent and we are meeting for the first time… Admirable!' He took her hand and raised her as she swept him a magnificent curtsey. ‘You will meet him, too, though you look so mutinous and unbelieving.'

‘Yes,' said Trenchard, ‘and you will take very particular care never to find yourself alone with him.' For her mentors made no secret of their anxiety about her. Her frank and open American manners were all very well with them, they explained, but she would find London society a dangerous jungle in which she must tread warily.

‘Of course,' said Forster soothingly, ‘we must hope that your father will find time to instruct and protect you, but he is a busy man — when I left England he was all in all to Perceval, the First Minister, and must have spent more time in the House of Lords than he did at home.'

‘Yes, and will be busier still once this cursed war is declared,' added Singleton. ‘I find it too much to hope that he will have a great deal of time even for the most charming of daughters.' He bowed elaborately. ‘No, no, Miss Marchmont, the blush is well enough, but the slightest of curtseys will acknowledge such a compliment. Now, may I have the honour to offer you a pinch of my snuff? ‘Tis a blend that Fribourg and Treyer keep for me alone.' He offered her his battered snuffbox with an elaborate flourish and smiled his approval as she placed a pinch professionally on the back of her hand and sniffed at it. ‘No, no, if it's to be done at all, it must be done with an air. Thus —' He took an enormous sniff and they both exploded in a volley of sneezes and laughter.

‘Oh, dear,' said Henrietta, wiping her eyes. ‘I do not believe I shall ever pass muster as a member of the
ton
. Sometimes I find myself almost hoping my father will not acknowledge me. It all seems such monstrous hard work. I must ride in the park every day — but only in the afternoon and then only at a snail's pace — I must appear in society every night — my mornings must be devoted to receiving visitors. When shall I have such a
pleasant life as this again? I wish this voyage would last forever.'

‘And so do we,' agreed the officers. That night Forster and Singleton proposed to her, one after ‘the other, having tossed a coin as to who should try first. They took their dismissals philosophically, Forster revealing that Trenchard had bet them a bottle of champagne — to be drunk to her health on landing — that they would be unsuccessful.

They were nearing Ireland now. The ship, which Henrietta had always found a model of such neatness as would have satisfied even Aunt Abigail, had been scoured and holystoned till she shone, and Henrietta had held an inquisition on her own and the officers' best clothes, all of which proved to have suffered severely from mildew.

‘But never trouble yourself for that,' said Singleton, when he found her spreading her best stuff gown on the upper deck to air. ‘Your father will doubtless fit you out from stem to stern in Bond Street. And indeed' — with a faintly reproachful look for the solid grey worsted Aunt Abigail had chosen — ‘you will be well advised not to appear in public until he has done sq. You will find the styles young ladies in London are wearing something of a surprise, I conceive.'