After three full days spent with Declan and Edwina, he wanted what Declan had. What his brother had found with Edwinathe happiness, and the home.
Until hed seen it for himself, until hed experienced Declans new life, he hadnt appreciated just how deeply the need and want of a hearth of his own was entrenched in his psyche.
Put simply, he envied what Declan had found and wanted the same for himself.
All well and goodhe knew what that required. A wife. The right sort of wife for a gentleman like himand that was definitely not a sparkling, effervescent, diamond-of-the-first-water like Edwina.
He wasnt entirely sure what his wife would be likehe had yet to spend sufficient time dwelling on the prospectbut he viewed himself as a diplomat, a man of quieter appetites than Royd or Declan, and his style of wife should reflect that, or so he imagined.
Regardless, all plans in that regard had been put on hold. This mission came first.
Which, of course, was why he was so keen to have it over and done.
He pushed away from the side and headed for the companionway. He dropped down to the lower deck and made his way to his cabin. Spacious and neatly fitted with everything he needed for a comfortable life on board, the cabin extended all the way across the stern.
Settling into the chair behind the big desk, he opened the lowest drawer on the right and drew out his latest journal.
Keeping a journal was a habit hed acquired from his mother. In the days in which shed sailed the seas with his father, shed kept a record of each days happenings. There was always something worthy of note. Hed found her journals as a boy and had spent months working his way through them. The insight those journals had afforded him of all the little details of life on board influenced him to this day; the impact theyd had on his view of sailing as a way of life was quite simply incalculable.
And so hed taken up the practice himself. Perhaps when he had sons, they would read his journals and see the joys of this life, too.
Today, he wrote of how dark it had been when theyd slipped their moorings and pulled away from the wharf, and of the huge black-backed gull hed seen perched on one of the buoys just outside the harbor mouth. He paused, then let his pen continue to scratch over the paper, documenting his impatience to get started on this mission and detailing his understanding of what completing it would require of him. To him, the latter was simple, clear, and succinct: Go into the settlement of Freetown, pick up the trail of the slavers, follow them to their campand then return to London with the camps location.
With a flourish, he set a final period to the entry. Cut and dried.
He set down his pen and read over what hed written. By then, the ink had dried. Idly, he flicked back through the closely written pages, stopping to read entries here and there.
Eventually, he stopped reading and stared unseeing as what lay before him fully registered. Unbidden, his gaze rose to the glass-fronted cabinet built into the stern wall; it contained the rest of his journals, all neatly lined up on one shelf.
The record of his life.
It didnt amount to much.
Not in the greater scheme of thingson the wider plane of life.
Yes, hed assisted in any number of missions, ones that had actively supported his country. Most had been diplomatic forays of one sort or another. Since his earliest years captaining his own ship, hed claimed the diplomatic missions as his ownhis way of differentiating himself from Royd and Declan. Royd was older than him by two years, while Declan was a year younger, but they were both adventurers to the core, buccaneers at heart. Neither would deny that description; if anything, they reveled in being widely recognized as such.
But as the second brother, hed decided to tread a different pathone just as fraught with danger, but of a different sort.
He would be more likely to be clapped into a foreign jail because of an unintended insult exchanged over a dinner table, while his brothers would be more likely to be caught brawling in some alley.
He was quick with his tongue, while they were quick with their swords and fists.
Not that he couldnt match them with either blades or fists; growing up as they had, being able to hold his own against them had been essentiala matter of sibling survival.
Thoughts of the past had him smiling, then he drew his mind forward, through the past to the presentthen he looked ahead.
After a moment, he shut the journal and stowed it back in the drawer. Then he rose and headed for the deck.
Given how boring his recent life had beenmore like existing than actively livingperhaps it was a good thing that this mission was not his usual diplomatic task. Something a little different to jar him out of his rut, before he turned his mind to defining and deciding the details of the rest of his life.
A fresh and different challenge, before he faced a larger one.
Climbing back onto the deck, he felt the wind rush at him and lifted his face to the bracing breeze.
He breathed in and looked around at the wavesat the sea stretching forever on, as always, his path to the future.
And this time, his way was crystal clear.
Hed go to Freetown, learn what was needed, return to London and reportand then he would set about finding a wife.
CHAPTER 2
Good morning. Miss Aileen Hopkins fixed a polite but determined gaze on the face of the bored-looking clerk who had come forward to attend her across the wooden counter separating the public from the inner workings of the Office of the Naval Attaché. Located off Government Wharf in the harbor of Freetown, the office was the principal on-land contact for the men aboard the ships of the West Africa Squadron. The squadron sailed the seas west of Freetown, tasked with enforcing the British governments ban on slavery.
Yes, miss? Despite the question, not a single spark of interest lit the mans eyes, much less his expression, which remained impersonal and just a bit dour.
Aileen was too experienced in dealing with bureaucratic flunkies to allow his attitude to deter her. I would like to inquire as to my brother Lieutenant William Hopkins. She set her black traveling reticule on the counter, folded her hands over the gathered top, and did her best to project the image of someone who was not about to be fobbed off.
The clerk stared at her, a frown slowly overtaking his face. Hopkins? He glanced at the other two clerks, both of whom had remained seated at desks facing the wall and were making a grand show of deafness, although in the small office, they had to have heard her query. The clerk at the counter wasnt deterred, either. HereJoe! When one of the seated clerks reluctantly raised his head and glanced their way, the clerk assisting her prompted, Hopkins. Isnt he the young one that went off God knows where?
The seated clerk shot Aileen a quick glance, then nodded. Aye. Itd be about three months ago now.
I am aware that my brother has disappeared. She failed to keep her accents from growing more clipped as her tone grew more severely interrogatory. What I wish to know is why he was ashore, rather than aboard H.M.S. Winchester.
As to that, missthe first clerks tone grew decidedly primwere not at liberty to say.
She paused, parsing the comment, then countered, Am I to take it from that that you do, in fact, know of some reason WilliamLieutenant Hopkinswas ashore? Ashore when he was supposed to be at sea?
She paused, parsing the comment, then countered, Am I to take it from that that you do, in fact, know of some reason WilliamLieutenant Hopkinswas ashore? Ashore when he was supposed to be at sea?
The clerk straightened, stiffened. Im afraid, miss, that this office is not permitted to divulge details of the whereabouts of officers of the service.
She let her incredulity show. Even when theyve disappeared?
Without looking around, one of the clerks seated at the desks declared, All inquiries into operational matters should be addressed to the Admiralty.
Her eyes narrowing, she stared at the back of the head of the clerk who had spoken. When he refused to look around, she stated in stringently uninflected tones, The last time I visited, the Admiralty was in London.
Indeed, miss. When she transferred her gaze to him, the clerk at the counter met her eyes with a wooden expression. Youll need to ask there.
She refused to be defeated. I would like to speak with your superior.
The man answered without a blink. Sorry, miss. Hes not here.
When will he return?
Im afraid I cant say, miss.
Not at liberty to divulge his movements, either?
No, miss. We just dont know. After a second of regarding herpossibly noting her increasing cholerthe clerk suggested, Hes around the settlement somewhere, miss. If you keep your eyes open, perhaps you might run into him.
For several seconds, her tongue burned with the words with which she would like to flay himhim and his friends, and the naval attaché, too. Ask at the Admiralty? It was half a world away!
Thanking them for their help, even if sarcastically, occurred only to be dismissed. She couldnt force the words past her lips.
Feeling angerthe worst sort, laced with real feargeysering inside her, she cast the clerk still facing her a stony glare, then she picked up her reticule, spun on her heel, and marched out of the office.
Her half boots rang on the thick, weathered planks of the wharf. Her intemperate strides carried her off the wharf and up the steps to the dusty street. Skirts swishing, she paced rapidly on, climbing the rise to the bustle of Water Street.
Just before she reached it, she halted and forced herself to lift her head and draw in a decent breath.
The heat closed around her, muffling in its cloying sultriness.
The beginnings of a headache pulsed in her temples.
Now what?
Shed come all the way from London determined to learn where Will had gone. Clearly, shed get no help from the navy itself...but thered been something about the way the clerk had reacted when shed suggested that there was a specific reason Will had been ashore.
Her older brothers were in the navy, too. And both, she knew, had served ashore at various timesdispatched by their superiors on what amounted to secret missions.
Not that she or their parentsor even their other siblings in the navyhad known that at the time.
Had Will been dispatched on some secret mission, too? Was that the reason hed been ashore?
Ashore long enough to have been captured and taken by the enemy? Aileen frowned. After a moment, she gathered her skirts and resumed her trek up to and around the corner into Water Street, the settlements main thoroughfare. She needed to make several purchases in the shops lining the street before hiring a carriage to take her back up Tower Hill to her lodgings.
While she shopped, the obvious questions revolved in her brain.
Who on earth was the enemy here?
And how could she find out?
* * *
Good morning, Miss Hopkinsyouve been out early!
Aileen turned from closing the front door of Mrs. Hoyts Boarding House for Genteel Ladies to face its owner.
Mrs. Hoyt was a round, genial widow and a redoubtable gossip who lived vicariously through the lives of her boarders. Her arms wrapped around a pile of freshly laundered sheets, Mrs. Hoyt beamed at Aileen; with frizzy red hair and a round face, she filled the doorway to her rooms to the left of the front hall, opposite the communal parlor.
Having already taken Mrs. Hoyts measure, Aileen held up a small bundle of brown-paper-wrapped packages. I needed to buy some stationery. I must write home.
Mrs. Hoyt nodded approvingly. Indeed, dear. If you want a lad to run your letters to the post office, you just let me know.
Thank you. With a noncommittal dip of her head, Aileen walked on and up the stairs.
Her room was on the first floor. A pleasant corner chamber, it faced the street. Lace curtains screened the window, lending an aura of privacy. Before the window sat a plain ladies desk with a stool pushed beneath it. Aileen laid her packages and reticule on the desk, then stripped off her gloves before unbuttoning her lightweight jacket and shrugging it off. Even with the window open, there was little by way of a breeze to stir the air.
She pulled out the stool and sat at the desk. She opened her packages, set out the paper and ink, and fixed a new nib to the pen, then without allowing herself any further opportunity to procrastinate, she got down to the business of informing her parents where she was and explaining why she was there.
Shed been in London staying with an old friend, with no care beyond enjoying the delights of the Season before returning to her parents house in Bedfordshire, when shed received a letter from her parents. Theyd enclosed an official notification theyd received from Admiralty House, stating that their son Lieutenant William Hopkins had gone missing from Freetown, and that he was presumed to have gone absent without leave, possibly venturing into the jungle to seek his fortune.
Her parents had, unsurprisingly, been deeply distressed by that news. For her part, Aileen had considered it ludicrous. To suggest that any Hopkins would go absent without leave was ridiculous! For four generations, all the men in her family had been navy through and through. They were officers and gentlemen, and they viewed the responsibility of their rank as a sacred calling.
As the only girl in a family of four children, Aileen knew exactly how her three brothers viewed their service. To suggest that Will had thrown over his position to hie off on some giddy venture was pure nonsense.
But with both her older brothers at sea with their respective fleetsone in the South Atlantic, the other in the Mediterraneanas Aileen had been in London, her parents had asked if she could make inquiries with a view to discovering what was going on.
Shed duly presented herself at Admiralty House. Despite the familys long connection with the navy, shed got even less satisfaction there than she had at the naval office here.
Goaded and angry, and by then seriously worried about Willhe was younger than she, and shed always felt protective of him and still didshed gone straight to the offices of the shipping companies and booked the first available passage to Freetown; as shed brought ample funds with her to London, cost had not been a concern.
Shed arrived two days ago. Shed had plenty of time on the voyage to plan. Although her station and family connections meant that there was almost certain to be some family from whom she could claim support and a roof over her head while she searched for Will, shed decided on a more circumspect approach. Hence, Mrs. Hoyts Boarding House, which was located on Tower Hill, the province of local British society, but below the rectory rather than above it. The houses of those moving in what passed for local society were located on the terraces higher up the hill.