Come Looking For Me (20 page)

Magpie meditated on Gus's answer. “But I don't understand, 'cause me shoes and stockins' are wet all o' the time and I never gets a 'fectious fever.”

“What Gus said is true,” added Emily softly, “but you also need to understand that Marianne was spiritually exhausted and came close to dying of a broken heart. You see, she had fallen in love with the handsome Mr. Willoughby, and he in turn loved her dearly. In all ways, they were wonderfully suited for one another. But Willoughby had debts to pay, and under the threat of losing his large income, was forced to marry a wealthy woman for whom he did not care. It was his pocketbook he chose over Marianne's love.”

Magpie looked upset. “Then who will be marryin' Miss Marianne?”

“For certain it will be Colonel Brandon!” Gus spoke up eagerly this time. “It was him that rode to Barton to fetch Mrs. Dashwood when Miss Marianne was lying ill.”

“And although not as dashing or enticing a man as Willoughby,” Emily continued, “Colonel Brandon is far more honourable, and he adores her.”

From her cross-legged position on the floor, she glanced up and was heartened to find Leander smiling down upon her, adoration in his eyes. He started as if emerging from a reverie. “Jane writes well, does she not?” he said. “She always had a talent for writing …”

Realizing his thoughts had been with Miss Austen, Emily's reply was cool. “She does. I have read no better work.”

There was an uneasy moment of silence, during which Leander cleared his throat and fixed his stare upon the front cover of
Sense and Sensibility.
Then, standing up, he turned to Gus. “Excuse me, Mr. Walby, before you continue your reading, I have come to inform Emily” – Leander looked right at her – “that her presence has been requested in the great cabin.”

An icy chill prickled Emily's spine. Had Mrs. Kettle already shown the miniature to Captain Moreland? She wrinkled her forehead. “More interrogation? Why now? Surely the captain has far more grave concerns on his mind.”

“That he does; however, he would like to speak to you before that approaching ship gets too close for comfort.”

Gus shut the book, and all three of them pushed themselves up from the floor. Leander swept aside the curtain to let them pass into the hospital. To their surprise, standing amongst the hammocks, holding Emily's cleaned checked shirt and trousers, was Meg Kettle. “Ahh, and what were yas all doin' in there?” Mrs. Kettle asked in a tone that set Mr. Crump into a fit of giggles.

“We was readin' a book!” said Magpie. “Somethin' ya can't and won't never do.”

A hush descended upon the room as everyone present gaped at the little sail maker's outburst. Emily placed her hands gently on his thin shoulders.

When she had quite recovered her shock, Mrs. Kettle glared at Emily. “I suppose yer teachin' him yer fancy ways. Readin' a book! Ya 'ave no use fer it, Magpie. Ya won't never rise above yer station, especially now … lookin' like a one-eyed serpent with 'alf a face.”

Feeling Magpie squirming beneath her hands, Emily squeezed his shoulders while Leander, standing next to her, looked like thunder. “Mrs. Kettle, your tongue has no place here. I must ask that you leave now.”

“And I see ya've fallen under 'er spell as well, Doctor.”

“Leave your laundry and turn about!”

Mrs. Kettle hurled the clean clothes at Emily. “There ya be, ya lofty camp follower.”

The room echoed with gasps and whistles. Heads rose from their pillows. Mr. Crump wiggled his stump about in raptures. He'd never witnessed such excitement! “Give 'er thee old toss, Doc.”

Osmund, none too gently, steered the laundress towards the exit.

“Wait!” said Emily. She stooped to collect her scattered clothes, past caring about the possible repercussions of what she was about to do. All eyes focused on her as she rifled through the pockets of her clean trousers, obviously in search of something, and came up empty-handed. “Mrs. Kettle,” she said with all the composure she could muster, “I believe you have something of mine.”

Mrs. Kettle shook off Osmund's hold on her arm, her small eyes narrowing, almost disappearing into the folds of her facial fat. “And what would that be?”

Emily stood her battleground, holding onto Magpie again, this time for support. “It was in the pocket of these trousers.”

Mrs. Kettle looked uncertain. Several times she swallowed and her fists fiddled in the coarse material of her skirt. Her red face twitched as she cast nervously about, her eyes racing from face to face, her taut stance indicating a desire to bolt from the hospital. But when her eyes finally stopped on Leander, her hunted expression vanished. Giving the side of her head a playful smack, she haughtily exclaimed, “Ahhhh! How could I 'ave taken such leave o' me senses. My sincere apologies to yer
Highness.
Right! In yer trousers pocket it was.”

Emily waited, holding her breath, while Mrs. Kettle leisurely reached into the pocket of her apron and jerked out a stained, crumpled piece of paper. Realizing what it was she held up in her fat hands, Emily watched in horror as a malicious grin appeared on the laundress's lips.

“Ya think I know nothin' of readin', ya imp,” Mrs. Kettle spit at Magpie. “Well, hear this!” She shifted into her most amorous voice.
“My Dearest Jane. It is too long since last I heard your joyful voice and walked with you in the gardens at Chawton. I often think of England and the time when we will next meet. More than ever I have need of your comfort and inspiration as already we have twice battled the Americans and our casualties have been too numerous for even this poor doctor to bear. Several of us in the hospital take solace in reading your novel. It has afforded us hours of pleasure. What delightful characters you have created in the Misses Dashwoods. I am particularly taken with Miss Marianne. Would you believe me if I told you that I have recently become acquainted with a true Marianne …”

Something in the way Mrs. Kettle read the letter suggested she had memorized its contents. With a dramatic flourish, she dabbed at her eyes and, shooting a meaningful glance at Leander, said, “Such pretty words! 'Tis a pity there ain't more.”

Emily forced herself to look at Leander. Her heart sank to see his handsome face frozen in disbelief, his lips moving in silent inquiry, his blue eyes – brimming with devastation – staring back at her.

“Aye, imagine that! Right in 'er very pocket I found yer letter, Doctor!”

Magpie whirled about to face Emily. “What about the miniature, ma'am?”

Emily shook her head sadly.

Suddenly, a burst of cries and bellows came from the men above deck.

“She's Yankee! She's Yankee all right!”

“And a frigate!”

“Clear the decks for action!”

“Lively now, lads.”

“Lower the boats.”

The drums beat to quarters, instantly plunging the
Isabelle
and her crew into nervous activity. Urgent footsteps pounding overhead and the frantic orders of the unseen seamen sent Emily's heart into her mouth.

“Dear, God, not again!” she whispered.

Gus took hold of her hand and dragged her back towards her canvas corner. “You'll be safe in here, Em.”

Emily went in reluctantly, twisting her head around in a backwards glance only to learn that Mrs. Kettle had made her escape and Leander, his cheeks still flushed, was sharpening his surgical equipment for the grisly task that lay before him.

Coming up behind the two men, Fly saluted James and said, “Sir, the men are at their posts and stand ready round the guns.”

As he lowered his glass, James looked disheartened. “We haven't had the time to fully repair. What's more, we have neither adequate sea room in which to manoeuvre, nor the wind in our favour, Mr. Austen.”

Mr. Harding shifted his weight onto his one foot. “And this is a cursed place to do battle. With very little effort, she could force us back upon those damned shoals.”

“We'll not do anything to provoke her,” said James determinedly. “We'll wait and see if she fires the first shot.” In the company of Mr. Harding, he moved on down the starboard gangway to dispense words of encouragement to the gun crews and yell out final orders to the men and marines in the tops.

Fly pulled out his own spyglass, mumbling words of encouragement to himself, to stay buoyed before the men.
Breathe out, Austen. Remember that Nelson succeeded by breaking with our rigid naval tactics. Perhaps, if we want to save our necks, we should follow suit and try putting our collective imaginations to task.
Lifting the glass to his eye, he studied the looming ship that was still three or four miles away. He could see her cutting a good bow wave beneath her elaborately carved red-and-gold figurehead. Her hull was black with a stripe of ochre-yellow that followed her gunports. The squares of her foresails, plumped up by the strong northeast breeze, glowed in the sun's rays that peeked through the clouds, and resembled large pillows in slipcovers of gold. He watched the tiny figures of the seamen bustling about the decks and climbing the standing rigging to the tops. Near the bowsprit, he was certain he could see the captain himself, a corpulent man in a cocked hat, standing amongst a group of officers. Aware that the whirling mists were finally receding, Fly kept the glass to his eye and made a mental note of the number of guns she possessed. All the while, along the corridors of his mind, there was a pricking sensation – something was familiar about this large ship.

Nearby, the sailors who nervously awaited their next round of orders – Mr. McGilp gripping the
Isabelle's
wheel, the marines with their muskets ready and aimed, the gun crews and powder monkeys clustered around the great guns on the starboard side of the fo'c'sle, poop, and quarterdeck – never expected to see Mr. Austen, in one sudden movement, toss up his spyglass and throw back his head to howl with laughter.

“Captain Moreland, sir,” he called out, addressing all those sweating, eager faces that looked his way, “I invite you to take another look through your glass.”

* * *

EMILY CAST OFF THE GARMENTS Magpie had laboured to make for her and wiggled into her clean, less formal checked shirt and trousers, determined she would not cower in her corner waiting for the cannons to shake the ship's sides and the agonizing cries of the mutilated men to echo in her ears. When Gus and Magpie had left her to resume their nautical duties, she had attempted to calm herself by re-reading passages of Jane Austen's novel, but it was no use. The words in Leander's letter haunted her thoughts and only served to stir up envious emotions for the talented author of
Sense and Sensibility.

Leaving the security of her corner, she entered the hospital room with trepidation, worried lest there be further talk on the subject of Leander's stolen letter. When the drums had beat to quarters, she had heard great commotion beyond her curtain, but she had not dreamed that every last man had heeded the call, from the marine sentry and Mr. Crump to Osmund Brockley and the loblolly boys. Leander's desk had been transformed into an operating table, with the familiar bloodstained sheet and neat line of surgical tools spread out upon it, and Leander himself was sitting hunched over in the desk chair, scratching notes into his medical journal with a quill pen. Uneasily, Emily stood before him like a child before a stern teacher. “Please, Doctor, I am in need of an occupation.”

He pressed his lips together and regarded her over his round spectacles, and without saying a word, lifted up a bucket of bandages by his feet and handed it to her. Emily knew he meant for her to roll them in preparation for their next round of patients. She searched about for the nearest stool, sat down with her bucket, and set about to work, relieved to be doing something useful and delighting in the pleasant musky smell of Leander's closeness. From her seat, she furtively watched his fingers fly over the pages of his journal and his slim shoulders stir in his clean muslin shirt and striped waistcoat as he exercised stiffening muscles, hoping that eventually he would set his eyes upon her.

“I gather my interview with Captain Moreland has been postponed.”

He paused in his writing, but did not look up. “It has.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” she said, hating herself for stating the obvious.

As the silence between them continued, Emily grew more and more jittery, and the pandemonium over their heads seemed at once remote and unreal. At last, Leander lay down his pen. “I thought perhaps you might find respite in reading Jane's book.”

She eagerly smiled up at him. “It is not the same without the company of Gus Walby.”

“I see,” he said absently, as if his thoughts were elsewhere.

“Besides, I cannot help feeling jealous of Jane Austen.”

“Why is that?”

Her cheeks turned scarlet. “Because her … her book is so finely crafted, her writing so true. Her accomplishments are an inspiration to all women.” Leander nodded thoughtfully before returning to his journal. “And because,” she added quickly, “she so obviously holds
your
affections.”