Read Online A Scandal to Remember by Elizabeth Essex - Free Book Online
Authors: Elizabeth Essex
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made her inexplicably sad.
And that would never do. Jane cheered her voice. “Thank you, Punch. I am very much obliged.”
She stepped tentatively into the small, dim cuddy, and found the room to be as dark, dank, and cramped as the root cellar at home, though it smelled vaguely of tar and oak and spice instead of dust and must. The only furniture besides her trunk were a small washstand with a tin enameled basin and ewer, a small built-in cupboard which the steward had opened in order to remove the lieutenant’s clothing, and a rectangular canvas and rope cot hanging suspended from bolts in the ceiling beams overhead.
A very long canvas cot. Tall Lieutenant Dance’s cot.
A tingling shiver—that awful feeling of being so out of her element—skittered across her skin. Jane had never slept in any bed but her own. No, not true, she chided herself. She had slept in the guest bed her aunt Celia kept for her at her sunny house in Somerset, and she had twice slept in a bivouac cot when she had gone collecting with her father. But she had certainly never slept in a bed knowing that a man the likes of Lieutenant Dance had slept there before her.
Jane gave the stiff canvas a gentle push and watched it sway to and fro. The steward had taken away his bed linen, but the lieutenant’s particular scent of soap and lime and something else still clung to the canvas. Jane leaned closer to try and identify the spice.
“Miss Burke, are you quite all right?”
Jane leaped back as if scalded, and smacked her back against the curved side of the hull. And perhaps she had somehow been scalded, judging from the heat streaking across her cheeks.
The lieutenant’s tall unbending form stood outlined by the lantern light. “Miss Burke?”
No. It was not the lieutenant, but Mr. Denman, who had doffed his round brimmed hat, and stood waiting to speak with her on the other side of the door frame. “Mr. Denman. Please forgive me.”
“Not at all. I’ve been learning from our good man Punch here, as well.” He extended his hand, and Jane was pleased to find his grasp firm and friendly. Indeed, everything about Mr. Denman was friendly, from his tousled hair to his warm gray eyes, which wrinkled in easy humor behind his spectacles. Quite unlike the lieutenant. “Are you quite all right?”
“I…” There was nothing she could say that would not be ridiculous. “I was just … acquainting myself with the accommodations. Everything is so strange and new.” The ship was nothing like she could have imagined. But then her expectations had been based on sheer imagination and hopefulness, without any drop of reality to leaven her fantasies.
“New? But I thought you told Sir Richard that you had undertaken previous expeditions?”
“Yes. Indeed.” Jane lifted her chin, and made herself smile more confidently. “But never one on a Royal Navy ship. I fear I shall have to rely a great deal on Punch here, to help me along.”
From behind Mr. Denman, Jane heard the steward chuckle. “Don’t you worry, miss. I’ll see to things. That be why Mr. Dance brought me aboard.”
And speaking of tall Mr. Dance. “And now that I have taken his cabin, where, if I may ask, will the lieutenant go?”
“Dunno, miss.” Punch scratched his ginger beard. “I’m sure he’ll make do. He’s that sort of man.”
Jane had so little experience of any sort of man, that the lieutenant remained an enigma to her. Unlike the quiet scientist at her door, who seemed much easier to fathom. “Mr. Denman, I must thank you for assistance in convincing Sir Richard to let me come aboard. He certainly seems to value your opinion.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Mr. Denman’s modesty was visible in the way he wrung the brim of his hat in his hands.
“I thought it very clear in his deference to your opinion, though Sir Richard has been appointed our leader.” Well, thus far Lieutenant Dance had more clearly been the leader, but among the members of
And that would never do. Jane cheered her voice. “Thank you, Punch. I am very much obliged.”
She stepped tentatively into the small, dim cuddy, and found the room to be as dark, dank, and cramped as the root cellar at home, though it smelled vaguely of tar and oak and spice instead of dust and must. The only furniture besides her trunk were a small washstand with a tin enameled basin and ewer, a small built-in cupboard which the steward had opened in order to remove the lieutenant’s clothing, and a rectangular canvas and rope cot hanging suspended from bolts in the ceiling beams overhead.
A very long canvas cot. Tall Lieutenant Dance’s cot.
A tingling shiver—that awful feeling of being so out of her element—skittered across her skin. Jane had never slept in any bed but her own. No, not true, she chided herself. She had slept in the guest bed her aunt Celia kept for her at her sunny house in Somerset, and she had twice slept in a bivouac cot when she had gone collecting with her father. But she had certainly never slept in a bed knowing that a man the likes of Lieutenant Dance had slept there before her.
Jane gave the stiff canvas a gentle push and watched it sway to and fro. The steward had taken away his bed linen, but the lieutenant’s particular scent of soap and lime and something else still clung to the canvas. Jane leaned closer to try and identify the spice.
“Miss Burke, are you quite all right?”
Jane leaped back as if scalded, and smacked her back against the curved side of the hull. And perhaps she had somehow been scalded, judging from the heat streaking across her cheeks.
The lieutenant’s tall unbending form stood outlined by the lantern light. “Miss Burke?”
No. It was not the lieutenant, but Mr. Denman, who had doffed his round brimmed hat, and stood waiting to speak with her on the other side of the door frame. “Mr. Denman. Please forgive me.”
“Not at all. I’ve been learning from our good man Punch here, as well.” He extended his hand, and Jane was pleased to find his grasp firm and friendly. Indeed, everything about Mr. Denman was friendly, from his tousled hair to his warm gray eyes, which wrinkled in easy humor behind his spectacles. Quite unlike the lieutenant. “Are you quite all right?”
“I…” There was nothing she could say that would not be ridiculous. “I was just … acquainting myself with the accommodations. Everything is so strange and new.” The ship was nothing like she could have imagined. But then her expectations had been based on sheer imagination and hopefulness, without any drop of reality to leaven her fantasies.
“New? But I thought you told Sir Richard that you had undertaken previous expeditions?”
“Yes. Indeed.” Jane lifted her chin, and made herself smile more confidently. “But never one on a Royal Navy ship. I fear I shall have to rely a great deal on Punch here, to help me along.”
From behind Mr. Denman, Jane heard the steward chuckle. “Don’t you worry, miss. I’ll see to things. That be why Mr. Dance brought me aboard.”
And speaking of tall Mr. Dance. “And now that I have taken his cabin, where, if I may ask, will the lieutenant go?”
“Dunno, miss.” Punch scratched his ginger beard. “I’m sure he’ll make do. He’s that sort of man.”
Jane had so little experience of any sort of man, that the lieutenant remained an enigma to her. Unlike the quiet scientist at her door, who seemed much easier to fathom. “Mr. Denman, I must thank you for assistance in convincing Sir Richard to let me come aboard. He certainly seems to value your opinion.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Mr. Denman’s modesty was visible in the way he wrung the brim of his hat in his hands.
“I thought it very clear in his deference to your opinion, though Sir Richard has been appointed our leader.” Well, thus far Lieutenant Dance had more clearly been the leader, but among the members of
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