Read Online Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain - Free Book Online Page B

about.”
    He liked hearing himself described so. Tell me more, he wanted to say. What else have you noticed about me?
    â€œHow did you write the manuscript without the benefit of sight?” asked the vicar’s wife.
    â€œA noctograph.” Perry sounded pleased to contribute something. “A marvelous device that allows one to write in the dark.”
    â€œIndeed?” Mrs. Perry’s voice took on a lilt of interest. “I should like to learn how it works, Mr. Frost.”
    â€œI will show it to you after dinner,” promised Benedict. Since his trunk now rested within the entry of the vicarage, he again had all his possessions about him, including the noctograph.
    And his manuscript, which had, over the past fortnight, begun to seem far less precious in the face of the London publishing world’s dismissal.
    But maybe theirs were not the only opinions to which he should give weight. As Charlotte had said, how many physician-sailor-explorers could there be in the world? His was a unique tale.
    He simply had to find someone who wanted him to tell it.
    * * *
    After dinner, Maggie retrieved the dog, Captain, from outside the dining room door and took her—for Benedict had been informed Captain was female—outside for a walk. As the click of canine claws sounded on the parquet of the entryway, Benedict mounted the by-now-familiar eighteen stairs, bumping his trunk up each one. Settling it at the foot of the bedstead whose knobs had been so frequently polished, he unlocked the trunk and felt through tidy stacks of clothing. Tucked within to cushion it was the noctograph.
    He carried it back downstairs, directing his steps toward the sound of voices. They had moved into the parlor in which he had met the vicar earlier.
    When he entered the room, he smiled by way of greeting. “Who would like the first look at the noctograph?”
    â€œMrs. Perry must see it first,” said the solemn voice of the vicar.
    â€œShe is sitting beside my father,” added Charlotte.
    Without his cane or a few moments’ leisure to feel his way about, Benedict was unsure of the arrangement of the room’s furniture. He stepped in the direction of the vicar’s voice, noctograph extended, praying like hell that no ottomans or tea tables arose to bark against his shins.
    None did, and Mrs. Perry’s capable hands took the device from Benedict. “Show me how it works, Mr. Frost.”
    All business and no sentimentality. He much preferred that to the reverse. And in truth, he liked demonstrating the workings of the noctograph. It had allowed him, for the first time in his life, to master the written word.
    Soft footsteps crossed the room behind him; Charlotte had approached, then, to peer over his shoulder. He showed the family trio what appeared at first to be a wooden lap-desk. Once opened, it revealed a straight-ruled metal frame behind which paper could be slipped. The paper itself was of a special sort, inked all over so that any pressure made a marking. Using a stylus and the guidance of the metal rules, one could mark out words in neat rows.
    â€œI have been told that my writing is tidier now than it was before I lost my sight.” By way of example, Benedict clipped in a sheet of inked paper and scratched out a few words. Dear Georgette . “My sister,” he explained. “I must write to her and tell her of my safe arrival.”
    â€œDoes she worry about you?” asked Charlotte.
    â€œShe is much my junior, so I think the reverse is true far more often. If she sends a reply, perhaps one of you will be good enough to read it to me?”
    â€œOf course,” Charlotte said as Mrs. Perry again took possession of the noctograph. “I should like to read some of your manuscript about your travels, too. There are so many corners of the world I have never seen.”
    A careful dance about her story that she spent her life performing good works around the globe.