alone see. Then last night I boarded the Exeter coach. When the soldiers stopped us, I made a face like this." He squinted at her, drawing his mouth down, and he said, in an imitation of her own accent, "My word, Lud. How genteel."
Douglass burst out laughing. Then she sobered. He had both hands on the rail and, eyes crinkled against the wind, was looking out over the choppy water. She said, "I am glad you escaped, and I think a lot of us are, even though we were very afraid of you."
He turned toward her, then, his big shoulder blocking out everything else from her sight. "Were you?"
"We were constantly warned," she said. "The newspapers published sketches of the 'Revenge,' and you, too. They gave us your description, even to the ring you always wore, on the third finger of your right hand." She looked down at the hand; on the third finger was a heavy ring, a circlet of pearls rimmed an emerald carved in the shape of a mermaid. "That is it," Douglass said. Then she thought of something. "Who gave it to you. Captain?"
Barney shook his head solemnly.
"Please tell me, sir!"
"No wheedling," he said.
She pouted a little. "Last summer at Brighton we thought we saw the 'Revenge'; the whole town was terrified." Once more she looked up at him with her great grey eyes. "But it wasn't you," she added.
"My lady," Barney said, "if I'd known you were at Brighton, I should certainly have raided it." He grinned. "But as to harrying your coast and shipping, and interfering with your mails, that was our intention."
"You took sixty of our ships, in less than six months," she said, still regarding his dark face.
"So I did. Mistress Harris," Barney said, quite satisfied to remember. "The 'Revenge' was a beautiful ship," he added.
"You must have made a fortune," she said, wonderingly.
Barney frowned slightly, his eyes swept her appraisingly. Her face flushed, and she struck her hand on the rail. Her eyes blazed.
"I am ashamed of myself if I have implied an interest in your wealth. Forgive me."
He shrugged. "It is natural for ladies to think of money."
She drew back from him. "Will you leave me now. Captain Barney?"
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Barney looked down at her; he wanted to seize her in his arms and kiss the red mouth. She sensed it, and started to turn. Barney grasped for her hand, caught it, and swung her around to face him.
"I'm sorry, English," he said.
She drew a deep breath; slowly her eyes lifted to his face.
"And you have a quick temper, madam."
"I know it, Captain," Douglass said.
"I have enough for both of us. I'll see you to your stateroom, now. I have business in the saloon. Take my arm, please."
Douglass put her hand on his arm. As they walked along she kept glancing up at him. Barney said:
"Do you always have your own way?"
"No," she said, low. Then she added, "Truly I do not." She skipped a step to keep up with him, and he slowed his pace. She said nothing else as he guided her down the companionway. At the door of her cabin she stopped.
Barney pushed open the door. Once more Douglass remembered all she had heard. "You can't come in," she said breathlessly.
Barney grinned. "I might point out I didn't ask permission to come in."
Her hands were clasped tight around her bag. "So you didn't," she conceded.
For a second he hesitated. Then he said, "Goodbye, my lady."
Chapter 6
BARNEY STOOD AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SALOON, SURVEYING ITS occupants.
It was crowded, of necessity. Barney thought it more crowded than Mill Prison, and the thought brought a wry smile to his lips.
The pistol Willie had bought him rested comfortably against his thigh. Even as he was aware of it a man in British uniform recognized him. He stared, incredulity in his face, and anger too. Barney looked right back, and then began to make his way easily through the press of men. He caught various sentences.
"It is impossible to get insurance on cargoes! Impossible! And this morning the three percents dropped to 57."
33
Barney passed by the British major, who grunted and moved aside. Now other men were looking at him; he could almost hear his name run around the room. He paid no attention. He was almost in the middle of the saloon when he saw the group of people who warranted more attention than the rest.
On the locker under the windows was a slender, elegantly dressed woman and an older stout companion. With them was a man in the uniform of the Austrian Netherlands. Barney suspected the expensive carriage belonged to these three. At the same time that Barney saw them, the man perceived him, and he jumped to his feet, the tassels on his epaulets swinging madly.
He was a black-browed, heavy set man, and he pushed his way to Barney, heedless. "Captain Barney!" he exclaimed, when he was about three feet away.
The men between the two of them turned, startled. Barney bowed. The other cried, coming up to him:
"Allow me to introduce myself, sir! Colonel Lucas."
His accent was very thick. Hungarian, Barney thought. "Colonel Lucas," he said politely. "A pleasure, sir."
Lucas then uttered a strange emphatic exclamation. Barney was sure he was Hungarian. He smiled but Lucas did not smile back. This was no smiling matter. He said, in English:
"You escaped them!" Another strange exclamation spilled out. "We have been reading in the papers! You escaped!"
Barney had kept his smile. "Your enthusiasm heartens me, sir."
Lucas nodded. "I feel your exploit deeply. I am too intense, if that is the word." For a second he looked at Barney's face, then he realized everyone was listening to them. "Let us get away from this —canaille. Over here, Captain."
The use of the contemptuous terai to indicate honest men in trade let Barney know that the major counted heavily on the impressiveness of his own European lineage.
Lucas pushed a way for them through the crowd. "God, what a mob," he was muttering.
"Wartime, Colonel," Barney said, over his head.
Lucas stopped beside the locker. The windows above it were closed against the damp wind. Barney found himself looking deep into the eyes of a woman who leaned elegantly back against pillows. Great diamonds winked in her ears; her hair was powdered and piled high, save for one long curl that nestled on her shoulder.
34
"Allow me to present Captain Barney, madam. Madame Roche."
She extended her hand; Barney bowed over it, released it slowly, as Lucas presented the other woman. She was a Madame Bachels; a duenna of sorts, although Barney thought accomplice might be a better word for her. He did not know what business Madame Roche could have had in England, but he suspected. He wondered how much information she was carrying in her fashionable head. She had spoken a sentence in quick Italian to Lucas; she looked up at Barney again, a smile on her ivory face. "Forgive me, sir," she said. "I use my own tongue."
"I must confess that I understood you," Barney said, looking amused. "Might I say it is also a stroke of good fortune for me to meet you?"
Lucas was about to speak when Madame Roche interrupted. "Where did you learn Italian, Captain?" she asked Barney.
Barney looked down at her figure as she reclined against the pillows. "I spent two months in prison in Sardinia. Quite some time ago. Would you like to learn some thieves' cant from me?"
Elise Roche smiled. "Captain Barney," she said, "is there no end to your versatility?" Lucas thought it was time to get a word in, and Madame Bachels took this moment to throw a meaningful glance at her beautiful companion, a look which Elise Roche interpreted correctly as saying that here was not only a man reputed to be worth millions, but open-handed at that.
Lucas was saying, "Your escape will hearten your countrymen. Captain Barney. They say there is much discouragement in America. It has been a bad year."