Miss Whittier Makes a List (37 page)

“
Because she is a to
tt
y-headed female,
”
he replied.
“
I
have known her for years as a sensible
Nantucket
girl, a
nd
now s
e
e what happens when she gets one ocean voyage!
”

Yes, indeed, Hannah thought as the jolly boat swun
g
around to meet the
Dauntless.
I do not know that I woul
d
recognize myself if I saw me on the stre
e
t. I used to be biddable, like Mama, never saying
boo
to a goose
,
and here
I
sit beside the Viscount of Wellington, one of the great me
n
of
Europe
. She rested her chin in her hand. And somewher
e
Daniel Spark needs me.

Hannah spent the voyage from Lisbon to London in
t
h
e
great cabin that the captain had vacated for Wellington
,
listening to rain scour the deck of the cruiser, and working he
r
way through a great pile of darning.
“
Thee does not have
a
pair of socks without holes,
”
she grumbled to the viscou
n
t as he sat day after day in the cabin, bringing his journal up to
date and writing reports.

“
My dear, that is yet another unglamorous
consequence
of war,
”
he murm
ured as he wrote.
“
Does
‘
attrition
’
have
one
‘
t
’
or two?
”

“
It has three,
”
she re
plied, and he threw down his pen
.
“
Well, it does.
”

He shook his head, smiled at her, and picked up the pe
n
again.
“
Captain Spark must be a man of considerable patience to tolerate you,
”
he said, his eyes on the repo
rt
spread before him.

“
Oh, he has no patience at all,
”
she said, cutting th
e
thread with her te
eth and picking up another sock,
quite unruffled by his jest.
“
He calls me dreadful things like
‘
shar
k
chum,
’
and blasphemes and uses expressions that
would
make my mother go into spasms.
”

“
And he has no qualms about impressing Americans,
”
Adam added from his
corner
by the stem galley.

“
Has the man any good qualities?
”
Wellington
asked, putting down his pen at last and rubbing his eyes.

Hannah was silent as she bent over her darning. He loves me, she thought, and that shows right good sense. He kisses most excellently, and that is nothing to tell the Viscount of Wellington.
“
He is fearless in a fight,
”
she said at last.
“
And
 
... and when I am afraid of something, like climbing the rigging, he makes me face do
wn my fear until it does not sc
are me any longer.
”

“
Excellent man,
”
Wellington
said. He rested his head in his hand.
“
I could use him when I visit Whitehall next week and try to explain to the
ar
mchair generals why I lost so many men at Vimeiro and why we struggle now to hang on to Lisbon.
”
He was silent then, his sharp features shadowed and then revealed by the swaying lamp.

Ha
nnah
put down her darning.
“
Captain Spark would say that once thee has faced the guns, nothing can frighten thee,
”
she said, her voice soft.

Wellington
looked at her and nodded.
“
You are right, of course.
”
He reached across the table and touched her cheek.
“
And I think I understand why Captain Spark tolerates you.
”

She blushed and picked up the sock again.
“
Sir, I think if thee would cut thy toenails more regularly, thee would have better socks.
”

“
Hannah!
”
Adam groaned.
“
Won
’
t thee ever be still?
”

She grew quieter as they reached the coast of
England
and sailed into
Portsmouth
Harbor
, wondering why she had
not just
given the dispatch to
Wellington
, as Adam had suggested. We could be on our way home, and I would eventually forget Daniel Spark, she thought as she stared out the stem gallery windows to the gray ocean, rising and falling on oily swells. As the anchor chain ran out of the hawser hole and the sailors furled the sails in
Portsmouth
Harbor
,
she told herself that once she knew for certain that he was well, she would have no trouble leaving. Not a bit.

The further benefit of being pressed into the service of Arthur Wellesley, Viscount of Wellington, showed itself as soon as they drew up to the wharf, where a post chaise waited.
Wellington
flipped a coin to the helmsman while Adam lifted Hannah onto the dock. He bundled them inside the post chaise and nodded to the coachman.
“
These are good horses?
”
he asked the coachman.

The man grinned and bowed.
“
Oh,
yes, my lord.
”

“
Then spring
’
em, my good man,
”
Wellington
commanded.
“
We have a date at the Admiralty.
”

They drove all night, Hannah asleep against the viscount
’
s shoulder as they raced through the silent count
r
yside. When she woke in the morning, her neck stiff and her back aching, she wondered if he had slept at all. He was staring out the window, his eyes half closed, his expression unreadable, as though his body was here in the coach but his hea
rt
remained in
Lisbon
with his troops.

She sat up, and he glanced at her, then resumed his stare out the window.
“
Have you e
ver considered, my lord,
how often in life we find ourselves wishing we were where we are not?
”
she murm
ured.
“
It seems that is all I have done lately, and I think thee has the same difficulty.
”

He nodded.
“
I should be in
Lisbon
. Oh, Beresford knows his business, and mine, too, but I am commanding.
”
He clapped his hands together in a frustrated gesture.
“
It is so hard to convince people that I truly know what I am doing. I know how to fight Napoleon, and it is not by explaining my every move to the First Minister!
”

He paused then, as if surprised at his vehemence.
“
Well, we a
l
l have our troubles. Hannah, what will you do once you have given Captain Spark the dispatch?
”

“
I expect I will return to
America
,
”
she replied,
wishing the idea had more appeal.

“
I wonder,
”
he said
,
then
star
ed out the window again.

Her first view of
< />
London
was hazy smoke rising from countless chi
mneys,
to drift, dirt-colored, around low clouds that promised rain again. She looked for
St. Paul
’
s Cathedral, which she had seen in books, but it
was obscured by the fog that sett
led everywhere. She shivered.
“
When did summer end?
”
she asked of no one in particular.

“
I think when you were below deck darning socks,
”
the
viscount
said.
“
I trust you have bett
er weather in
America
. I know we do in
Spain
.
”
His voice sounded wistful, as though he wished himself back to the hot summers on high plateaus.

It was well past noon when the post chaise slowed to a stop in front of the three heavy pillars distinguishing the Admiralty House from other, less dramatic government buildings. The viscount helped Hannah from the carriage and stood there a moment, his hands in his
poc
kets.
“
Perhaps I should come in with you,
”
he said at last.
“
My own business can wait, and I worry about what kind of reception you Americans might get from the porter.
”