The Captain's Daughter (33 page)

She sat with
her eyes misted with tears, looking at but not really seeing, the old man
enjoying his last remaining pleasure, until Ben returned.

As he
accompanied Amy and her sisters and Leo to the front door he told them: “The
weather seems so unusually warm and pleasant that I’ve engaged a boat. I will
deliver a formal invitation later today, but I am going to invite your family
and the Ramseys, and you too Leo, to join me in a sail up the Thames this
Saturday.”

Back at the
Ramsey’s house, with no one else present, Amy sat down with her mother and
father. She had a long talk with them, and her mother finally confessed all she
knew and confirmed what Sam Grieves had told Amy.

Saturday proved
to be a
warm, balmy, and pleasant day. When they arrived on board the richly decorated
pleasure boat that Ben had engaged, an old lady was sitting in the shade under
one of the awnings. Lady Sibbridge stared at her for a few moments, and then
recognition and delight set in.

“Caroline!”

Amy was
puzzled, but Ben, who was watching carefully, smiled.

“I had some
difficulty locating her,” he told Amy and the others, “especially so quickly.”

“Who is she,”
whispered Amy?

He led her to
the old lady.

“Amy, or rather
Agnes Buchanan, this is your grandmother. Mrs. Buchanan, this is Agnes the
granddaughter you haven’t seen these past twenty years. We know her as
Amaryllis.”

The old lady
looked at Amy intently for a moment, and then recognition of the family
resemblance swept over her. Grinning, the old woman beckoned her over. Amy
embraced the old lady and her grandmother hugged her tightly.

As the boat
pushed away from the wharf and the watermen propelled the boat upriver, Amy
discovered that Ben had hired a small group of musicians to play for them.
Mattie and Leo wandered to the fore of the boat to be alone, and Emma, fully
her old self began to examine all the mechanics involved in a Thames pleasure
boat, and where she could, thoroughly questioning members of the crew. This
left her parents, the Ramseys, Amy, Ben, and her newfound grandmother, Caroline
Buchanan, sitting around a small table under the central canopy as they were
served refreshments.

Amy had many
questions for her grandmother. The old lady knew the true identity of the woman
and child in the cemetery, but remained silent for the safety of Amy and Madge,
and she said it gave the young Sallison woman a decent Christian burial,
something she would not likely have received from her father or even the
church, since her babe was conceived out of wedlock.

“At the burial,
we requested that the minister not mention the name of the woman and child,
which he like the others believed to be the captain’s wife and daughter. We
gave some reason which I don’t quite remember. He was puzzled, but he still
complied with our wishes.”

Amy received
many compliments from those sitting around the table for her courage and
fortitude.

“There are men
that your father and I fought alongside in the old days that would not have
shown such courage,” said Sir Frank.

“What I still
don’t understand,” said Amy, “is why they wanted to kill me.”

“Because you
had supplanted Ishmael as the heir to the estate of Sir Hugh Anselan, is the
way I understand it,” said Lady Ramsey.

“But that’s the
point,” said Amy. “There is no estate. Ishmael squandered away all Sir Hugh’s
money.”

“No he didn’t!”

It was Caroline
Buchanan that spoke, and they all turned and looked at the old lady.

“But everything
I’ve heard is that Ishmael lost the shipping line, Sir Hugh’s estate at
Broomlee Park, and the entire inheritance from Sir Hugh.”

“That he did,”
agreed Amy’s grandmother, “as far as the shipping line and the business
interests in Bristol, but that was not all of what Sir Hugh owned.”

“I’m not sure I
understand,” said Amy. “When Ishmael had my father murdered, didn’t that leave
him as the sole heir to all that Sir Hugh owned?”

“Well dear,”
the old lady said, “the shipping line was far from all that my brother
possessed. My brother, Sir Hugh, was a good man in his own way, but he was also
a very ambitious man. And like many ambitious men his ambition overruled his
heart. He wanted what he saw as the best for me, since I was his little sister.
He wanted me to marry a duke, an earl, or a marquis. He wanted me to marry into
a noble family.”

“He was
disappointed when you married my grandfather?”

“He was more
than disappointed. When I fell in love with your grandfather, a humble doctor,
my brother was outraged. He thought I had thrown myself away and ruined my
future. I knew otherwise. My beloved husband, so long gone, but the man I will
love until my last day on this earth, and I hope beyond, died treating the
sick. To me he died a hero. For many years my brother would have nothing to do
with me, but as the years went by, and your father grew into a fine youth, he
gradually softened.”

“How did my
father end up as one of his captains?”

“Your father
went to sea, and when he worked up to first mate, my brother, Sir Hugh, had
become reconciled to us and he hired your father. Eventually, when Ishmael
turned out to be such a wastrel and scoundrel, he decided to make your father
his heir. Sir Hugh had come to love the son of his little sister.”

“And that is
why he wanted to make my father the heir to all his possessions, and that is
why Ishmael had my father murdered.”

“Not heir to
all
his possessions,” said the old lady. “Heir to the shipping business. My brother
made a great deal of money with his ships, and the other matters of trade he
was involved in, such as the cotton trade. When his son turned out bad, he
decided to change his will, and you can believe Ishmael knew all about it.
Hoping that Ishmael’s child would be better than its father, he chose to leave
the bulk of all he owned to his grandchild. So he put most of his holdings in a
trust that would go to his grandchild on the child’s twenty-first birthday, and
thus bypass Ishmael altogether.”

“But where do I
come in?” Amy questioned her grandmother.

“My brother was
a practical and realistic man. He knew that things do not always work out as
intended. He realized that Ishmael might not become a father. Perhaps he had
reason to fear such an outcome. At any rate, the trust also stipulated that if
he had no grandchild then his sister’s grandchild would become the heir. Only
in the event that neither he nor his sister had grandchildren would the estate
pass back to Ishmael, but he would have to wait until his sixtieth birthday.”

“So as long as
he thought I was no longer alive, Ishmael was the sole heir.”

“Yes,” said her
grandmother. “I understand that he wanted to speed up receiving his inheritance
by appealing to the Court of Chancery, since they could override the trust, but
everyone knows how slow they are because of massive backlogs, although that was
not Ishmael’s main problem. The Court of Chancery charges exorbitant fees.
Ishmael was struggling to accumulate enough money through his nefarious
activities, and then he learned that you were alive. Now you stood in his way.
He had two choices. One was to somehow compel you to renounce the estate,
likely by in some way forcing you to say you were not Captain Buchanan’s
child...”

“Or to kill
me,” interupted Amy.

“Or to kill
you,” repeated her grandmother. “Accomplishing what he tried and failed twenty
years ago. He had no time to wait. You are about to turn twenty-one, and on
that day he would be entirely cut out as heir. He had to have you removed
before that day dawned.”

At dusk, their
boat turned and began to drift down the River Thames, no longer requiring the
earnest efforts of the watermen, as the boat only needed a little guidance and
encouragement.

Ben and Amy had
been strolling around the boat deep in conversation. Mattie and Leo were
sitting on a bench near the rear of the boat, where they had been for hours,
the musicians were now silent, and the older folks still sat around the table
in hushed conversation, mostly talking of the old days.

Finally, Ben
and Amy joined them. Unexpectedly, Sir Frank took them by surprise with a
question that might have been fueled by the good Spanish sherry he had been
imbibing, because he was usually a discreet and discerning man.

“Well, Sir
Benjamin and Lady Amy, have you two given any thought to the prospects of
wedded bliss?”

“We were just
discussing that as the sun went down, Sir Frank.”

“Well?”

“Amy and I have
decided to merge our persons and our fortunes into one. I had to think about it
some, since she is now richer than I am, or will be within a month, but finally
I decided that marrying an heiress is not really a bad idea.”

“How do your
mother and father feel about it?”

Sir Frank
looked at Sir Anthony and Lady Sibbridge. Lady Sibbridge had a pleased smile,
but what more surprised Sir Frank was the large grin on the face of Amy’s
father.

“What date have
you set for—how did you put it—the merger?”

“Our marriage?”
said Amy. “We haven’t yet determined that. Ben has some matters to complete
which might take him out of the country for a short time, and when these are
taken care of, you will be the first to know.”

“That seems
fair enough,” said Sir Frank, and the conversation of the elders, about such
matters as only old folks are interested in, resumed.

Ben took Amy’s
hand and strolled to a part of the boat where they would be unseen by any other
save one dozing waterman. Ben looked at her and their eyes met as one. She
turned to look at the river.

“What are you
thinking right now?” he whispered in her ear.

“Oh, it’s
nothing,” she said.

“Go ahead tell
me.”

She looked at
him and grinned.

“I was
wondering, do you think I should become a sea captain? After all, I am the
captain’s daughter.”

He folded her
in his arms and they kissed long and passionately. That night, the night of
Saturday, the fifth day of October in the year of our Lord 1793, was also the
night of the new moon, so no silver orb looked upon them from the heavens. But
they had no need of the moon, or the stars, or even the sun itself, because none
could outshine the light they saw in each other’s eyes.

Andre
Chenier

Andre Chenier
was a French poet and writer who found himself deeply at odds with the Reign of
Terror. He was guillotined for alleged crimes against the state, on July 25,
1794, at the age of 31. He had remained successfully in hiding until he was
captured by chance when the authorities were searching for someone else.
Ironically and sadly, the Reign of Terror is considered to have ended just
three days later, on July 28, 1794, when its leaders and chief agents were
suddenly driven from power and themselves executed. Andre Chenier has been the
subject of an opera and literary works and is much admired. Whether or not
Pierre Marie Chevalier was indeed Andre Chenier, we do not know. It is however,
plausible. During much of 1793 when the events of our story take place he was
in hiding. He could have been anywhere, during that period. Andre Chenier did
not like England, but as the old saying goes, any port in a storm.

About the Author~~

Minnie Simpson is a pseudonym, a pen name. Minnie Simpson
was the name of the writer’s grandmother, whom the writer wished to honor by
naming her the author of
The Captain’s Daughter
. She was a remarkable
lady. Born long ago in Dunfermline, she remembered when she was in school, Andy
Carnegie visited her classroom. At one time he was the richest man in the
world. Also, she loved to tell the story of how, when the author’s grandfather
was courting her, he rode his horse into one of the finest restaurants in
Glasgow, because she was inside. It much impressed her, and some other people
were very likely impressed as well. During the war in South Africa, he served
with the Queen’s Own 3
^rd
Glasgow Yeomanry. While on scout patrol,
his horse fell into a trap dug by the enemy and he was injured. On his return
home, he was honored by being made an Appointed Burgess of the City of Glasgow.
In 1914, he died as a result of his war injury. Now a widow, Minnie worked on
passenger ships during the 1920s. On one occasion she struggled to try and save
the life of a desperately ill young woman because the ship’s doctor was too
drunk to help. About that time she met Sam, her second husband. He was the
perfect husband for Minnie. Sam had been torpedoed during the First World War
while serving as a radio operator. Minnie lived to a good age and left this
world a better place.

Also
from ERAMONT publishers:

GOOD AND EVIL

on the

ISLAND OF DRAGONS

by Eric Aitken

Just before 1900, Robert MacPherson grew up with a deep
desire to be a missionary, but lacking both the formal training and money he
needed, he apprenticed himself to an older doctor with the idea of becoming a
medical missionary. On his way to his intended mission, he is waylaid in a small
East Indies port. What follows are shark infested seas, terrifying jungles,
ruthless pirates, and an armed rebellion. Even more troubling is his conflict
with an older missionary whom Robert feels has betrayed his faith. He must
fight all these enemies as well as seeking for a treasure on an island that is
home to strange dragon-like monsters, all the while battling his own
self-doubts about his faith. Amidst all these things he has a doomed love
affair with a fragile and beautiful local girl. This is Robert’s adventures and
struggles in the story of good and evil on the Island of Dragons.

Available through Amazon Kindle and in paperback.