Dawn on a Distant Shore
Page 77

"He ain't alone in that, now is he?" said Curiosity.
Giselle rose suddenly, her bracelets tinkling. "I was offering you a way to save these children from being delivered to Carryck. I see my concern is not welcome. I will bid you good day."
Curiosity held out her hand, fingers curling in an easy invitation. "Now hold on. You ain't afraid of a little straight talk, are you?"
Giselle slitted her eyes, but she sat again. Her back was as straight as a rifle, her head cocked at an angle.
They watched each other for a moment, and then Curiosity leaned forward as if she had a secret to tell. "You don' talk much to womenfolk, do you? Don' like dealing with your own kind if you can avoid it. Well, never mind, we won' keep you long. Now, this is what I see. Your daddy marrying you off to the captain to get shut of you. You just as glad to get away from him, and so off you go to Scotland. Ain't nothing unusual in any of it--women been trading one man for another as long as we been putting children in this world. But the captain don' suit you--maybe he ain't pretty enough, or maybe he too tame for you, or maybe you just don' want the vexation. So you set to run off from him before he can tie you down, legal like. Seen that happen before, too, and not so long ago. Sometimes women got to take things in they own hands, after all. Now, I can see you ain't slow-witted, so I expect you got a plan."
She paused, and because the younger woman did not correct her, she continued.
"I imagine you got some men bribed to look the other way when the time come. A boat, or a horse, or some way to put some distance betwixt yourself and the captain. Got your valuables tied up in a sack, ready to go, and you'll leave the rest behind, travel light and fast. Now, why would you want to drag a contentious old black woman and three little ones along when you on the run, and so much at stake? We cain't travel fast, and if you're interested in layin' low, why, we'll stick out like that old sore thumb folks always talking about. So I'm asking myself here, are you offering something, or are you looking for something?"
"How very clever of you," said Giselle Somerville in a chilly tone. "And what is your conclusion?"
Curiosity shrugged. "Money come to mind first. There's some gold around here someplace, and you'll have heard tell about that. Gold might be useful to you, even if we ain't."
Giselle smiled thinly. "As perceptive as you seem to be, you must have recognized already that money is of little concern to me."
Curiosity shrugged. "You ain't never been hungry, neither. But that day could come, and you don't seem the kind to jump without looking. And then agin maybe you don' care so much about gold as you do about gettin' your way when it comes to men. Showin' them for the fools they can be. Ain' that so?"
There was a glimmer of something in Giselle's eyes: satisfaction, or disdain. Curiosity nodded as though she had spoken out loud.
"I know, truly I do. Now, maybe it's just your daddy you want to get even with--but I'm wondering if there's something else. Maybe you got an eye on Nathaniel, ready to make him pay for what went on all those years ago. Maybe Otter was a part of that plan, and maybe this a part of it, too. Revenge is right tasty cold, after all.
"So you tell me, Miss Somerville, if I'm just a stupid old woman too scairt to think straight, or if you ain't tolt us the real story yet."
Giselle Somerville's gaze flickered toward Hannah and back again to Curiosity, even as she rose with a graceful swing of her skirt. "I have some things to consider before we continue our conversation," she said. "I bid you good day."
When she had closed the door behind herself, Curiosity turned to Hannah to grasp her hard by both hands. "Was the Osiris the ship that Moncrieff told you about?"
Hannah jerked in surprise. "Yes. I'm sure it was."
Curiosity smiled grimly. "And did Elizabeth take the gold with her when she went to see the governor?"
"One of the sacks, yes. She took it from the carry basket at the last minute."
"And the other sack? When did you see that last?"
Curiosity's expression was almost more upsetting to Hannah than Giselle Somerville's claims, but she tried to gather her thoughts.
"My grandfather had it. Why?"
Curiosity rose to pace the cabin, her arms crossed hard under her breasts and her chin tucked down in concentration. Then she stopped, and looked Hannah in the eye. "We ain't got nothing more than a little silver, then. But listen to me, child, we got to let her think that we got the gold here with us. Do you hear me?"
Hannah nodded, confused and distracted. "You don't believe her, do you? You don't think that Moncrieff--" She hesitated, because she could not say out loud what she feared might be true, that they might be alone not just on this wide sea, but that her father and grandfather and Elizabeth were nowhere to be found in the world at all.
Curiosity shook her head hard. "No. I don' believe her. That old earl wanted Hawkeye, and Moncrieff will deliver him if he can. But she's after something else, and I ain't sure what, yet. She gave away the game, you see, telling us that she's going to bolt."
"Maybe she won't," Hannah said. "Bolt, I mean. Maybe she just wanted to see how we'd react."
"Helping out Moncrieff, you mean? Spying for him?"
Confused, Hannah shook her head. "No, I suppose not. She doesn't like him much, does she?"