My Evening From Hell
by Lirulin
Disclaimer: The Mouse owns everything. I'm just borrowing the characters and make them do everything I want to...
I'm referring to my other story, 'The Red Stain', in here. It's not necessary that you read it, but a little self-advertisement never hurt... I had a lot of fun writing this, imagining all the 'proper ladies'... You'll see what I mean.
Enjoy!
I've now corrected a few mistakes. Thanks to East Coastie1500 for pointing out the 'ladies'-thing. That's what you get when English is not your mother tongue... Anyway, have fun with the improved version (though you probably won't notice a lot of differences)!
Today was going to be one of those evenings that 15-year-old Elizabeth Swann despised more than anything: a dinner party at their house. She would have to sit there, smile politely, and talk about such nonsense as the newest fashion from London with people she strongly disliked. And she wouldn't be able to get out of it earlier either, because it was taking place at their own home, and as the good daughter she was – at least most of the time – she couldn't just up and leave when it pleased her. It wasn't 'proper', as her father would say.
At the moment Elizabeth was standing in front of her wardrobe, trying to decide on what to wear. Estrella would be here soon, helping her with the corset and the dress. How she hated those dreadful things! She couldn't move properly, couldn't even breathe properly, was generally constrained and they were simply a nuisance, but since about two months her father insisted she wear them, because 'You are now a young lady and have to conduct yourself as such', as he had explained to her.
But Elizabeth didn't want to behave like that, because all the so called young ladies in her acquaintance were twittering, superficial fools who did have nothing at all in common with her. Unfortunately, it was impossible to argue with her father about this point and so she resigned herself to wearing the blasted corset – for the time being.
She finally decided on the light blue dress with the lace trimming, which was one of her favourites, when, perfectly timed, there came a knock at her door.
"Come in!"
Estrella entered, a smile on her face, came over to Elizabeth and picked up the corset, her gaze lingering on the dress.
"Is that what you want to wear, Miss Elizabeth? A fine choice, if I may say so. It suits you very well."
Elizabeth smiled thinly in thanks, then grabbed onto her bedpost as Estrella started tugging on the corset strings. She let out a startled gasp.
"Not that tight! I'm going to die from lack of air!"
Estrella stopped for a moment, frowning.
"But don't you want a nice, slim waist, Miss? All the ladies wear them like this now."
Elizabeth just shook her head. "I'm not 'all the ladies'. I still want to breathe. So, leave it like that. The dress will fit."
The maid obeyed, helping Elizabeth into the dress while talking about the upcoming evening.
"It's a grand event for us servants as well, when the Governor is hosting one of his dinner parties. We get to see all those important people in the elegant clothes. And the ladies' dresses are always so beautiful. The Governor sure has a hand for organizing splendid evenings like this... Such a shame that Captain Norrington won't be able to come..."
Elizabeth's head snapped up in surprise and shock. "What?"
Estrella clapped a hand over her mouth and looked quite contrite and apologetic. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss. I forgot to tell you. A message was dropped off this afternoon, saying that he had duties to attend to and could therefore unfortunately not come. I meant to tell you, Miss ..."
But Elizabeth wasn't listening any longer. Suddenly the evening promised to be even worse than what she had initially anticipated. She had hoped for a conversation with the one sane person present for at least a short amount of time, but now James wouldn't come. She could already hear Mrs. Anderson going on and on and on about how she had decided on the colour of her new curtains or why an ottoman was preferable to a divan or whatever.
How should she ever survive the evening?
"... Elizabeth? Miss Elizabeth?" She came back to reality and looked at Estrella.
"Pardon? I was lost in my thoughts."
"I said would you please sit down, Miss, so I can do your hair. The guests will be arriving soon."
Elizabeth slumped down on the chair in front of her dressing table, musing if it would be believable to be suddenly afflicted with a very serious and contagious disease, while Estrella put up her hair in an elaborate bun with a few locks hanging loose around her face.
888
At precisely six o'clock the guests started arriving and Elizabeth, standing beside her father, greeted them courteously with a smile, though she'd much rather scowl at them. It was "How do you do, Miss Wiltshaw?" left and "How nice of you to come, Mrs. Hillingsworth." right, and Elizabeth, soon tiring of groping for new, meaningless sentences, just repeated the same phrase over and over to everyone. They didn't care anyway.
After some drinks and small talk in the parlour, everyone proceeded to the dining room, where Elizabeth – much to her horror – was seated between Miss Kaitlyn Wiltshaw and Mrs. Margarete Reynolds, the worst gossips in all of Port Royal, who on top of that saw it as their personal duty to improve the life of others by giving them good advice – meaning they were constantly criticizing everyone in the most superior and annoying manner.
They were decidedly the least liked of Elizabeths' acquaintances, she already wondered what fault they would find with her today and she honestly began to think that her father wanted to punish her for something. The men were all seated at the other end of the table, so she could bury any hope for an interesting conversation there might have been.
"It was ever so nice of your father to invite us, Miss Swann."
Miss Wiltshaw started and from there on it went downhill. Elizabeth really tried to restrain herself and be polite, but it was so difficult not to retort with something scathing or sarcastic to the topics they chose to discuss.
It began during the soup.
"The weather was so terribly hot today. I felt so tired, I had to stay indoors all day and was prevented from doing anything."
Mrs. Reynolds nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean. It is impossible to even lift a finger in this heat. Don't you think so, Miss Swann?"
Elizabeth gripped her spoon tighter, fishing for the proper thing to say and not finding it.
"Well, I think the weather today has been quite like the weather was on every other day in the past three months. Perhaps you should have stayed in England if it is so displeasing to you. And I believe one can expect the Caribbean to be hot."
The ladies looked at her quite affronted and were silent, turning back to their soup.
Elizabeth looked enviously down the table to where the men were sitting, chatting amiably. She so wished for James to be there. Of course, they wouldn't have been able to talk much, he always behaved so very appropriate when they met in a social context, but perhaps they would have been able to trade a few words, something that could surely have lightened her mood.
He really was the only friend she had here, the only one she was able to relate to, because she knew that the ladies of Port Royal did not like her very much. It had been like this since she had met him on board the Dauntless, after she had managed to break through the wall he had erected around him and to see James Norrington behind the Navy officer he showed to the world.
She still remembered the occasion that had shown her she could really tell him everything, three years ago when he had explained to her – with much stammering and blushing – what becoming a woman meant. She still had to always start giggling when she pictured his red face and nervous countenance.
Perhaps she shouldn't have done so at this particular moment, because she was unable to hold back the sudden laughter... Now everyone was watching her oddly.
"I beg your pardon... I just... thought of something funny."
Gradually, they all turned back to their own business, but Miss Wilshaw could not refrain from commenting.
"You should keep your thoughts in check then, Miss Swann. A young lady does not laugh out loud."
Elizabeth felt her self-control slipping more and more.
"I imagine that it shouldn't be hard for you to keep your thoughts in check..." 'because there isn't much up there to check on'.
Miss Wiltshaw was still trying to find the hidden meaning behind Elizabeths' words and to decide whether to be offended or not, when she was placated by Mrs. Reynolds.
"You mustn't be angry with her, my dear. It's quite apparent that she lacks the guidance of a mother in her life. The Governor is much too indulgent."
Elizabeth gritted her teeth, very much wanting to just tell the 'lady' to shut up. "I'm certainly not lacking anything, madam. I'm ..."
Elizabeth was then interrupted as the main course was served, which at first seemed to pass quite uneventful with the usual chatter and gossip: 'Did you know that Mr. Lambert was seen down in the seedier parts of the town?'; 'Mrs. Donalds' dresses have grown in size again, isn't it shocking?'; and the constant talk about the weather.
But it would have been too much to ask for it to continue in this relatively peaceful manner. Soon enough, Mrs. Reynold's voice assaulted her again.
"Miss Swann, I really have only your best interests at heart and therefore I have to tell you that you ought to change your table manners."
Elizabeth looked at her incredulously. What was she going on about now? "Excuse me?"
Mrs. Reynolds adopted a patronizing and what she probably thought was a motherly expression.
"You should stop putting such large bites into your mouth. It is so very unbefitting of your station. A lady has to be dainty and genteel in every circumstance. And the way you are holding your glass! One would think it was a rum tankard."
Elizabeth gazed at this ... this harpy open-mouthed. She was holding her glass like everyone else! What was wrong with that woman?
Just as she was about to respond, Miss Wiltshaw had to pipe in as well. "It is quite rude to stare like that, Miss Swann. And you should close your mouth, it looks so unbecoming on a lady."
Elizabeth turned back to her meal, at a complete loss for words, internally seething and thinking she was slowly going insane. And she started cursing James. The bastard, leaving her alone like this. She was by now absolutely convinced that he had no duties to attend to, but that he simply hadn't wanted to come, because he hated those parties as much as she did. Oh, she would give him a good piece of her mind the next time she saw him!
Finally dessert came and Elizabeth was actually rather proud of herself, she had managed to say nothing too terribly rude, despite what had been flung at her. But things weren't developing in her favour.
After acertaining Mrs. Reynolds that yes, a tea-service with a floral design was much more the English way of living these days than just plain white china, Miss Wiltshaw turned to Elizabeth.
"Miss Swann, I only mean well for you, so I'm telling you that you should do something about your wardrobe. Your dress is lovely, of course, but it is so very out of date."
Elizabeth crushed the cherries in her bowl to mush.
Mrs. Reynolds only nodded. "She is quite right, my dear. And your complexion ... Perhaps you should stay indoors a bit more and not go down to the docks all the time. You are already developing a tan! How very unseemly for a Governor's daughter!"
And with that, Elizabeth reached her breaking point. She had endured their gossiping, their simpering, their inane remarks and little 'well-meaning advices' all evening and now she had had enough. She slammed her spoon down on the table and stood up, pushing back her chair so violently that it toppled over.
"Firstly, I like my looks just as they are, and it is none of your concern what I do, when I do it or how often. Secondly, I would never take advice on clothing from someone who wears an absolutely ridiculous red and green striped dress, I like my wardrobe as it is, thank you very much. And thirdly, my table manners are perfectly fine. If I ate like you, Mrs. Reynolds, I would probably starve pretty soon, which you don't seem to be doing. So perhaps you're compensating otherwise for your almost invisible bites.
"I don't care about how you want me to be or about being what you call a 'lady', because I'd much rather die than become like you, and there's very few that matters less to me than what you think about my person.
"I'm not interested in Mrs. Donald's dresses, for all I care she could go naked and if Mr. Lambert wants to visit a whore or two than he can be my guest. Don't you have a life, that you have to go meddling in the affairs of others? I've really had enough of your mindless talk, don't invite me to tea again."
With that Elizabeth stormed out of the Dining Room, up the stairs and into her chambers where she fell upon her bed, breathing heavily.
After some time, when she had calmed down a bit, she started thinking. It had felt extremely good to express all of those things for once and she had meant every word of it, but ... she had probably broken every rule of proper behaviour there was. She would be in deep trouble before the evening was over...
Still, she didn't regret it. It had been the truth, she wouldn't take her words back. But Elizabeth also realized that she had embarrassed her father, and that hadn't been her intention. She loved him very much, he was the best father a girl could wish for, but he was a stickler for propriety and what she had done just now...
Perhaps if she explained it to him... yes, she was sure he would understand her. He knew her temper after all...
She could hear the guests leaving and soon there was a knock at her door.
"Miss Elizabeth? Your father wants to see you in his study."
888
Elizabeth entered the room and saw her father standing at the window with his back towards her, and his posture exuded barely repressed anger.
"I am very disappointed in you, Elizabeth. I thought I had raised you better. What you did today was completely unacceptable."
He sounded so cold and Elizabeth swallowed. She really hadn't meant to...
"I'm so sorry father."
He turned around then, regarding her with a mixture of veiled fury and cool indifference.
"As you should be. You will visit the ladies in question and apologize to them. Tomorrow."
Elizabeth frowned, feeling her own anger beginning to rise.
"No, wait! That's not what I meant. I'm sorry for embarrassing you in front of all those people, I didn't think about you then, but I'm not sorry for the words I said. And I certainly will not apologize to those ... those ... whatever."
The Governor's lips thinned and he now looked about ready to burst.
"Of course you will! Your behaviour was absolutely appalling and improper, not to say disgusting. You completely abandoned politeness and insulted our guests quite severly. It cannot, and it will not, go on like this, Elizabeth. You will do something about your manners, or face the consequences."
Elizabeth was quickly becoming mad at him. Why couldn't he see her point?
"I will not! I was telling the truth and I won't apologize for that. My manners are alright, but can't you understand that it is torture for me to converse with these people? We have nothing in common and they are always so false and hypocritical! I cannot bear it!"
By now, they were both yelling quite loudly.
"You are a lady of high station and you will conduct yourself as such!"
"But what if I don't want to be a lady?"
He waved her comment away like one would an annoying insect.
"Nonsense! When will you grow up? You are still behaving like a little child!"
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did he really know so little about her?
"I'm not childish! I'm honest! I'm different from them"
Her father laughed mirthlessly.
"You are impolite and way too wild. Perhaps you really lacked a mother to show you what it means to be lady. If you continue on this way, being so rude and unruly as you currently are, I will never be able to find you a suitable husband."
Elizabeth took a few steps back. Where had that come from?
"Husband? What do you mean?"
He looked at her disbelievingly.
"You did understand me perfectly well. You're fifteen already, Elizabeth. Soon you will be of the age to marry and I have to find you a good husband. In fact, I started looking around already, but with the attitude you are displaying, it will be difficult."
She now felt as if someone had slapped her right in the face. He couldn't be serious, could he? And righteous indignation was boiling up in her.
"You did what? You are looking for a husband for me ... without even asking me? I don't want to marry, not yet, and certainly not someone you decide upon. If I marry someday, it will only be for love. Who or what gives you the right to just plot my whole life like that?"
Elizabeth was very hurt and quite a bit furious now. She had never thought her father would do something like that.
"That is ridiculous, Elizabeth. Of course it will not be today or tomorrow or anytime this year or perhaps even the next, but certainly you'll marry whom I decide on."
She was gasping for air now. What was going on? She had never seen him like this.
"I will not! I'm not some property you can do with as you please!"
"I am your father, and you will do as I say!"
Tears started to form in Elizabeth eyes. Never ever had he treated her like this. And it hurt very much.
"Never!", she whispered, then turned around and left the room, running across the entrance hall and out of the front door. She just wanted to get away. Behind her, she could hear her father calling her name, but she didn't listen, she just kept running, away from the house and into the nightly streets of Port Royal.
888
When Elizabeth noticed where her feet had carried her, she couldn't help smiling slightly, despite the tears still running down her cheeks. She was standing directly in front of the house of one Captain James Norrington.
It was actually quite natural of her to come here, after all she trusted James implicitly and knew she could tell him everything, so she quickly walked up to the front entrance and knocked loudly.
It took some time before she heard footsteps approaching and then the door was opened a bit. Elizabeth could see that it was James and as soon as he recognized her, he opened it fully, looking at her with great surprise.
"Elizabeth! What are you doing here?"
She noticed that he wasn't wearing his uniform and wig, looking quite casual with his brown breeches and white linen shirt. It would be easier to talk to him like this. He was more relaxed then.
"Can I come in?"
James noticed the tear tracks on her face and stepped aside to let her pass.
"What's wrong?"
Elizabeth looked at him, seeing the concern in his eyes and began crying. "I ... I ..."
James started panicking a bit. He hated crying women and always saw to it that he was far, far away when it happened, but this was his dear Elizabeth and it was almost breaking his heart to see her like this. She was normally such a strong person.
He knew it was more than improper and indecent to let a young woman without escort into his house at this time of the night, but she was very important to him and he desperately wanted to help her. Propriety be damned for now! So he patted her back awkwardly, not quite knowing what else to do and then guided her into the sitting room where he gently pushed her down onto the sofa. Then he sat down next to her.
"Now please tell me what's wrong."
Elizabeth was grateful for his attempts at consoling her, feeble as they were, and started wiping her eyes and trying to regain her composure.
"He's so stupid!" She was glad that she didn't have to be coherent with James and could just speak her mind, though he was quite confused right now.
"Who?"
"My father!"
Elizabeth leaned her head on his shoulder and started telling him everything about the disastrous evening. How the ladies had picked on her, how she had blown up, about the row with her father and what he had said to her.
"And then I just left and came here. I couldn't stay a minute longer. I mean, he can't treat me like this. And it hurts that he doesn't understand me at all."
She stopped and they sat in companionable silence for a time. It felt good to have just said it out loud to someone who actually listened.
"Well, you have to admit that it was kind of ... rash, what you did in this dining room."
Elizabeth had known he would say something like this.
"Yes, of course, but don't you understand..."
James interrupted her, holding up his hand.
"I do understand you very well, but you still shouldn't have said all those things."
Sometimes he could be so frustrating! "It was the truth!"
Now she saw him smirking slightly.
"It certainly was. I couldn't have expressed it in better words than you. And I also understand that you lost control with those two particular ladies, but you surely realize that it wasn't very wise. It is a fact that you are the Governor's daughter and everything you do reflects back on him. On top of that, Mrs. Reynold's husband has quite influential friends in London."
He left that statement hanging in the air and Elizabeth averted her eyes in shame.
"I know. And I really didn't want to compromise my father. Perhaps if I had worded it differently, not quite so bitingly... But I was so angry, James! And I had been on edge the whole evening!"
She clenched her fists so tightly that the knuckles turned white and James took hold of one hand lightly, easing her fingers open again.
"I understand you perfectly well. You don't know how often I have wished to do just that, tell everyone what I really think about them. Nevertheless, you will have to apologize."
Elizabeth looked at him with wide eyes.
"Why? It was the truth!"
James sighed and explained paitently,
"I know it was the truth – for you and me. But not for them and for the rest of Port Royal. They don't see the world as you do and will therefore never be able to understand you, much less realize their own faults. You have to apologize because it could have repercussions for you and your father if you don't. And by the way ... you can always word an apology so that it isn't really one. They only hear what they want to anyways."
James smiled at her and suddenly she was feeling a lot better, as if part of this terrible tension she had felt the whole evening had been lifted off of her. And she could definitely see his point when he was putting it like this...
"Alright, so I'll apologize to them, but...", and here she faltered, because she wasn't sure of the right words to convey what she felt. "... but what father then said ... about marrying and such ... I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He treated me like some kind of price he would give to the highest bidder. He has never talked to me like this. I mean, he cannot command me to marry, I'm not a doll!"
She had gotten up from the sofa and was now pacing the length of the room, becoming agitated and angry just thinking about it. James watched her, not quite knowing how to respond. This topic was rather difficult to discuss.
"You know that it is common practice for the parents to pick their childrens' spouses..."
Elizabeth rounded on him with blazing eyes.
"So you think it is right to force someone into spending their lifetime with a person they probably don't even know before the marriage?"
James was once again astounded by how passionately Elizabeth could be once the topic of discussion affected her personally. She was really the most extraordinary person to converse with...
"That's not what I said. I just pointed out to you that it is normal for parents to act like that. Your father is actually behaving very uncommon in regard to the standards of our society. Personally, I don't think it is right to arrange marriages. Of course, there are cases where everything works out just fine, but more often than not it brings only pain to all who are involved. But that's how it is."
Elizabeth knew he was speaking about his parents, he had told her a bit about their marriage some months ago. She was, once again, so very glad to have him in her life and that their friendship had deepened over the years. What would she do without someone who understood her almost completely?
"Society's rules are so oppressing. Especially for women. Everything is regulated, from what we wear to what we are allowed to do, even to whom we are to marry. I feel chained, James, as if I'm slowly being suffocated. And it's worsening the older I get."
She sat down again, burying her head in her hands. James was at a loss at how to help her. He saw perfectly clear that a life as was dictated by the rules of the upper class could be the death of a girl like Elizabeth, but he couldn't see a way to ease her pain. So he settled for the only thing he could do: rubbing her back comfortingly and telling her the truth.
"I cannot help you there, Elizabeth, as much as I would like to. Because I don't know how. I'm sorry."
But that was alright for Elizabeth. It had been good to finally let out what had been building up in her for months. And she didn't expect James to suddenly have a solution for all her problems. It was enough that he listened to her.
"You don't have to be sorry. Let's change the subject, it's depressing me a bit. Now, what shall I do about my father? What shall I do if he actually carries through with what he said?"
Just thinking about it made her sad and angry at the same time. How could he?
James contemplated her question, thinking about the Governor as he had gotten to know the man and comparing this picture to what Elizabeth had told him.
"Perhaps it was just his anger speaking. Perhaps he was so riled up that he could not control his thoughts and emotions any longer and just tried to demonstrate that he is still in command. You should go home and..."
"No!" Elizabeth was glaring at him, her stubbornness winning over. "I will not! If he didn't mean it, he has to apologize to me for hurting and scaring me."
James sighed, it seemed to be difficult to convince her otherwise.
"Look, I'm sure your father is worried about you right now. You really should return home and speak to him once more. That's the only way to resolve your argument and to be reconciled to him"
Elizabeth looked thoughtful for a moment, then something passed through her eyes, too quickly for him to recognize.
"No, I'll not go."
"Now, please do not be ridiculous, Elizabeth. Where would you plan to stay?"
She looked at him confused, as if the answer was very obvious.
"Why, here of course! What did you think?"
He reared back in shock.
"Now that's going to far, Elizabeth! You cannot... Think about your reputation!"
Even suggesting something like that, it was preposterous! What was going through her head? James looked at her flustered, fully intending to tell her how very more than improper she was being, when he saw the big smile on her face.
"Just kidding! And you fell for it!"
Then she started laughing, while James opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing what to say.
"As if I would do something like that. I would never dream of compromising you thus, James."
Elizabeth thought it was very funny how she always managed to ruffle his calm with simple sentences. After some more moments, James joined her in her laughter and for a time that was all that could be heard.
But soon enough, James composed himself again and returned to the matter at hand.
"So, I suggest I accompany you home now, as it is already very late. Perhaps I can have a word with your father as well, probably smooth down some things."
Elizabeth nodded in agreement, being so glad she had gone to him. Now everything didn't look so terrible anymore, her anger had mostly ebbed away and she felt she would be able to return to her father.
James quickly went and fetched a coat for himself and for her, as the night air could be quite chilly, and together they proceeded to the Governor's mansion.
888
Arriving there, they saw the house ablaze with light and people running around hecticly. As soon as Elizabeth knocked, the door was thrown open, her father standing in the entrance way, fear and worry evident in his eyes.
"Elizabeth! You're safe!"
And he drew her into his arms, just holding her for a few moments. Then he looked over at James.
"Captain Norrington, thank you so much for bringing Elizabeth home. Where did you find her?"
James looked down briefly and Elizabeth saw him smothering a grin before he straightened up.
"Actually, I didn't find her, sir. She came to my house."
The Governor looked at his daughter in shock and indignance and Elizabeth sighed internally. Now she'd gone and done something inappropriate again. But before he could say anything, James was speaking up, successfully diverting the attention from Elizabeth to himself.
"I know the hour is very late, Governor, but could I have a moment of your time – in private?"
And he cast a meaningful glance in Elizabeth's direction.
"Yes... yes of course, Captain. Follow me."
They went into the study, closing the door behind them, and Elizabeth didn't even try to listen in on them. She was certain James would tell the right things...
Elizabeth never discovered what James told her father that night, but when the two emerged from the study, her father immediately embraced her tightly, apologizing for the harsh words he had said to her and assuring her that he would never force her into anything she didn't want. She almost started crying again then, that was her daddy as she knew him.
After a few more moments, the Governor excused himself, stating he was very tired and would now go to bed immediately, bidding James a good night and asking Elizabeth to accompany him to the door. She did so gladly, as she still had to tell him something.
"James, thank you so much for what you have done for me this evening. I don't know what I would have done without you. Thank you for everything. And I want you to know... our friendship really means so much to me. I'd be lost without it."
He smiled at her then, the true smile that was so rare on his face. Elizabeth really liked to see it ...
"That's what friends are for. And our friendship means a lot to me as well. I'm glad that I was able to help you. Anytime. But I really have to go now, it's past midnight already. We can speak more at another time."
He kissed her hand lightly and then strode down the path to the gate. Suddenly, Elizabeth remembered something.
"James! What important duties did you have to attend to, that prevented you from coming to our splendid dinner party?"
The wind carried his chuckle to her ears. It sounded somewhat sheepish.
"I'll tell you at another time. I'm too tired right now. Good night, Elizabeth."
She grinned quietly to herself, closing the door and heading to her room. Truth be told, she was very tired as well and went to bed right away. It had been a rather exciting evening, emotionally, and she just wanted to go to sleep now.
But on the brink into the land of dreams a last, rather odd thought entered her head: "Strange, I never noticed how exceptionally green James' eyes are ..."
THE END
Hope you liked it! Please leave a review, Captain Norrington is commanding you to do it. I wouldn't want to oppose him...