The Commodore's Daughter
Chapter Two
Well, you can't say the reaction to Father's news was not spectacular, Anna thought grimly half an hour later, locked in the safety of her room and pacing the floor. Elizabeth had nearly fainted, and her mother had gone into hysterics, something she was prone to do. It had taken smelling salts, shakes, and repeated calls of "Mary!" from her husband to bring Mrs. Norrington around, and then she had clung, weepy, to her husband's shoulder and refused to be dislodged. Anna was quite glad to be able to escape to her chamber, and she suspected Thomas was as well.
She sighed and sat down hard in the chair by her desk. How could her father be court-martialed? Even if the nobles in England had not approved of his pirate-chasing, they had to admit that the pirates were almost gone from the Caribbean. And he had served the navy faithfully for thirty years. Anna groaned and ran her hands distractedly through her waist-length chestnut hair. Something had to be done, and soon.
Not for an instant did Anna believe the court's charge of smuggling. In fact, the very thought of her father, who had devoted his life to getting rid of pirates and smugglers, taking up that trade himself made her smile mirthlessly. If they were so bound and determined to get him out of the navy, she thought, they might at least have trumped up a charge that made a little sense.
Therefore, her task was blessedly simple - to prove beyond a doubt that her father would not only abhor the very idea of smuggling, but had not smuggled anything on the Mercury's last voyage. And for that she would need the ship's account books and records - and for that she would need Gillette. Anna sprang from her chair, relieved to have a purpose now, and ran squarely into Thomas, who had just opened her door. Both fell flat on their backs, Thomas outside Anna's room and his sister inside it. When they stood, however, they were laughing. "Might I ask," Anna said when she had gotten her breath back, "why you felt that I needed to have my skull cracked?"
Thomas' blue eyes, identical to hers, bore none of their usual spark. They were serious as he regarded his sister. "I thought you might know where the Mercury's records for this last voyage are." Anna saw instantly that her brother had reached the same conclusions she had, and she nodded in answer to his question. "I thought we should see if we can prove those lying bas-"
"Thomas!" Anna warned.
"Sorry. Those liars in England. I thought we should see if we can prove them wrong."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Anna mustered a smile for her brother, but it was too brittle to pass as real. She was grateful for Thomas' tact in not pointing out that fact. "I thought Gillette would be most likely to know where the records are."
"Good idea!" It seemed that Thomas had not thought of that. "Where would he be?"
"Father would know, but I'm not sure if we should ask him - oh, wait, I feel so stupid! Gillette would be at his house, of course! He's been gone for a year - naturally he'd go home first thing!" Anna raced to her bed and snatched up her hat - and then froze mid-grab. "Only, where would his house be?"
"Easy," Thomas said. "The middle middle-class section of Port Royal." Anna looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raised, and Thomas sighed with all the impatience of a fourteen-year-old boy. "Think about it, Anna! He's a captain, so he doesn't make a great deal of money. However, he and his wife both come from two of the better middle-class Port Royal families, so they would live in the nice-but-not-too-nice section." Thomas crossed his arms as though he were a lawyer and had just delivered the speech that would win him his case.
Anna paused a moment, thinking over what he'd said, and smiled. "That's why we make a good team, Thomas." He beamed, exchanging the victorious look for one of pride at her praise. "You go tell Father, and I'll look at the city layout. We have one in the study, don't we?" At Thomas' nod, she tied her hat onto her head and followed him out of the door. They split at the staircase, Thomas heading downstairs to the drawing room, Anna across the hallway to the study.
When Commodore Norrington had gotten married, one of the first things he had done in the new house he'd bought for himself and his wife was to outfit a proper study. Anna and Thomas had used it often in the past year, and so Anna knew exactly where to go for the plan of Port Royal's layout - the third drawer from the top in the largest cabinet. Pulling the drawer open, she withdrew a large rolled-up piece of paper and spread it out on the desk in the study. She found the Norringtons' home with ease - it was located close to the bluff overlooking the Caribbean Sea. From there, her finger traced down the streets and through districts until she found the one she wanted. Luckily, it was not too large - she and Thomas would not get hopelessly lost wandering around it. Anna wished she could take the city layout, just in case, but the thought of it getting lost on some street of Port Royal made her shiver. She rolled it up carefully and slipped it back in the desk drawer.
The door to the study opened; Anna turned around. "Well?" she demanded of Thomas. "I've figured out where Gillette's district would be. Can we go?"
Thomas nodded. "He said be back by suppertime, no later, so we have the whole afternoon."
"Come on, then!" Even in a heavy dress and holding her hat onto her head, Anna was nearly out of the study door before Thomas.
***
Barely half an hour had passed before the two youngest Norringtons were knocking on Gillette's door. It was opened by a thin woman who scanned Anna and Thomas critically before admitting them into the house. Once they were inside, the thin woman, who Anna supposed was Gillette's housekeeper, gave them both another patronizing glance before leaving - at no great rush, Anna noticed with ire - to get Gillette. "Not getting off to a very good start, are we?" Thomas whispered nervously in his sister's ear as they waited.
"If a ship is beset by a storm when it leaves port, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't make it through the voyage," Anna whispered back, quite proud of the seafaring analogy she had concocted on the spot. It seemed to do Thomas some good - he straightened, and when the housekeeper returned with Gillette following her, he was not nearly as intimidated by her as he had been.
"Thank you, Janet," Gillette said as soon as he recognized his guests. "I'll speak with them alone, please." Janet gave a very audible sniff of disdain and left haughtily. "Gives herself airs, doesn't she?" Gillette asked in a low voice as Janet shut the door behind her. "As far as I can tell, she seems to think she should be privy to all the doings of this household. Please, sit." He motioned toward a few chairs scattered around the room - Thomas and Anna each chose one and sat.
"Captain Gillette," Thomas began without preamble, "I think you probably know why we're here."
"The commodore's court-martial," said Gillette instantly.
"Exactly," Anna confirmed. "Thomas and I thought that we should do all we could to stop them from discharging Father, especially as he didn't smuggle. We have come here to ask a favor of you, Captain."
"And what would that be?" Gillette asked, his brow furrowed in curiosity.
Thomas leaned forward. "We would like to look at the records of Mercury's voyage."
For one horrible moment, Anna feared that Gillette was going to refuse. Then he sat back and smiled. "I hope that I am blessed with children as devoted as you two." Anna sighed in relief, and Gillette raised his eyebrows at her in silent amusement. "I do not have access to the official records -" Thomas and Anna both slumped in their chairs; Gillette held up a hand. "- but I do have my own personal records. I like to keep them for every voyage I make. I counted the cargo myself, as it was being loaded and when we were out to sea. I can give you those records, if you want them."
"Yes, please!" Anna said eagerly. Thomas echoed her sentiments no less fervently.
"Very well. Wait here." Gillette rose and left the room. Once he had shut the door behind him, Anna relaxed utterly, sank weakly into her chair. "I thought he was going to say no," she confided. "And then I thought he was going to say he couldn't get the records."
Thomas gave her a smile wan with equal relief. "So did I."
The door opened, and Gillette came back in, a large leather-bound ledger in his hands. "Here. Just keep track of it, is all I ask. Those are my personal records of all my sea trips."
"We won't lose them, Captain," Anna promised, taking the ledger and running her fingertips over the soft leather. This slim book might be her father's savior. Looking up at Gillette, she gasped, "Captain, we will never be able to thank you enough if this works -"
"Nonsense," Gillette answered. "Just bring it back."
"You have our words on it," Thomas assured him. "And we do thank you, Captain."
Gillette, to Anna's amazement, flushed an embarrassed red and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on, now, before you make me feel silly." Hiding a smile, Anna rose to her feet, the precious ledger held to her chest, and took a step toward the door. When she heard Gillette's voice behind her, though, she stopped and turned around to face him. "Have either of you considered the possibility that you might not be heard in an English court of law?"
Anna's eyes widened - she had not thought of that. It seemed that Thomas had, though - he nodded gravely. "If that happens, Captain, we'll either need to hire a lawyer or ask you to come to England. In fact, it would probably be better if we did do that - as Father's children, our words would be suspect."
Gillette nodded. "At least you thought of it, and have plans made." Anna was intensely grateful to Gillette for not asking how they planned to pay lawyer fees, which were sure to be exorbitant in London. "Good luck, then," he said, sitting down again.
"Thank you, Captain," Anna replied quietly. Thomas was holding the door open for her - she went through it. Her brother followed her out and closed the door behind her.
Although glad that Gillette had had the tact not to bring up the subject of lawyer fees, Anna had no compunctions about discussing it with her brother in broad daylight. "How on earth are we going to pay lawyer fees?" she demanded as soon as they were walking back towards their house.
"I don't know!" Thomas snapped. "It was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't inconvenience Gillette. But I don't know how we're going to pay the fees, so don't ask me!" Hearing his tense tone and sensing that this was a prickly topic for Thomas, Anna fell silent. Not another word was spoken the rest of their walk home.
Chapter Two
Well, you can't say the reaction to Father's news was not spectacular, Anna thought grimly half an hour later, locked in the safety of her room and pacing the floor. Elizabeth had nearly fainted, and her mother had gone into hysterics, something she was prone to do. It had taken smelling salts, shakes, and repeated calls of "Mary!" from her husband to bring Mrs. Norrington around, and then she had clung, weepy, to her husband's shoulder and refused to be dislodged. Anna was quite glad to be able to escape to her chamber, and she suspected Thomas was as well.
She sighed and sat down hard in the chair by her desk. How could her father be court-martialed? Even if the nobles in England had not approved of his pirate-chasing, they had to admit that the pirates were almost gone from the Caribbean. And he had served the navy faithfully for thirty years. Anna groaned and ran her hands distractedly through her waist-length chestnut hair. Something had to be done, and soon.
Not for an instant did Anna believe the court's charge of smuggling. In fact, the very thought of her father, who had devoted his life to getting rid of pirates and smugglers, taking up that trade himself made her smile mirthlessly. If they were so bound and determined to get him out of the navy, she thought, they might at least have trumped up a charge that made a little sense.
Therefore, her task was blessedly simple - to prove beyond a doubt that her father would not only abhor the very idea of smuggling, but had not smuggled anything on the Mercury's last voyage. And for that she would need the ship's account books and records - and for that she would need Gillette. Anna sprang from her chair, relieved to have a purpose now, and ran squarely into Thomas, who had just opened her door. Both fell flat on their backs, Thomas outside Anna's room and his sister inside it. When they stood, however, they were laughing. "Might I ask," Anna said when she had gotten her breath back, "why you felt that I needed to have my skull cracked?"
Thomas' blue eyes, identical to hers, bore none of their usual spark. They were serious as he regarded his sister. "I thought you might know where the Mercury's records for this last voyage are." Anna saw instantly that her brother had reached the same conclusions she had, and she nodded in answer to his question. "I thought we should see if we can prove those lying bas-"
"Thomas!" Anna warned.
"Sorry. Those liars in England. I thought we should see if we can prove them wrong."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Anna mustered a smile for her brother, but it was too brittle to pass as real. She was grateful for Thomas' tact in not pointing out that fact. "I thought Gillette would be most likely to know where the records are."
"Good idea!" It seemed that Thomas had not thought of that. "Where would he be?"
"Father would know, but I'm not sure if we should ask him - oh, wait, I feel so stupid! Gillette would be at his house, of course! He's been gone for a year - naturally he'd go home first thing!" Anna raced to her bed and snatched up her hat - and then froze mid-grab. "Only, where would his house be?"
"Easy," Thomas said. "The middle middle-class section of Port Royal." Anna looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raised, and Thomas sighed with all the impatience of a fourteen-year-old boy. "Think about it, Anna! He's a captain, so he doesn't make a great deal of money. However, he and his wife both come from two of the better middle-class Port Royal families, so they would live in the nice-but-not-too-nice section." Thomas crossed his arms as though he were a lawyer and had just delivered the speech that would win him his case.
Anna paused a moment, thinking over what he'd said, and smiled. "That's why we make a good team, Thomas." He beamed, exchanging the victorious look for one of pride at her praise. "You go tell Father, and I'll look at the city layout. We have one in the study, don't we?" At Thomas' nod, she tied her hat onto her head and followed him out of the door. They split at the staircase, Thomas heading downstairs to the drawing room, Anna across the hallway to the study.
When Commodore Norrington had gotten married, one of the first things he had done in the new house he'd bought for himself and his wife was to outfit a proper study. Anna and Thomas had used it often in the past year, and so Anna knew exactly where to go for the plan of Port Royal's layout - the third drawer from the top in the largest cabinet. Pulling the drawer open, she withdrew a large rolled-up piece of paper and spread it out on the desk in the study. She found the Norringtons' home with ease - it was located close to the bluff overlooking the Caribbean Sea. From there, her finger traced down the streets and through districts until she found the one she wanted. Luckily, it was not too large - she and Thomas would not get hopelessly lost wandering around it. Anna wished she could take the city layout, just in case, but the thought of it getting lost on some street of Port Royal made her shiver. She rolled it up carefully and slipped it back in the desk drawer.
The door to the study opened; Anna turned around. "Well?" she demanded of Thomas. "I've figured out where Gillette's district would be. Can we go?"
Thomas nodded. "He said be back by suppertime, no later, so we have the whole afternoon."
"Come on, then!" Even in a heavy dress and holding her hat onto her head, Anna was nearly out of the study door before Thomas.
***
Barely half an hour had passed before the two youngest Norringtons were knocking on Gillette's door. It was opened by a thin woman who scanned Anna and Thomas critically before admitting them into the house. Once they were inside, the thin woman, who Anna supposed was Gillette's housekeeper, gave them both another patronizing glance before leaving - at no great rush, Anna noticed with ire - to get Gillette. "Not getting off to a very good start, are we?" Thomas whispered nervously in his sister's ear as they waited.
"If a ship is beset by a storm when it leaves port, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't make it through the voyage," Anna whispered back, quite proud of the seafaring analogy she had concocted on the spot. It seemed to do Thomas some good - he straightened, and when the housekeeper returned with Gillette following her, he was not nearly as intimidated by her as he had been.
"Thank you, Janet," Gillette said as soon as he recognized his guests. "I'll speak with them alone, please." Janet gave a very audible sniff of disdain and left haughtily. "Gives herself airs, doesn't she?" Gillette asked in a low voice as Janet shut the door behind her. "As far as I can tell, she seems to think she should be privy to all the doings of this household. Please, sit." He motioned toward a few chairs scattered around the room - Thomas and Anna each chose one and sat.
"Captain Gillette," Thomas began without preamble, "I think you probably know why we're here."
"The commodore's court-martial," said Gillette instantly.
"Exactly," Anna confirmed. "Thomas and I thought that we should do all we could to stop them from discharging Father, especially as he didn't smuggle. We have come here to ask a favor of you, Captain."
"And what would that be?" Gillette asked, his brow furrowed in curiosity.
Thomas leaned forward. "We would like to look at the records of Mercury's voyage."
For one horrible moment, Anna feared that Gillette was going to refuse. Then he sat back and smiled. "I hope that I am blessed with children as devoted as you two." Anna sighed in relief, and Gillette raised his eyebrows at her in silent amusement. "I do not have access to the official records -" Thomas and Anna both slumped in their chairs; Gillette held up a hand. "- but I do have my own personal records. I like to keep them for every voyage I make. I counted the cargo myself, as it was being loaded and when we were out to sea. I can give you those records, if you want them."
"Yes, please!" Anna said eagerly. Thomas echoed her sentiments no less fervently.
"Very well. Wait here." Gillette rose and left the room. Once he had shut the door behind him, Anna relaxed utterly, sank weakly into her chair. "I thought he was going to say no," she confided. "And then I thought he was going to say he couldn't get the records."
Thomas gave her a smile wan with equal relief. "So did I."
The door opened, and Gillette came back in, a large leather-bound ledger in his hands. "Here. Just keep track of it, is all I ask. Those are my personal records of all my sea trips."
"We won't lose them, Captain," Anna promised, taking the ledger and running her fingertips over the soft leather. This slim book might be her father's savior. Looking up at Gillette, she gasped, "Captain, we will never be able to thank you enough if this works -"
"Nonsense," Gillette answered. "Just bring it back."
"You have our words on it," Thomas assured him. "And we do thank you, Captain."
Gillette, to Anna's amazement, flushed an embarrassed red and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on, now, before you make me feel silly." Hiding a smile, Anna rose to her feet, the precious ledger held to her chest, and took a step toward the door. When she heard Gillette's voice behind her, though, she stopped and turned around to face him. "Have either of you considered the possibility that you might not be heard in an English court of law?"
Anna's eyes widened - she had not thought of that. It seemed that Thomas had, though - he nodded gravely. "If that happens, Captain, we'll either need to hire a lawyer or ask you to come to England. In fact, it would probably be better if we did do that - as Father's children, our words would be suspect."
Gillette nodded. "At least you thought of it, and have plans made." Anna was intensely grateful to Gillette for not asking how they planned to pay lawyer fees, which were sure to be exorbitant in London. "Good luck, then," he said, sitting down again.
"Thank you, Captain," Anna replied quietly. Thomas was holding the door open for her - she went through it. Her brother followed her out and closed the door behind her.
Although glad that Gillette had had the tact not to bring up the subject of lawyer fees, Anna had no compunctions about discussing it with her brother in broad daylight. "How on earth are we going to pay lawyer fees?" she demanded as soon as they were walking back towards their house.
"I don't know!" Thomas snapped. "It was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't inconvenience Gillette. But I don't know how we're going to pay the fees, so don't ask me!" Hearing his tense tone and sensing that this was a prickly topic for Thomas, Anna fell silent. Not another word was spoken the rest of their walk home.