What colour there was left in Horatio's face drained quite rapidly. He felt as though a hand had contracted around his throat, starving him of air and causing a great pounding in his head that fell in a rather rhythmic beating to that of his heart. A step back did not seem far enough to escape the truth that rushed at him like a French officer with a sword. He would and could have sworn out loud, had it not been for the fact that he seemed to have mislaid his voice and could not for the life of him remember where he had left it.

"I am very sorry to have to shock you like this Horatio." Captain Pellew said gently, reaching out a hand to steady the young officer. Horatio wrenched himself away from Pellew's grasp; feeling as though a mere touch would cause him to collapse. It was taking all of his effort and concentration to remain upright and conscious. He found that his mouth was suddenly parched, and the water that should have re-hydrated it had moved to his forehead and hands, places where it was certainly not required!

Pellew looked at Horatio. The young man's eyes were wide in his pallid countenance. His breathing became erratic for a moment, and Pellew contemplated that he had been mistaken in allowing Horatio to realise the deception so soon. Perhaps he had gone about it in the wrong way, should he have told Horatio, warned him of what he was about to see, before introducing him to 'Mr Wellard'?

Horatio backed away, finding that his knees had suddenly decided that supporting his weight was far too much effort. He was fortunate to find the bed behind him as he staggered backwards, and was glad of the support it offered him. He sank down upon it, not taking his eyes from the figure in the chair.

Moments passed without being filled with words or actions. Horatio began to steady his breath, his stare still upon 'Mr. Wellard'. The woman in the chair returned his gaze for a few moments, before glancing towards Pellew, and then back again. Pellew watched Horatio in concern, his hand straying to a glass of water beside the bed.

"Perhaps a drink, Horatio?" He suggested mildly, forcing the glass into the man's hand and standing next to the seated man, one hand upon his shoulder in comfort. Horatio drank, although he could not have said what he was drinking, for the sense of taste had quite disappeared from his mouth. It appeared that all his senses had deserted him, he was sure that the pounding in his ears was not a drummer with a particularly loud drum, in the same way he wondered whether or not what he saw was real.

"I believe I have shocked Mr. Hornblower, sir." The woman said, looking to Pellew, who abandoned his vigil over Horatio to reply.

"It is not your fault, my dear. I believe that I should have been more tactful in my revelations." He frowned. "Some air, perhaps?" He did not wait for a reply from the officer before him, instead he moved to the window and threw open the panes, allowing a warm breeze to lift the room. He took a seat upon a chair beside the window. "Miss Burnley, I am sure that Mr. Hornblower has many questions, although he has ostensibly lost the power of speech for the moment. Perhaps you could relate to him the story that you told me a few days ago, if you would not mind?"

"Of course sir, but I hardly know how to begin." She replied.

"How?" Horatio managed to croak. "How did you do it? And why?"

The woman smiled. "Those are the hardest questions to answer sir." She replied.

"I think you should start at the beginning." Pellew advised gently.

"A very good place to start." She agreed. "I apologise if my story is too long or confusing sir, I will try to keep it concise and brief.

I am not an officer, as you may have gathered. My name is Felicity Burnley. I am an actress from London. For the past year I have been serving upon ships in His Majesty's fleet, masquerading as Midshipman Wellard."

"How?" Horatio blinked in confusion, his speech slowly returning. "How did you avoid being discovered?"

She frowned. "I do not know how I escaped detection for so long." She concluded. "I would suppose that my uniform, being cut for a man, hid a multitude of sins, although I bound my chest to…err…contain myself. I merely cut my hair short and I passed as a young boy. I do not have the most feminine of appearances, as you may have noticed, although I am told I was not the most attractive of men either. How unfortunate that I should not be particularly good-looking whatever sex I am!"

"But you had to share quarters with other officers!" Horatio interrupted, his speech having returned fully. "How did you change in front of them? Use the bathroom? Shave?"

"I did shave, although it was merely for show and it did me little good apart from aggravating my skin." She continued. "As for changing, I was fortunate that my fellow Midshipmen accepted that I was merely overly shy and modest about my own body. They did not question the fact that I changed beneath my sheets after a few days of living in such close quarters."

Horatio looked as though he could not quite understand or accept what he was hearing. Pellew intervened, voicing a question that was forming in Horatio's own mind. "I am sure, Miss Burnley, that Mr. Hornblower wishes to know how you came to be so knowledgeable about life and practises aboard a frigate such as the Renown so as to avoid being detected as a fraud."

Horatio nodded.

"My father, sir, served for much of his life upon the sea. You may have heard of him, Andrew Burley." A flicker of recognition crossed Horatio's face. He had indeed heard tell of the great Captain Burley, who had sailed a sinking ship safely from France to England among other achievements. "When I was a child he told me many stories of the sea. He used to allow me to accompany him on some inspections and showed me everything upon these frigates. I also read a number of books on the subject."

Horatio swallowed, beginning to grasp the situation a little better. "And why did you do it?" He asked.

Felicity blushed. "The answer to that question does little to promote my character." She admitted. "I would love to say that I joined because I refused to marry the revolting Lord with the wandering hands that my father had earmarked for me, that I needed the money to save my family from the workhouse, or save my sickly brother from having to serve in the army, but it is a tale of far less valour.

I was in a play in London, Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. In it I played Viola, who disguises herself as a man in order to get work with the Duke Orsino of Illyria. In order to…better understand…my part, I rather foolishly procured a Midshipman's costume from the theatre and wore it about London one evening, to practise my role. I embarked on an evening with men, all of whom were officers serving in the fleet, and hoped that none of them would discover my identity.

Well sir, I drank the ale that they drank, and before long it rather went to my head. I gather that I passed out, and the next thing I know I awake and I am upon a ship. I had collapsed and these thoughtful men had escorted me to Portsmouth, where I was mistaken for the real Mister Wellard, the only Midshipman not to have reported for duty, and loaded aboard a frigate. No doubt the poor man whose identity I stole was a little confused when he arrived for duty and told he was already aboard the ship!"

She gave a little laugh.

"That is my story." She concluded. "Hardly one of valour."

"Why did you not alert the Captain to the mistake?" Horatio asked, his face creased into numerous folds as he tried to decipher this information.

"I was foolish." She admitted. "At first I was too scared and homesick. And seasick. Then I found it a rather amusing joke and played along for a while. When I finally realised the gravity of the situation, it was too late to do anything. We were two weeks at sea and too far from home to turn back. And I was scared of the consequences of my actions. Would I be hung for impersonating an officer? Much better for me to wait until we docked somewhere and then disappear, be thought of as a deserter and left to my own devices. But then I was unable to escape my fellow officers at shore. Before long I had been serving for two months and I was actually enjoying it."

"I see." Horatio nodded. Now that he looked at her, he saw that perhaps her story was not so outlandish. She was a rather odd looking woman, with an unusually strong jaw for a female. She was arguably attractive in a strange way, though not a patch on other actresses he had known, the only one being Kitty Cobham. He could see why she had been chosen to play a man upon the stage. She was evidently adept at the skill too. "Did anyone discover your secret?"

"Not a soul." She replied. "I believe a few harboured suspicions though. Certainly your friend, Archie Kennedy. Towards the end he was very loathed to let me out of his sights, although perhaps he was merely being protective of a younger and less experienced officer. But I believe that doubts had aroused within him. I never allowed anyone to be close enough to 'see' me, although I must admit my heart was in my throat whenever the Doctor treated me."

Suddenly Horatio felt as though his stomach had dropped into his boots, leaving his breakfast behind. Memories of events upon the Renown flooded his mind.

"But you were whipped!" He whispered, his voice hollow and his eyes suddenly filled with shock. He could not look at her and so focused on the floor, upon which a solitary spider was scuttling. "You were beaten senseless by Sawyer. And I…" His face contorted at the memories, "I dropped you down a tunnel filled with Spaniards, then threw a barrel of gunpowder after you. I set you upon a canon to stop it from hitting the cliffs." He cringed inwardly as he also remembered his open air bathing session, at which Felicity had not doubt been present, but he failed to mention it. His mind was racing as he thought of all the tasks given to Mister Wellard, and at each he felt more guilt wrack his body.

He looked up at the woman in the chair, "And you were shot..."

AN – another chapter done. I shall try to update again before the end of the week, because on Friday I'm moving house so won't have Internet and then a week later I'm off to university (I'm so scared!) So if the updates are slow for a while please forgive me!

Mary Anne Talbot – I explain how it wasn't noticed that she was beaten in the next chapters, but that is the main obstacle I have had to overcome and I realise I am rather taking liberties with the established story here. Thanks for your continued support and reviews though!

Chickensoup3 – FINALLY! Someone else who sees how feminine Mister Wellard is! I thought that it was just me!