Max makes a proposition to Rogers in order to secure a seat in the council. Her dazzling investment arrives at night. Eleanor learns the story behind Rogers' scar. Her natural reaction to it changes everything for Rogers. Mrs. Hudson confesses to her treason and reveals that Rogers does not have all of the Urca gold in his possession to guarantee Nassau's safety. Eleanor takes charge of her and thinks she knows who has the missing cache.

Chapter 12 - The Treasure

At the security meeting, Major Andrews and the younger Major Rollins reported how two patrolling regulars had not reported back and were found shot dead at a neighboring beach, alongside with the bodies of several escaped slaves.

"Didn't the pirates use slaves to rebuild Fort Nassau?" asked Rogers.

"Captain Hornigold says they did, yes," said Major Andrew stiffly. "But they managed to free themselves during the blast yesterday."

Eleanor was surprised to learn that Charles had allowed slaves to be used to repair Fort Nassau. When pirates needed the money, they sold slaves just as much as the Spanish and the English did. Only, if they needed men for their crew or votes, they would free them, let them sign the articles and give them the same share as any other pirate. But not Charles. Being an escaped slave himself, Charles had always freed them. He had the burn mark on his chest as an everlasting reminder to it. Now it turned out that Charles did not even hold to that last principle. Why are you surprised, Eleanor told herself. He did not care about the freedom of women either, keeping Max in bondage to be raped, holding Abigail hostage. So, why should you be surprised he used people of color as slaves?

"Well it appears, Major, the mystery is solved then," said Rogers. "Your two men came upon these escaped slaves during their patrol last night, and they were killed in action, unfortunately."

"Yes, Lord Governor," agreed Rollins. "With the tide of course we could find no marks, but we assume that the surviving slaves escaped with skiffs."

Rogers smiled sympathetically. "Thank you. My sympathies for your men who were killed for doing their duty."

"It's a pity those slaves are gone," said one of his merchant advisors, a Mr. Higgins. "We could have used them to rebuild the fort. It would have cost us nothing."

"We have a whole town full of men who are now out of a job," said Rogers. The gathered men chuckled. "And men who have nothing else to do but drink all day long will soon find a reason to cause trouble. Send word out onto the street that we seek strong men to repair Fort Nassau for wages."

"But shouldn't we go after the escaped slaves, my lord?" Mr. Higgins insisted.

"The Bahamas are an archipelago of dozens of small islands, uninhabited, jungle, wild terrain," Eleanor volunteered. "A handful of maroons truly are not worth our trouble and manpower to seek a needle in a haystack, not when we need it all to secure the beaches. It will be more expensive to find them, than to hire the unemployed pardoned pirates."

"There you have your answer, Mr. Higgins," Rogers smiled at the baffled man. The mere flick of Rogers' eyes towards Eleanor signaled his gratitude for her intervention on this matter. Rogers leaned onto the large assembly table and surveyed one of the maps. "Now, about that security –"

"My lord," a female voice cried with a French accent from the hallway. The men looked up and the governor turned. In the hallway, at the entrance of the assembly hall stood a vision of graceful Max in her rich green silk, like a countess who was at liberty to choose and go whatever and wherever she liked. Her back straight and chin high, she threw her most charming smile at Rogers. "I think you know who I am. May we have a word in private, please?"

Rogers looked at the papers in his hands, deliberated for a moment, and then dropped them on the table without a word. He inclined his head in a slow nod and extended his arm as a gesture for her to follow him. Eleanor stared at Max as Max followed Rogers to the stairway. What is she up to now? It had not escaped Eleanor's notice that Max had magnified her sensuality. Glowering at Max, she thought, if Max thinks that private means without me even being there, she is very much mistaken. Eleanor automatically stepped away from the assembled men, turned and fell in step with Max to follow Rogers to his private office of his apartment. Max gave her a teasing smile.

Rogers' apartments with a view on the market square spanned almost all of the west wing – except for the neighboring room of his man servant. It even had a private corridor leading to his office, nearest to the stairs on the south-west. Rogers opened the door to his office, gestured Max to come inside and closed the door for Eleanor where they exchanged one meaningful look. The white blinds diffused the light of the afternoon sun, adding charm to the office of stucco walls, painted with a decorative natural background. He strode to his desk, but did not yet seat himself. Instead he leaned on the back of his chair. "You wished to see me in private, madam." He gestured his head at the open door of the office that led into the neighboring chambers that spread as far as the north-west, though empty still as of yet. "This is private."

Max looked from him to Eleanor and back to the governor. "With everything I have sacrificed to be a part of Nassau's future, please understand, I cannot endorse a version of that future in which I am still on the outside of it looking in."

The governor glanced at Eleanor, moved his chair and slowly seated himself, legs wide and head skeptically laid sideways. He waved his hands up in the air. "You want a seat on the council."

"You say you want to be a friend of Nassau," Max said. "Well, I am a Nassau. You question whether I deserve this friendship. It is a fair thing to ask. So I suggest, like the longest lasting of friendships, the one that lasts to the grave, I substantiate my worthiness to enter into it with a dowry." Slowly, Max approached the desk and with thumb and index finger laid down a giant sized black pearl. Rogers stared at it suspiciously and raised his eyes at Max with dismay. The sight of the black pearl that could be nothing else but a bribe distressed Eleanor to no end. "For obvious reasons, that is only a sample," said Max. "There are several thousand more behind it, assuming we are able to reach an agreement here today." She pointed her index finger to the floor repeatedly to underline the today.

Thousands? Just like Avery had once bribed Governor Trott with a share of his Mogul treasure, Max now attempted to bribe Rogers with a share of the Urca de Lima gold.

Grimacing, Rogers squinted at Max. "These are profits from running a tavern?"

"Jesus. It's from the Spanish gold!" Eleanor put her hands on her side and closed the distance between Max and herself. "Money you held out from the fort, your share."

"Not as far as you know. Not as far as Spain knows," Max said. She turned to address Rogers again. "As far as anyone knows, the entirety of the Spanish gold was captured today in the fort by your men." Eleanor felt sick at hearing it. She had to sit down in a chair set against the wall, next to the cabinet. "And this? This comes from nowhere." Max's last words struck a chord with Rogers. He was listening. "That is its virtue. No covenants, no conditions. No history." Rogers' eyes wandered back to the giant black pearl winking at him in the diffused sunlight. "Just an unexpected investment from a loyal resident. An investment so substantial, I might add, it would dramatically, if not definitively, improve your prospects for success."

Stoically, and yet with a slight hint of apprehension, Rogers asked Max, "What exactly would you want in exchange for this… dowry?"

"An end to this conversation." Max glanced at Eleanor. "An end to questions about my past and a new beginning in which we all agree there is no history in this place anymore." She straightened her shoulders and back, and whispered, "Only a future in which you and I are truly friends."

Calculating and with a sly smile, Rogers watched the pearl, then Max. He rose slowly from his chair. "If you sacrifice all of your pirate past, then this conversation is at an end."

Max smiled pleased and inclined her head at Rogers and Eleanor. "My friends. Please, expect a delivery tonight." She curtsied, turned around and left his office.

Shocked, Eleanor stared at him. "Why?"

Rogers walked around the desk, slowly picked up the pearl, rolled it between his thumb and finger, lifted the lid of a box and let it rest there. Finally, he looked at her. "For one, we cannot let her keep such a treasure for herself." Eleanor opened her mouth, but closed it again. He is right about that. Max can do all manner of mischief with that amount of wealth. "And if she is willing to give it all up, rather than start a new obscure life somewhere else, then Nassau is more to her than a beach. With her network, a respectable tavern and influence, she would be one of the most logical candidates for the council."

Was this what Max had understood when I said I lost everything? She whispered, "What will you do with it?"

This question startled him. "I don't know, yet. Let us first see her dowry secured, here."

When they returned to the meeting downstairs, the men had already prepared proposals to raise security, the wages for the men repairing the fort, had drawn a list of the needed repairs and expansions for the extra guns that were being salvaged at the wreck of the Willing Mind. All that was further required was for the governor to approve of it.

As the men dispersed, Rogers gestured his clerk who held the official documents to invite and swear in the council. "The announcement for the new council is deferred for a day. I want you to prepare a new draft for another council member." He took the papers from the clerk, leafed through them and picked out one. "I have had news that Mr. Merlon is unable to take on such responsibilities at present. Miss Max of Nassau will take his place." He ripped Mr. Merlon's paper, and gave it back to the clerk with a smile. "Thank you."

As dinner time drew near, and Rogers retired to his own apartments, while Eleanor went to hers. Mrs. Hudson had been nowhere to be seen since Max's visit. Eleanor did not miss her shadow, which she had learned to ignore most of the time. As she looked at the garden's shadows lengthening until the sun was behind the mansion, Eleanor wondered whether she might have been too harsh on her judgment of Max. Yes, Max had been armored in courtesy and arrogance while talking nonsensical poetry of marriage and dowry, but maybe Rogers was right. Max wanted and offered peace, giving up her ill begotten gains that had provoked Eleanor into wanting to assassinate Max's crew all those months ago.

The sky darkened to a deep purple streaked with fiery red clouds. Eleanor could not actually see the sunset, but she would see the sun rise instead in the morning. She always had preferred dawn over dusk anyway. She wondered whether Rogers was staring out of his window to admire the sunset at that very moment. Before long, it would be so dark one barely could see anything outside, except if there was a full moon out. Crickets were roused already and chirped their song, while sun birds and hummingbirds used the last light to gather more nectar before turning in. The crickets' chorus underlined the feeling of being home again, and a far better home than she could have predicted. No more pirates. Max wants to be an ally. Nassau has a future. I have a future. Eleanor smiled, for a moment, content.

The dinner was a most surprising tranquil event. The majors and their officers had been invited to a merchant's dinner. The rest were on duty or in their barracks. Chamberlain was at the fort, having the gold guarded and the fort manned. Mr. Lardener had already departed for the inland to meet with the farmers, and Mr. Tortleby was scouring the beaches for lizards. Others, like Lieutenant Perkins, were room hunting. And so, it was just Rogers and Eleanor sharing dinner. Not even her shadow, Mrs. Hudson was present.

Rogers had their glasses filled with wine and raised his glass. "To a new home and a new Nassau."

Eleanor whispered, "To a new life."

He grinned. "In paradise, yes." Rogers took up his knife and fork to attack his steak. "Not in my wildest dreams could I have foreseen such a first day here. Albeit the loss of the ship and damage to the Fort, we secured the Spanish treasury and the street." He raised his fork, took a bite and chewed on his meat.

"How long will it take to get the gold on the ship for Havana?"

Rogers swallowed, took his glass of wine and drank. "The commodore hopes it will be done in three days time. If everything goes well and there are no delays then Spain will have their gold back by the end of next week, and we will all rest easy and be the safer for it."

For dessert a platter of sliced fruit were brought in. "From the garden," Rogers smirked.

A servant in livery entered, approached Rogers and whispered something in his ear. Rogers raised his eyebrows in surprise, dabbed his mouth with his napkin and said, "Let him bring it to my office." He met Eleanor's eyes and nodded silently.

Eleanor recognized the hulk of a man with dark umber skin standing before Rogers' desk as once having worked for her at the tavern - The brother of Eme's friend, the one who could not speak. He stepped aside to reveal the huge box behind him on the table – the substantial dowry.

"Thank you," said Rogers, staring at the trunk.

"I will show you out," smiled Eleanor. She opened the door for him and said, "Does Eme still work at the tavern too?" The man nodded. "Good. Please send her my regards." Eleanor wanted to offer Eme any assistance if she required it, but there was no reason to think Eme lacked for anything with Max.

Eleanor closed the door, turned and saw Rogers opening the box slowly. It was filled to the brim with velvety bags and boxes. Gently, Rogers lifted one of the jewelry bags out of the box, and spilled out its content – white pearls. He swallowed. Rubies poured out of another bag. He then lifted a little silver box and opened it. It was filled to the brim with lustrous white pearls. This was not just a small share. It was a treasury for a small island nation of its own – black pearls, white and pink, emeralds, rubies, even diamonds. It sparkled. It glittered. It winked. It allured. It mesmerized.

Eleanor walked from one side of the chest to the other, around Rogers and watched him as he stood there gazing, apprehensive as well as spellbound. "What are you thinking?"

Rogers was silent for a long while yet, but eventually said, without ever taking his eyes off the pearls, "At the end of every great achievement that has ever been, I imagine one looks back and is reminded of the one moment when good fortune reached out and gave the thing its blessing." He heaved a deep breath. "I think this is the equivalent of five years' worth of tax revenue without an ounce of the resentment that traditionally comes with it." Rogers glanced at her, but he was inadvertently drawn back to the sparkle of the stash of pearls and gems. "I've felt fortune's other hand so many times, the one that takes instead of gives, had it snatch away victories that by all rights should have been mine. That feeling I know too well and still bear its scars."

Looking at the pearls herself, searching for its blessing, Eleanor could not feel it. She knew its beauty. She could see its seduction. But it did nothing for her. Perhaps she had seen too many gems, pearls and money pass through her own hands to be touched by pearl fever now. But the moment Rogers referred to his scar, Eleanor forgot all about the pearls. The bitterness and grief in his voice, as if it were a stain, touched her at a level that the pearls could not. She put her head slightly sideways, studying his profile. At this angle she could not see his scar at all, and he appeared truly handsome to her.

"But this," Rogers sighed, oblivious. "This feels different." He finally glanced at her and was startled by her spellbound eyes that admired him.

Seeing all of his face, including the scar, he looked even more beautiful to her. When she first laid eyes on him, in her prison cell, he had looked handsome enough, but only in the manner one could pass someone on the street and consider him easy on the eye. Clean shaven and soft eyed as he had appeared then, she had believed him to be pampered in luxury. How wrong I was. She saw strength, weathered experience, mettle, a will like no other; all of that combined with goodness, undefeated optimism and purity. To her, he was the treasure. Eleanor's eyes trailed the path of his scar, from beneath his eye, across his cheek, to his jaw. "What happened that time? How did you get that scar?"

Rogers pressed his lips together, looked away, down at the pearls. He closed the box. "Combat with a Spanish galleon off the coast of Mexico." His eyes misted into the past. "We had routed her. By all rights, her colors should have been struck. And they were, just minutes after the event. But in that moment, one of her stern chasers fired a shot at the most implausible angle." His voice trembled slightly as he spoke. "Nothing more than the desperation of a dying thing, but that shot hit us right at the helm. When the smoke cleared, my brother was dead and I had this."

It is not just the physical remnant of a horrible accident. Eleanor realized that every time Rogers looked into a mirror he faced the reminder of his brother's death. She remembered Mrs. Hudson's words about his last child. He had named it after the dead brother, but the child had never survived infancy. He blames himself.

Rogers sighed and tried to make light out of it. "Though I suppose it's some strange irony that if he hadn't died, it wouldn't have made for nearly as interesting a book and I probably wouldn't be here right now." He grinned at his own attempt of gallow's humor.

But Eleanor did not smile. His attempt at masking his pain and grief over the wreck, only deepened it for Eleanor. She wished she could relieve his pain, carry it for him. Rogers' smile faltered as their eyes met. Like a young innocent child almost, Eleanor lifted her hand. The scar and the experience that led him to Nassau was part of her own story now. She would not be who or where she was now without him. Tenderly, Eleanor caressed his cheek with the back of her hand, like lady Fortuna reaching out to bless it, until her fingers trailed his chin, transfixing him in return.

Her touch, so innocent and heartfelt, struck a chord. Sarah had always flinched at the sight of his scar. First, she mourned how it had ruined his face, then she could not look at him anymore, and finally she could not bear his touch. The day he left her with his mother, she spat on his scar and told him she never wanted to see his disfigured face again. Rogers had never felt whole since that day, but a broken, discarded toy instead. And so, when Eleanor stroked his scar and her stormy blue eyes were filled with love to counter his inner pain, she did not solely bless the tragedy in which he had lost his brother, she made him feel whole, a man, a lovable man, a handsome man.

Enthralled, Rogers turned and took a step towards her, while her fingers still rested on his chin. Eleanor cupped his face with both her hands, while Rogers wrapped his hand around the back of her head. He pulled her to him and pressed his lips on hers. Eleanor kissed him back as if he were ambrosia. In that moment, they were two souls clinging to each other as if the other was the raft that would save them.

There was a knock on the door and without waiting for an answer, the door was about to open. Rogers broke the kiss and stepped away again, watching Eleanor with regret and yearning, tasting her on his lips. Eleanor backed away in fright and guilt and stared wide eyed at Mrs. Hudson standing in the doorway. Rogers turned and when he recognized it was Eleanor's chambermaid, he said irritated and cross, "I'm sorry. Were you summoned?"

Looking at Rogers accusingly, Mrs. Hudson stepped through the door and closed it. Then she blinked her eyes nervously and her voice trembled. "Please forgive me. This is so foreign to me. I don't know how to do it."

The woman's manner alarmed Eleanor and flabbergasted Rogers. In fright, Eleanor looked at Rogers. Is he in trouble now with his wife or her relations?

Mrs. Hudson took a deep breath. "About six months ago, I was approached by a man who introduced himself as John and said his employers wished to monitor your operation to retake Nassau, said they had a vested interest." As she talked, Rogers grew increasingly uncomfortable. He stretched his shoulders. He blinked. And his face became that of a cold statue. "I assumed this had something to do with your investors, which seemed perfectly legitimate. They offered me a significant amount of money." Mrs. Hudson whispered, "I said yes." Rogers looked at her with disdain. "It turns out the man's name is Juan Antonio Grandal and his employer is the intelligence department of the Casa De Contratación."

Rogers closed his eyes as if struck by a blow. Reeling, he turned around and walked to the desk for support. Eleanor stared at Max's share of the Urca gold. Mrs. Hudson is not spying on Rogers on behalf of his wife, but the Spanish intelligence. How much did she hear?

"Upon our arrival," Mrs. Hudson continued. "I received a query from them. It said the department spies had learned of a series of transactions to exchange a significant portion of the Urca De Lima's prize gold for more portable commodities. An attempt to walk away with their money without them knowing of it - a scheme they find most insulting."

It was worse than Eleanor thought. Of course, Spain found out that part of the gold had been exchanged. The sole exchanger New Providence ever had, Mr. Ferrier, had sold his share of Eleanor's business to Max and had retired. Somebody had to bring all those pearls and gems on the island, and leave with the Spanish gold. If there was a spy in the governor's household, then surely there were others in the American colonies too. Max was wrong. Spain knew all along.

Mrs. Hudson took a deep breath. "I was then asked if you had yet learned of this converted cache." She grew increasingly emotional. "So standing outside the door just now, I found myself faced with two choices - report what I had just heard, that you are considering keeping this money and know that Nassau will likely burn for it and you with it." Mrs. Hudson fluttered her eyes and said with a trembling voice, "Or I could open the door and warn you of the full scope of the danger you face if you do not return the entirety of the hidden cache along with the gold from the fort."

Rogers' strained voice was a dark whisper. "I cannot even begin to imagine what would motivate you to tell a lie like this." He rose, turned and took several steps towards Mrs. Hudson. "So let's assume for the moment that you are telling the truth." Rogers did not blink once, when he swore, "I will see this money secured and return it with the rest of the gold in a matter of hours. You'll relay this to your contact?"

"No."

"No?" he murmured. "Why not?"

This is a nightmare, thought Eleanor. He has not even touched the pearls, let alone spent them. He only got hazy eyed at all that beauty, and not even for himself. Who would not be captivated the first time they see such cash and see a prosperous Nassau for it?

"The department has estimated the approximate total value of the cache based on the scope of the exchanges involved," explained Mrs. Hudson. "And that," she indicated at the treasure spread out across the desk, "is only half of it."

Rogers' jaw dropped. "Half?"

"Spain wants you to return all of it."

Rogers was so shocked he was rendered speechless. At this point, Eleanor decided to speak for him. "You went this far to betray your spy activities to us. Surely, you can tell them something that buys us time and goodwill." Hands on her hips, Eleanor stood in front Mrs. Hudson, blocking her from further view from Rogers. "You will tell your contact that the governor discovered a share of the gold was exchanged into gems and pearls. That he managed to take possession of it and will send it to Havana along with the gold, and that he is searching to recover the remaining half. If your contact asks you how the governor acquired it, how he learned of the cache, I suggest you spin some tale around it. You lied to us, so you can lie to your contact as well. I do not have to remind you that you might die if Spain attacks Nassau just as easily as the rest of us, and will never see your children again. Now leave us, so we can do our job. You know yours and it is not being my chambermaid."

Mrs. Hudson blinked at Eleanor who had never spoken with such authority to her before. Perhaps it was the fact that she had often spoken ill of Eleanor's past, while she was no better - a treasonous spy to the governor and her own country – or perhaps it was because Mrs. Hudson was accustomed to doing the bidding of women, that made Mrs. Hudson say, "I shall try."

When Mrs. Hudson was gone, Eleanor watched Rogers seated in his chair, a bitter grimace on his face. "And where can we ever hope to find the rest of this cache?"

"Jack and Anne," Eleanor retorted. "They were in the fort with Charles, before they all fled. They were Max's partners. They have it."

"Why not Vane?" Rogers argued, waving his hand dismissively. "Perhaps the other half sailed away with Teach's fleet, hmmm. Maybe that was what Teach returned to Nassau for – defend the island in return for a share of the gold, Flint's share."

"No," Eleanor said decidedly. She leaned across the desk. "Charles had no time. He had a price on his head and expected to fight his way to Edward Teach." Eleanor tapped her finger on the desk. "The treasury shares were evenly split between Flint, Charles and Rackham and their crew." She pointed at the box. "That is half of the missing cache, but also a sixth of the gold that was stolen. With the other half that makes a third of the treasury. Neither Flint nor Charles would have split their third with Max. Rackham would have. Max was his business partner, having an equal share according to the articles she signed."

Rogers seemed to come to himself again. Her explanation sounded reasonable. And he could not help but notice that Eleanor was bloody hot when she worked herself up about something. Rogers looked away from her breasts that almost seemed to spill over her bodice. If Mrs. Hudson had not interrupted them, he would probably have her naked in his own bed now, well if he had a bed - his bed still needed to be put together. I would have taken her on this desk, amidst all the pearls and gems. For God's sake, be honest to yourself, you would have done it on the floor. Worse, he might still do just that, given that he could still remember the velvet taste of her lips, that it had been too fucking short a kiss and he had developed an erection again, just thinking about it.

He hit his palm on the desk, stood and turned his back on her, looking out of a window onto the market square. "Nobody hunted Rackham and Bonny. They could have slipped away with the rest of it." He frowned. "And could have joined Teach."

"Perhaps, but doubtful. Edward Teach never felt respect for him, saw him as weak. Teach would never have Rackham on as a captain, and Rackham worked his way up too far to swallow his pride – became captain, hoodwinked Flint and Charles and got the gold, lived in this house as a pirate king. No, he would never accept returning to being Teach's dog to kick." Eleanor walked towards him, stood close to him. He turned his head and she gazed into his dazzling blue eyes that looked so pained and shamed for his moment of weakness that it hurt Eleanor to see him like that. Eleanor mustered a brave smile for him. "Jackand Anne are still on the island, I'm sure of it," she whispered. "They cannot risk any nearby beaches to take a skiff. Their only chance of escape is to cross all of the island and leave from the other end. We can find them. We will find them."

Rogers stared at her, studied her, but there was a divide, a reserve that had not been there moments before. Eleanor felt a chill, as Rogers turned his back to her and rubbed his forehead. "I will have all of the navy and the regulars on the alert from tonight on. Can you send Perkins upstairs on your way out?"

The contrast between feeling his lips on hers and his business like tone now was too great for her to confront. She tried to speak, but her throat was dry. Eleanor simply nodded.

(12th Night: The countess Olivia is without father and brother and rich. Though beautiful, men want her for her riches, her status. Olivia rejects them all, while she falls in love with Viola dressed as a man. Due to circumstance, Olivia happens upon Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, thinking him to be Cessario (=Viola). Olivia gives Sebastian a pearl and offers marriage to him. Sebastian considers it a miracle and luck, good fortune, wondering whether he or she is mad, but decides she can't be mad for how else can she govern her house and so many people so cool and collected. In the 3x05 scenes Max gives the pearl as a dowry (marriage) to Rogers who later on reveals what he's thinking and feeling like Sebastian. I will quote some of Sebastian's soliloqui of Act 4, scene 3:

"Sebastian (to himself):This is the air, that is the glorious sun.
This pearl she gave me, I do feel 't and see 't,
And though 'tis wonder that enwraps me thus,...[snip]...
For though my soul disputes well with my sense
That this may be some error, but no madness,
Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune..."

Paradise Lost (the moral one): Paradise Lost's point is that the snake deceived Eve, while Adam eats it with full knowledge, rational thought, conviction and choice. Adam therefore is the biggest sinner. Eleanor's reaction to Max's investment is revulsion first, but when Rogers is tempted, she does not argue. She is fascinated by his reasoning and his response to it as if he is her moral compass, though, her initial response is the more moral one. Rogers is ready to rationalise the taking of a bribe, "like the governors before him". Eleanor's response to his backstory is that of an "innocent", while his response is the "sinful" one - he initiates the kiss. Rogers is a broken man who seeks paradise to be made whole again, but inadvertenly wishes to transgress morally on several accounts for it. The show makes it visually clear by having his face half in darkness (the scarred side), half in light. Eleanor's face is always in light.

Cupid: in Rogers' office hangs a mirror (seen in 3x05 and the 3x08 scene when Eleanor learns of Vane's presence), with a cupid at the bottom of the frame. It is shown several times during the conversation and shortly after the kiss. When Rogers recognizes Mrs. Hudson, he steps aside and blocks the little Cupid from view. So, when the scene is romantic in nature, we have a Cupid in view. When the scene's subject alters to the dreaded fleet of Havana, Cupid is out of view.

Candles: are a symbol in the legend of Psyche and Cupid, as it is the fierce burning of an oil lamp (symbolizing passion) that ends up wounding him. Many of the personal evening scenes in Rogers' office always have candles, but their arrangement and how they are shot alters for the three scenes (3x05, 3x07 and 3x08). In the treasure scene they're all individual candles, standing apart, except for a chandelier near the mirror. I think they reflect the hearts of both characters. They carry a flame of passion, but they are not a pair yet.)