Carrie Bebris - The Deception At Lyme

“I assure you, our interest is not feigned,” Elizabeth said. “But if you have another engagement…?”

“I am entirely at your disposal, madam.”

“Then I beg leave to quiz you awhile longer, for we have no other acquaintance in the navy, and are intrigued by that life.”

“I shall do my best to offer intelligible replies. However, my society has been limited to shipmates for so long that I cannot guarantee conversation worthy of such fair company.”

“You have acquitted yourself perfectly well thus far,” Elizabeth assured him. “Now, do present duties bring you to Lyme, or are you here by choice?” Though Lyme boasted a shipyard, it was not a naval base. The navy, however, maintained a presence along the entire south coast. Lyme appeared to have a higher naval population than Darcy had anticipated; he had also seen a number of marines.

“I expect to remain here until joining another ship.” St. Clair glanced at Gerard’s sea chest. “And when I do, I imagine I shall feel strange not bringing that chest aboard with my own possessions. After traversing the world together, at least one of us is finally where it belongs.”

“I can scarcely comprehend the distances you have traveled,” Georgiana said. “Lyme is as far as I have ever journeyed from home.”

Darcy regretted the truth of that fact. His sister’s life had been more circumscribed than he would have wished for her, and as her guardian he felt keenly this gap in her education. Georgiana longed to see more of the world; for that matter, so did he. However, circumstances beyond any individual’s control had prevented fulfillment of that desire. Though the rest of Europe stood but a brief sail across the Channel, politics had created a vast gulf that made travel difficult and dangerous. England had been at war with France for most of Darcy’s life and all of Georgiana’s, and the hostilities had encompassed other countries, as well. Gone were the years when a young gentleman’s Grand Tour marked his coming of age, or when a lady might visit Paris to acquire the latest fashions. While a few intrepid individuals yet traveled for pleasure, most foreign journeys were undertaken by necessity, as Darcy’s rare trips had been.

Napoleon’s recent defeat, however, had made the seas safer and travel possible once more. He hoped, after the political climate stabilized further, to take his family to the Continent. Elizabeth and Georgiana both possessed natural curiosity and strong intellects that would be stimulated by exposure to the art, music, and culture of other countries, and even Lily-Anne, young as she was, would benefit.

“Now that England is at peace, perhaps we shall travel abroad,” Darcy said.

“Truly?” Georgiana’s eyes lit at the prospect. Elizabeth, too, appeared very pleased by the suggestion.

His sister was still smiling when she turned back to Lieutenant St. Clair. “My brother knows how much I would enjoy that. I have long wanted to visit other places, to see people and landscapes and buildings I have only read about. Has your naval service taken you to the Continent?”

“Which one?” he asked in good humor. “I have seen more of the American continents than ‘the’ continent of Europe. Most of my time in the New World, however, has been spent among the islands.”

“I have not read as much about the New World as the Old,” Georgiana confessed. “What do they look like—the West Indies?”

“Like no other place you have seen. The sea is different there—not the cold grey of the Channel, but warm and bright—vibrant blues and greens.” His own eyes lit with his subject. “All colors seem more brilliant, in fact—perhaps it comes from being so close to the equator.”

“I had always envisioned that part of the world as quite wild,” Georgiana said, “but you make it sound enchanting.”

“It is both. Parts of the islands do remain untamed, and even the civilized areas have their less pleasant sides. Though the commerce of slavery has been abolished, many of the plantations still use slaves to work in the fields and great houses, a condition that it troubles me to behold. Yet the islands possess a beauty of their own, one very unlike England’s and which I have grown to admire as much as that of my native land. If you ever have the chance, Miss Darcy, you should see them with your own eyes. My poor description cannot begin to do them justice.”

“Your description is not poor at all, for it has certainly engaged my imagination and made me wish I could view them myself. However, I doubt very much that such an opportunity will ever come along.”

“If it does,” he said lightly, “and we ever have the fortune to meet again, you must tell me how you liked them.”

Their visitor rose. “It has been an honor to conduct Lieutenant Fitzwilliam’s chest to you, and to formally make your acquaintance. But I shall depart now, so that you can open the chest in private.” He glanced at the chest once more, removed a handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped a smudge off the escutcheon. “You will be able to open it, will you not? That is a very clever lock. Lieutenant Fitzwilliam never revealed its code to me.”

A letter lock secured the hasp; it had been the suggestion of Gerard’s father to avoid the risk of losing a key in the course of many long voyages—and so that, should the unthinkable occur, his family could open the chest under these very circumstances. The late earl had predeceased his youngest son, and so never knew how prescient his advice had been.

“I know the lock combination,” Darcy said. Colonel Fitzwilliam had shared it with him. It was the late earl’s name: HUGH.

Lieutenant St. Clair nodded. “I assume the chest contains the typical items of a sea officer. Should you discover anything unfamiliar that sparks your curiosity—navigational equipment, perhaps, or some souvenir of the West Indies—I would consider it an honor to call upon you again to explain it.”

They thanked him, and the officer took his leave. When he had gone, Elizabeth turned to Darcy. “I found him perfectly agreeable,” she declared. “A gentleman in all respects.”

“It was kind of him to stay and talk with us about Gerard for so long,” Georgiana added.

Darcy conceded that it had been a pleasant evening, even if Lieutenant St. Clair had paid a bit more attention to Georgiana than Darcy liked. However, he was now anxious to conclude it by having a look inside the sea chest. Elizabeth and Georgiana were equally curious, and the three of them gathered round it.

This weathered box of wood and iron had accompanied Gerard from the time he was first made a midshipman; it had traveled across oceans with him, and in the earliest days of his naval career had contained every personal possession he had aboard. The silver escutcheon on its leather-covered lid declared its owner’s name— G. Fitzwilliam —in engraved script. The plate shone so brightly against the darkened leather that Lieutenant St. Clair must have polished it before bringing the trunk to them.

Darcy took the lock in his hand, rotated the rings to the proper letters, and tugged the shackle. After years of disuse and exposure to salt air, the lock resisted release, but at Darcy’s persistence it opened.

The chest indeed contained the usual items of a sea officer: Gerard’s dress uniform—he had died in his working rig for the battle—spare shirts, neckcloths, stockings, smallclothes; shaving apparatus and other grooming items; foul weather clothes; nautical instruments; a writing box and several books; silverware and a knife for the mess. Toward the trunk’s bottom lay more personal objects: a backgammon set and a deck of cards, a packet of received letters tied with string, a miniature of a young lady.