Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

For another hour he remained on deck, now and then going to the ship's side to watch the white foam racing along under her counter, or looking up at the ghostly sails with their intricate criss-​cross of groaning rigging. At length he decided that he must try to find somewhere to sleep, so he went down to the saloon, stumbled about in the darkness there, and fumbled his way to a long settee. Wrapping his big coat more closely about him he lay down and, his mind still tormented by the allurement of Clarissa, eventually dropped into an uneasy doze.

Soon after five in the morning he was roused by the rhythmic swish and thud of scrubbers on the deck above him. As he sat up the previous night's events became again clear in his mind and added to the wretchedness he felt owing to his almost sleepless night. Hoping that the fresh air would clear his head, he went up on deck.

During the night the weather had worsened. The sea was choppy and there was no sight of land. Roger began to wonder uneasily if sea-​sickness was soon to be added to his other miseries, but the deck was fairly steady as. with all sail set and a stiff breeze, the great ship sped at a fine pace through the dark green water.

For a while he watched the line of seamen gradually moving backwards as they scrubbed, their long-​handled brushes moving in time to the beat of a Petty Officer's Turk’s-​headed leather wanger. Then, knowing that the best precaution against seasickness was to keep the stomach busy, he went down to the 'cuddy', as the dining cabin was called. The stewards were cleaning it and he asked one of them how soon he could have breakfast.

The man replied that tea and biscuits were served for such passengers who cared to come in for them at eight o'clock, but obligingly brought Roger a plate of biscuits and a steaming hot mug of strong tea from the crew's galley. After them he felt distinctly better; so he wandered up on deck again, wondering how he could best kill the two hours which it seemed there were still to go before a chance would come for him to speak to the Commander; but one occurred much sooner than he expected.

At a quarter past six Captain Finch emerged from under the poop. For a moment Roger failed to recognise him, as his short, broad figure was swathed in Turkish towelling. Stepping forward onto the quarter deck, he threw off this robe and a nearby seaman, without waiting for an order, so evidently by custom, turned a salt-​water hose on the now naked Commander. After a thorough sousing from head to foot, he resumed his robe and, puffing and blowing, began vigorously to rub himself down with it. Then, catching sight of Roger, he wished him a cheery good morning.

Several seamen being within earshot, this was no place in which to raise the matter of Clarissa, but Roger was anxious to know by when he might hope to be done with the business; so, having returned the Commander's greeting, he asked:

'At what hour do you anticipate we'll come opposite the Isle of Wight, Sir?'

Captain Finch cast a knowledgeable eye aloft, then replied: 'Any time now. With this fine breeze behind us we should be well past the Needles by mid-​morning. Why did you wish to know?'

Td be grateful, Sir, if when we sight St. Catherine's Point a signal could be made for a boat to come off. My old home is at Lymington and I particularly want to send off a… a packet to be delivered there.'

'St. Catherine's Point!' repeated the Commander. 'Good gracious man, we'll not pass within twenty miles of it. What is more, sorry as I am to disoblige you, Mr. Brook, with such fine sailing weather to carry us down Channel I'd not lose an hour of it to turn inshore no, not for a thousand pounds. I hope we'll not see land again till we sight Madeira.'

With a murmur of apology, Roger turned away to hide his perturbation. Fate had taken matters out of his hands and, whether he would or no, he must now remain responsible for his lovely stowaway for some two weeks. During then he could not possibly spend every night prowling about the deck or napping fully dressed in the saloon, and, if he shared his cabin with her for so long, the damage would be done; so he might as well take her on to India.

As he paced the deck once more, he could not help feeling elated that the gods had now made it practically impossible for him to reject the prize they offered him, and two possibilities crossed his mind, both of which tended to quiet his scruples at accepting it. One was that, when he decided to leave India, Clarissa, who would by then have made many friends there, might stay on; and with her youth and beauty it was certain that she would receive in such a lax society offers of honourable marriage from a variety of rich suitors. The other was that by then he might feel like marrying her himself.

He quickly dismissed the second. In the main, his marriage to Amanda had been a happy one; but there had been periods when they had made one another desperately unhappy, partly because of her hopeless extravagance and even more so through his failure to remain faithful to her during his long absences abroad.

He was now much better off than he had been during the first years of their marriage, and another woman might prove a better manager; but he now knew himself too well to believe that he would either be content to settle down in England, or remain faithful to any woman if separated from her for a considerable period; so the major rock remained. Had Amanda lived, now that they would have had little Susan as an additional tie, he felt that he could have been to her, even despite occasional lapses, a better husband than would have most men of his class; but since she was dead it seemed downright folly to give some other woman the right to harrow him with jealous scenes when he might lead a carefree life.

The other possibility seemed much more promising. That way he could have his cake and eat it too; and, quite apart from any selfish motive, there was much to recommend it. He was rich enough to take a good house in Calcutta, to entertain fairly lavishly, and to give Clarissa everything that a woman of fashion needed. She would become the reigning beauty of the place and her salon would soon be thronged with the most eligible bachelors and widowers in India. In six months' time the edge of their first fine hectic passion would have become sufficiently blunted for her to look at other men with more appreciative eyes. Instead of returning to England as a penniless girl with a ruined reputation, she could make her choice and, in a few years' time, come home as the respectable wife of some wealthy Nabob.

To see her becoming interested in someone else and secretly encourage her to safeguard her future would, he knew, prove a severe strain on himself; but that was the price he must pay, and pay it ungrudgingly, for her having given herself to him.

Greatly cheered by this solution, he again turned towards the companionway, but once more he paused at the top step, considering what he should say to her. To disclose his plan was out of the question as, in her present state of mind, she would certainly be horrified at the idea that in due course he meant to pass her on to someone else. He could only say that as it proved impossible to put her ashore in England his scruples had been overcome and that he would joyfully take her as his mistress.

At that, the practical implications of the step began, for the first time, to drift through his mind. She could spend the nights in his cabin, but what of the days? There could be no question of her eating with the passengers or joining in their amusements. It would be difficult for him even to smuggle her titbits now and then; so she would have to rely for food mainly on the salt-​pork and weevily biscuits that were the hard tack of servants and the crew. For weeks on end she would have to take her meals in the 'noisome hole' she had described to him, with rough, uncultured men. As a 'boy' she would almost certainly be made to drudge for the others and, quite probably, be bullied unmercifully. And there would be little that he could do to ameliorate her lot.