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‘Do you miss the sea?’
‘Sometimes I do. I come from a long line of sailors. My father was a sea captain before he married Mama and took to country living, and my grandfather was a vice-admiral. My younger brother is at present serving in the navy as a first lieutenant.’
‘No doubt this short voyage has brought it all back. Our little escapade has perhaps been unsettling.’
‘I shall soon settle down again.’
She smiled. ‘From sailor to farmer.’
‘Yes.’ He had been perfectly open, but now his expression seemed to close up as if she had hit a nerve.
‘I look forward to learning more of the country,’ she said, then turned to Lieutenant Sandford. ‘What about you, Lieutenant, do you come from a long line of seafarers?’
‘No, Miss Giradet, I am the first.’
She had narrowly managed to avoid annoying Jay again and the conversation became more general. At the end of the meal, she left them to their port and brandy and retired to her cabin. It had been an excessively long and tiring day, but all was well and tonight she thought she might sleep.
The men did not stay drinking for long. Though he was loathe to admit it, Jay was exhausted and his injured arm was giving him hell. He went to his cabin and to bed.
He could have done nothing else but invite the Count and his daughter to Highbeck. The old man was in no state to look after himself and though Lisette was bearing up well he knew she was feeling the strain of all that had happened in the last few weeks; he could not leave them to struggle on alone. His mother would be appalled at such callousness, even though she understood how the very name of Wentworth was burned in his brain. There was a wound there which would never heal. Thank goodness he could retire to Falsham, his duty done.
Chapter Five
Two days later they docked at Lynn, on the north coast of The Wash, and Lisette and her father set foot on English soil, Lisette for the first time, her father for the first time for many years. No one knew when they were arriving, so Jay arranged onward transport for them. Public coaches plied frequently between Lynn and Ely, but it was not a practical way when there were six of them and a fair amount of luggage. They could go post-chaise, but it would need two coaches to take them all. It was Sam who suggested going by river. Boats were as easily hired as coaches; it was the accepted means of transport in the fens. And so it was that Lisette and her father made their slow progress in a barge towed by a big black horse.
While the Comte and Sir John rested below deck, Lisette sat on the roof of the tiny cabin and watched the landscape glide past. It was flat and watery and there were a great many seabirds and waterfowl flying in and feeding on the marshy ground before taking off again in great clouds. As the vessel made its way upstream, the marshes gave way to pasture grazed by cattle.
‘Until the draining of the fens over a hundred years ago, much of what you can see was frequently under water,’ Jay said, coming to sit beside her. His arm was only lightly bandaged now and no longer in a sling. He could wear his coat. ‘But now it is good fertile land.’
‘It is so flat. You can see for miles and there is so much sky. I had not realised there could be so many colours in the clouds: blue, white, pink, mauve, fiery red and orange, and all shades of grey from pale dove to nearly black.’
‘The black line is a rain cloud, but it is several miles away. The orange and red denote wind and that might very well blow the black cloud in this direction and we shall have squalls, but perhaps not before we arrive at the Manor.’ He smiled. ‘It is a landscape you either love or hate.’
‘And you love it.’
‘Yes, to me it is home. When I was away at sea, it was here I always dreamed of returning.’
‘But some of that must have been due to your family being here.’
‘Oh, undoubtedly.’
‘It must be lovely to have a family,’ she said a little wistfully. ‘I have only Papa and Michel.’
‘But you have an English family.’
‘I do not count them. They never counted us.’
‘So, you will not consider applying to them?’
‘No. There is no need. Papa and I can manage. I only agreed to come here with you in order for him to regain his strength. You need not worry that we will be a burden to your parents any longer than we can help.’
‘Nothing was further from my thoughts,’ he said. ‘Pray, do not be so touchy.’
‘I am sorry. It is not your fault.’ There she was, having to apologise to him again for the sharpness of her tongue. Whatever was the matter with her?
‘I know you will be welcome, my mother said so before I left for France and my grandfather looks on you as a granddaughter, he told me so.’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Does that make us cousins or something?’
