Page 38 of Her Summer Duke

“Thank you, Lady Peabody. Those were my thoughts exactly.”

“It is but an hour before twelve now. So do go and prepare yourself, and meet me back downstairs in ten minutes. We will set off immediately.”

“Thank you!”

Margaret rushed off, knowing that what Lady Peabody had left unsaid mattered – that they should leave, before Lady Mantrell rose, and heard of their plan to stroll along the promenade.

~~~~~

When Adam finally roused himself from the shock of the news, he gathered his coat and hat, intending to set off, immediately, towards the main Brighton promenade, and the pier. Perhaps Lady Margaret would come early?

As he went down the stairs, he heard rather a commotion coming from the tap room below. Curious, he went through the door into that room, rather than turning to leave the building. The innkeeper saw him come in, and rushed over to him, his face a picture of an odd mixture of concern and eagerness.

“Captain Halstone… I mean, my Lord! I can see from your face that you’ve not heard the news. Terrible news has just reached us. It’s your ship – the new Captain took her out on the pre-dawn tide, as expected, even though that terrible storm was blowing in. It seems that he misjudged the timing, or the winds were far stronger from offshore than he’d thought – for she’s been taken by the rocks below the cliffs. Men have gone to see what, and who, can be saved. But a boy from the farms on the downs above the cliffs rode to tell us, and those in Brighton proper. Might I say that you’re a lucky man, my Lord, for you might well have been aboard her.”

Adam rocked on his heels, shock coursing through him. This would mean losses, not just of cargo and the ship, but likely of crew – crew he knew well, having sailed with them these last few years. He could not leave Brighton. Not, at least, until he knew the extent of the damage, and could send word to his business partner in London. He needed, immediately, to go to where the ship had foundered, and see if there were survivors.

And immediately after that, he needed to go to the Brighton promenade, to meet Lady Margaret. He felt that his life was in total turmoil.

“I see. That is quite the most terrible news a man might hear. But I must go there immediately.”

The Innkeeper nodded, and Adam pushed through the gossiping crowds, and out into the sunlight, which, belying the terrible force of the earlier storm, now made to shine as if nothing had happened.