Amanda Scott by Sisters Traherne (Lady Meriel's Duty; Lord Lyford's Secret) Read Free Book Online Page A

expectantly, and she turned to him at last, saying, “This will do nicely, sir. I hope that you and Davy will be as comfortable.”
    “As to that, ma’am, it is doubtful. The great cabin does not provide much privacy, you know, but I did arrange for us each to have a separate bunk. I daresay I’d not sleep a wink with this young wriggler occupying the same bed.”
    Davy, whose interest had been claimed immediately by the little sleeping spaces that would be occupied by his sisters, turned at this moment to demand to know if his bed would also have doors upon it.
    Mr. Glendower frowned at him. “You interrupt, sir. I was speaking to your sister.”
    “Yes, but you were talking about our beds. I wish to know will mine have doors like these, so that I can pretend I am in my own cave at night.”
    “Oh, Davy,” said Eliza, chuckling, “one does not close the door at night. Only see how they may be hooked back against the wall. One would suffocate if they were closed.”
    “Our bunks have curtains upon them, however,” Mr. Glendower said, “for some privacy is naturally required. And there will be hooks upon which you might hang your clothes, Davy, and a ladder to climb to reach your bunk, so I daresay it will be entirely to your liking. And of course the great cabin is, thankfully, reserved for gentlemen. You would not wish to be sleeping with the great unwashed, I’m thinking.”
    Meriel refrained from pointing out that the great unwashed generally chose other, less-expensive means of travel. Instead she tousled her little brother’s hair and suggested that he go see for himself what his bed looked like.
    “Yes, indeed,” agreed Mr. Glendower with an arch look at her, “for I am persuaded your sisters and her ladyship must be wishing to examine their quarters without a pair of gentlemen looking over their shoulders. Come along with me, young man.”
    The small, stuffy cabin soon proving to be entirely too confining for four persons who wished to enjoy comfortable conversation, the ladies repaired above to the slightly larger ladies’ saloon on the afterdeck, which had proper windows from which they could observe their departure. When they entered the room, they discovered two other women present, who nodded civilly and then returned to their conversation. A small stove, cold now, sat in the right-rear corner of the room. The only other furnishings were a deal table, a pair of chairs, and several banquettes under the windows, which began halfway back on each side and continued around the end, giving a view to the stern. This line of windows was interrupted midway by a second door that led to the railed aftergallery.
    As Meriel moved to take her seat upon one of the banquettes, her thoughts turned briefly to Marwyn, Gladys Peat, and Enid Broadman as she wondered what the servants’ quarters might be like. The advertisement had said merely that they were clean. Would they have bunks, or hammocks like the crew members were said to have? She had little time to ponder the question, however, for as the ship caught the breeze in the bay and began to move more rapidly and with greater rocking motion away from the shore, Gwenyth turned suddenly from her position at the window and sank down upon the bench beneath it, one hand at her mouth, the other at her stomach. Her complexion was ashen.
    Alarmed, Meriel moved quickly to her side. “Gwen?”
    Eliza, turning toward them, regarded their younger sister with widening eyes. “I think she needs a basin, Meri. Oh, hurry!”
    Looking rapidly around the saloon, Meriel saw nothing at first that would answer the purpose, but a moment later she strode to the black stove, snatched up and emptied the coal bucket beside it, and returned at once to her sister’s side.
    “Here, Gwen,” she said. “It isn’t Sèvres china, but it will do the trick.”
    Her gentle, teasing comment went unnoticed, for Gwenyth lurched gratefully toward the bucket and was violently sick. It was not