The Secret Mandarin by Sara Sheridan Read Free Book Online Page B

last me thirty seconds for I had no sooner moved than Mr Hunter appeared from a doorway near the poop deck.
    ‘Miss Penney,’ he greeted me curtly.
    I nodded back, at a loss how to explain Robert’s poor behaviour the day before. Mr Hunter, however, showed no sign of discomfort at all.
    ‘I have come to check our cabin. Clara will follow me shortly. Perhaps I could help you to yours?’ He took my arm.
    For one moment I thought perhaps it would be fine, and then my blood ran cold as Mr Hunter placed his free hand on my waist, coming too near to whisper:
    ‘I realised last night that your face was familiar. No one on this ship or indeed in Calcutta need know, Miss Penney, of your particular talents or your misfortune.’
    I pulled back. Would I never be free of the reputation afforded me in those damn scandal sheets?
    ‘We can come to some arrangement, my dear. I did not expect you to be childish.’ The blaggard pushed up against me so that I could smell the tobacco on his skin and the claret on his breath. His contemptible intentions were all too clear.
    ‘Would Mrs Hunter find it childish?’ I challenged him.
    ‘A man being married never troubled you before as I understand it.’
    ‘I can find my own cabin, thank you,’ I retorted and turned away, catching the sneer he gave me, the half-muttered threat under his breath.
    ‘You don’t have a choice, you harlot.’
    Robert, it occurred to me, would probably agree with him. For that matter so would William. I was fair game.
    But there on the deck, quite suddenly I found that I did have a choice. I did not have the choice I wanted, of course, but that was by the by. In a flash I realised that if I was to be labelled with my shame and preyed upon wherever I went, then why should I go anywhere? Especially not on William’s say-so or indeed, Robert’s. Damn them all, why should I do what they say? It was for Henry’s welfare, certainly, but then who was to know if I didn’t embark? Who was to berate me or penalise him? In fact, the only thing that mattered was that William wouldn’t find out. Robert would be gone, I reasoned. Jane hardly left the house and certainly never went as far as Drury Lane. I had lost my family whether I went to Calcutta or not and I was never expected to return. I had tried to come back and it had not worked out as I had hoped. Now I might as well make myself happy, or as happy as I could be. I would not be subjected to Mr Hunter’s odious desires. Why should I?
    Once the idea presented itself I was taken. My heart fluttering with anticipation, I climbed the steps to the poopdeck without a word, leaving Mr Hunter behind me. Above, the captain was not at his post but the first officer presented himself. I had made the decision.
    ‘Take my trunk off,’ I said. ‘I will not be sailing today.’
    ‘But Miss Penney, your passage is part-paid. We cannot wait for you.’
    ‘I am not going,’ I said very definitely. ‘Keep the money.’
    Mr Hunter had left the deck when we came back down. No doubt he thought he had the whole voyage to prowl me. I watched as my trunk was carried off and I paid tuppence to have it taken back to Mrs Gordon’s. A plan was taking shape, even as I walked away from the Filigree and all my good intentions. I could pitch up in London and use a different name. I had always wanted to be named Georgiana. The more I thought of it, the better it seemed. Would William even recognise me, I wondered, if I changed my name and my appearance? Dyed my hair darker with the walnut, plucked my eyebrows thin and wore an old-fashioned mole? I would disappear into the world of London’s theatres. Better for me to stay in England surely, than go to Calcutta. Why should I be banished when I was not the one who had broken my word? I had tried what they wanted, now I would make my own way and best of all they never need know.
    Fired up, I cut along the dock, avoiding the Braganza, and walked uphill towards Mrs Gordon’s. With luck I