by Sally Watson
“Well, but what about the slaves? I don’t believe they did sow slavery, especially the babies. And even if they did, God just couldn’t want people to turn their backs and not care. You can’t just sit there and not even try to do something—and I’m glad we let those slaves loose, and I’d do it again tomorrow, and I do wish we could have been pirates who only pirated slavers.”
Something sparked between them. “Aye,” said Rory, grinning briefly. “But not taking ourselves too seriously, mind.”
Jade nodded. She smiled at him.
“I’m hungry,” she decided.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Decision
Jade was herself again. She ate enormously, squabbled with Anne for the patch of sunshine, argued with Rory, teased Joshua and Domino when they visited, did acrobatics, and renewed the duel with Governor Lawes. She was also allowed to join Anne in her daily walks, and was anything but demure and subdued—to the delight of at least some of the townspeople.
“For heaven’s sake!” Michael expostulated. “I’m trying to convince Jamaica that you’re both reformed characters!”
“I’m not,” said the unrepentant Jade, and added a couple of French swear words to prove it.
“I know you’re not,” retorted the harassed Michael. “But at least try to pretend you are—for Anne’s sake if not your own. Rory, can’t you do anything with that atrocious little wildcat?”
Rory just grinned and produced a pair of cerise breeches and a white silk shirt, made for a boy, but quite passable for the slim-hipped Jade.
“By the way,” he reported with enjoyment. “Some of the other pirate captains have sent threatening letters to Governor Lawes. Especially Bartholomew Roberts. He says that he’ll attack every port in Jamaica if Anne isn’t set free.”
“Good heavens,” said Anne feebly. “We’ve never even met!”
“Loyalty of the Brotherhood,” observed Rory with wry amusement. “I must say he’s got more guns than tact. Lawes is furious.”
“We know,” Jade chuckled. “He was in an awful temper this morning when he visited.”
She was thinking about Lawes on the morning of Christmas Eve as she practiced handstands in her lovely cerise breeches. The governor seemed to be bewildered as well as furious of late, staring at Anne with an expression of aggrieved frustration while she sat quietly across the room and let Jade do all the fighting.
Jade glanced over, from her heels-over-head position, at the window where her cell-mate sewed tiny garments, wearing the gentlest of dreamy smiles. And Jade’s memory produced with startling vividness a series of pictures.
. . . Anne in a violent temper, her face murderous. Anne armed to the teeth and splashed with blood, leading a yelling horde of bare-chested pirates to board a hapless merchant ship. Anne boldly putting the ship between the guns of two Spanish warships. Anne shooting Rafferty down in cold blood, and then laughing in the face of imminent retribution. . .
The handstand sagged. Jade righted herself and stared again at this new Anne. No wonder Lawes was so upset! The pirate queen he hated didn’t exist any more! Instead, this—this—
“I never heard of anyone changing as much as you have!” she announced with profound disapproval.
“Nor have I,” agreed Anne, clearly pleased with herself. “It was loving Michael that did it. Now I’d want nothing more than to be a good wife and mother, and the whole idea of piracy revolts me.”
She looked unbelievably virtuous, utterly smug. Jade peered at her with suspicion, and then shook her head.
“They might just as well let you go free,” she said, disgusted. “Even Williamsburg would approve of you now. You’ve got no spunk left.”
Anne laughed, then winked shamelessly. The jailor had just sauntered down to the far end of the corridor. “Don’t be too sure of that, young Jade.” The jailor was turning, coming back. “And you’ve changed, too, you know.”
“I haven’t!” Jade stared, indignant. “I haven’t repented everything, and turned into a sweet proper young lady, and all that. Anyway, Rory wouldn’t like it if I did.”
“No. But you’re twice the person you were, all the same. I can’t explain how, but there’s more to you. You aren’t quite as cock-sure and intolerant, and you’ve even got a tiny bit of humility. Not much, mind, but some. And would you want to go back to piracy?”
For an instant Jade was aboard a ship, with wind driving across sapphire seas to belly the sails, and flying fish skimming off in a panic before them. . . . She caught her breath in an anguish of longing; then thrust the picture deep down in the well where fear lay buried. She daren’t even think about it. Instead, she closed her face and launched herself so ferociously into another handstand that it went on over into a backbend.
A guard’s voice interrupted her inverted reverie. “Governor Lawes wants you both brought to see him in half an hour.”
This unusual command caused Jade to remain perversely upside down for a moment, to think about it and to annoy the guard. But he went on talking, more puzzled than irritated.
“And there’s a man here says he’s Mistress Loupin’s grandfather.”
Jade, just about to start the difficult business of turning the backbend into a handstand, paused to consider this remarkable statement. Both of her grandfathers had been dead for years, and of course neither had ever been related to anyone named Loupin.
“Couldn’t be,” she decided with finality.
“But of course I should have known very well that I should find you sens dessus dessous, with down side up,” said a familiar voice. “How else? And how else should I have recognized you, ma petite-fille, my so-wicked Jade?”
Jade instantly collapsed to the floor, righted herself, scrambled to her feet, and hurled herself at the barred door.
“Monsieur Mau— Mon Grandpère!” she yelped, correcting herself just in time and staring with incredulous eyes at the self-possessed and exquisitely dressed figure of Monsieur Maupin, actually standing there smiling at her.
“Ma foi!” he said, astonished. “How you are different!” He walked through the door that the guard obligingly opened for him, and bowed to Anne with delight and reverence. “And this is the so-great Lady Pirate whom I very much admire! Do not hang your mouth open in that way, petite Jade; it makes you to look amusing but very much stupid.”
Jade pulled herself together. “How— How did you know?” she demanded. “Does Father—” She could not go on, just stared pleadingly, as if he could choose whether or not her family knew.
“Non, non,” he assured her instantly, and she let out an enormous gust of breath. “No one questions at all that you are, hélas, drowned at sea.”
“But then how did you guess? How did you get here? What—”
He laughed at her, his old faded eyes twinkling. “Ma chère petite fille, how could I not to know? I am not your father, me; I understand you very well; moreover I could not make myself feel you dead of a mere storm. And when I heard of a very young audacious female pirate, who has the name, enfin, of Jade Loupin, I asked of myself who else could it possibly be? But I did not say this to your family, who have long ago forgotten the old nickname.” He cocked his bald head. “I thought you would not like it that they know, or you would have given your real name and sent them a message. Moreover, I think that it would not be a kindness to them if you were to resurrect yourself, non?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought, too,” said Jade wistfully. His presence caused her to be smitten with the most dreadful wave of longing for them all—for the porcelain primness of Lavinia, and the ebullience of Matthew, and Mother’s plaintive sweet voice, and even Father’s exasperated frown. She set her lips and stared for a moment at the blurred floor, before the painful memories could be pushed back down the well. Then she stiffened her shoulders.
“Did they— Were they very sad about me drowning?” And she didn’t really know whether to hope that they were or weren’t.
“But of course,” he s
aid gently. “How not? Moreover, being human, they at once discovered virtues in you that no one ever suspected before. Now Melanie begins to be a legend—which is, voyons, much more easy to live with than Jade in the flesh. Matthew, I think, will step a little into your shoes, and begins more and more to challenge convention, a thing which your sister disapproves.”
He waited tactfully, smiling at Anne, while Jade once again got her homesickness in hand.
“And you came all this way?” asked Anne, staring.
“Mais oui; what else?” He shrugged, nodded. “But I was very much afraid that I would be too late—” The remark hung on the air awkwardly, a reminder of that death sentence. But the awkwardness died because none of them would give it tongue or recognition. Monsieur Maupin went on.
“I took passage to Charleston, and there I waited, cursing all ship’s captains because none of them would to bring me to Jamaica, however much I demanded it. Enfin one of them said rudely that I had better buy a ship of my own—so I did.” He beamed. “And, also, mes petites, while I was cursing and arguing and purchasing ships in Charleston, I was also doing another thing.”
He paused dramatically, looking like a wicked elderly elf, so filled with glee that even Anne put down her sewing and leaned forward.
“What?” demanded Jade, a trifle breathless.
“I met a man who knows well the famous Anne Bonney, and who said to me with much regret that he once treated her unjustly, and that she twice rendered him great service which he now wishes much to repay.”
He had his audience. The honey head and the red one were frozen in attention. He beamed at them.
“He gave to me a letter, this man, and desired that I should deliver it to this Governor Lawes who so much likes to hang pirates. It is a plea that he should set free this valiant young woman who saved New Providence first from a plot by one Chidley Bayard—mon dieu what a name!—and then from a Spanish invasion.”
“Governor Rogers!” yelped Anne, her eyes shining. “Mais oui, that one. He has a fine regard for you. And this pouter pigeon Governor Lawes was in solitude with that so-splendid letter for two hours, after which he sent for me again and also for some other people whose names I did not recognize, and for you. I think he is very much annoyed, that one. We will see what he will do, non? It is very difficult for him, voyons, because he is a man wishing to run in two directions at once; and also because I have remarked, oh very casually, you understand, that if he should hang my granddaughter, I shall take my fast little sloop which I have named Sea Wolf in honor of my new name, and harry the coast of Jamaica with it. I think he did not quite believe me, but he is worried, which is most wise of him, for I mean it.”
And his affable smile took in both girls and the bemused guard as well.
Anne began to laugh helplessly.
Governor Lawes awaited them in his small reception room.
“Sit down,” he said curtly, and let them wait in brooding silence until a servant announced that Dr. Radcliffe and Mr. MacDonald and the barrister Mr. Thrumpton had arrived. Then he kept them in more silence until Jade could hardly bear the suspense, and remained silent only because Rory on one side and Monsieur Maupin on the other both jabbed her with their elbows.
Governor Lawes was scowling at Anne alone now, with the disgruntled wrath of one whose heart is, unaccountably, no longer in it. He felt bereft.
“If I let you go,” he said at last, ponderously, “would you solemnly swear to leave your evil ways and become a decent, law-abiding woman for as long as you live?”
Anne gaped, speechless. She had never seriously imagined—hadn’t dared to hope—that this might happen. She nodded, dazed.
There was another long silence. The governor clearly was trying to recover his satisfying sense of vindictive hatred, but was unable to work up anything stronger than mild irritation combined with a most annoying tendency to like the woman! He looked challengingly at Michael, who at once put his arm around Anne.
“I can promise you that, sir,” he said tensely. “I’ll take any oath you like!”
He was so eminently a sober, respectable professional man, and Anne turned on him such a loving and submissive look that Lawes was visibly shaken. He cleared his throat, very judicial.
“And you’ll take her right away from the West Indies and never let her near me again?” he persisted with the fretful air of a Jonah addressing a whale-keeper.
“We’ll vanish in oblivion!” swore Michael, holding up a dramatic hand. “We’ll disappear into the wilds of Virginia or somewhere and never be heard of again. If Anne gets the urge to do any more fighting, I’ll turn her loose on the Indians.”
Rory grunted angrily. His eyes met Jade’s. If they went west, they knew which side they’d be on! Lawes looked at him doubtfully. He found Mr. MacDonald daunting. Always had. He turned his attention pointedly to the fictitious Monsieur Loupin.
“As for this deplorable young descendent of yours, will you keep her out of my wig?” he demanded.
“Mais oui!” Monsieur Maupin spread his hands eloquently. “Have I not said so? Is it not that I have come just to take her from your wig? I shall at once remove her to my ship.” He looked every inch a fine gentleman, from the gleaming silver buckles on his shoes to the delicate lace jabot and ruffles at neck and wrists. “Imagine to yourself how she will become a sweet and gentle young lady, well trained by her family or perhaps a convent.”
Governor Lawes looked pitying. He strongly doubted this.
“Just don’t bring her to Jamaica again,” he grumbled, carefully avoiding Jade’s impudent green eyes. Confound if he wouldn’t miss the little vixen! Galled at this whole process of giving up the vengeance he no longer wanted, he made a long and baleful speech at them, reducing the unfortunate Thrumpton to timorous nods, and not affecting the others at all.
And at the end of it, bewilderingly, they were free.
The Sea Wolf moved gently at anchor, restless to be flying over the sea again, and Jade’s heart leaped with it. The small salon was crowded with the rejoicing company. Joshua hovered near Jade with tears in his eyes, and even Domino, smiling widely, refused to be pried from her side.
Jade, giddy with disbelief, leaned affectionately against the shapely black arm, and then twisted her head to glance up at Monsieur Maupin reproachfully.
“You don’t really mean to try to make a sweet gentle lady of me?” she challenged him, outraged.
“Mais non; I said that because it was the thing he very much wished to hear, so that he should have a good excuse to release you. What wicked thing is it you want to do instead, my Jade?”
Anne raised an alert head from Michael’s shoulder. “Now stop encouraging her, you incorrigible old man!” she scolded. “We’re reformed characters now, Jade and I; we promised.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Rory, grinning like a wolf. Michael sat straight up in alarm. “She did! She promised—” He stopped, remembering.
“I didn’t promise anything,” said Jade, demure.
“A technicality,” Michael argued, but doubtfully. “If someone promises for you—”
“Me, I promised only to keep her out of his wig,” said Monsieur Maupin happily. “And also to take her away on my ship. These things I will do. Now it is only to decide where we shall go, non?”
“Back to the mainland of America,” said Michael firmly. “I’ve got it all decided. We’ll have a church wedding here before we sail, and then go settle in the backwoods. And I think Jade and Rory should do the same. We’d get along well together. . . .” But here he sounded more doubtful than ever, shooting a wary glance at the objects of his plans. They didn’t look as if they were going to be either docile or sensible.
The quartet were looking at one another with sudden secret amusement. Some decisions didn’t have to be spoken at all—one of them being that they wouldn’t be going anywhere that Joshua and Domino couldn’t be free. They glanced speculatively at Monsieur Maupin, who twinkled back as irresponsibly a
s a boy. He didn’t much care what they decided, so long as it was adventurous; and he could trust his wicked Jade for that.
“Where is it that we take ourselves, then?” he asked contentedly.
“Och,” said Rory. “I like the one bit of Michael’s idea well enough. We’ll have that wedding a double one. Triple, if Joshua and Domino want a church one, too. After that—” He looked like an Indian delightedly off on the warpath again.
Anne jerked herself bolt upright. “You wouldn’t!” she cried.
“Yes, we would,” said Jade with her bared-teeth smile. “We’re going to Africa and harry the slave-raiders. It’s what we’ve wanted all along, to be a kind of pirate that just attacks slavers. We can get some crew in Trinidado, even if we have to pay some of them. They can have all the incidental loot.”
“You’re mad!” Michael was aghast. “You’ll be killed or caught again and hanged sooner or later. Probably sooner!”
“We know,” said Rory.
“You won’t let them, sir!” Michael appealed to the old man. “It’s your ship; you won’t lend it to them for such a purpose!”
Monsieur Maupin was fixing an extremely long and penetrating look upon Jade, who returned it unflinching. He looked at Rory. Then at Domino and Josh. He nodded.
“I am a crazy and wicked old man,” he confessed impenitently. “I should take the petite Jade back to her family sans doute. But I think, me, that this would be even more wicked and crazy. Besides, I also would very much like to be a pirate against slave traders, who steal human freedom. And I am a master swordsman. Behold, then, how we go to Africa.”
Anne looked almost envious. “It was you taught Jade to fence, wasn’t it?” She sighed. She remembered her reformed state and leaned contentedly against Michael. “Good luck,” she said.
Jade chuckled. “We’ll need it. So,” she added ominously, “will they.”
