An Unwilling Spy

by Janis Linford

  She took his hand and held it. A slick layer of sweat covered his skin. He opened his eyes and gave her a weak smile. ‘Adeline. How did ye get on today?’

  ‘Twelve sacks, Papa. Enough money for the next month.’

  ‘Good girl.’ He broke into a barrage of coughing. The whites of his eyes teared up and he could hardly catch his breath.

  Poor Papa. His ailment looked bad. ‘I’ll get you something to drink.’

  A jug sat on a nearby table and she poured a little water into a glass and came back to the bed. ‘Try a little,’ she said gently. ‘I’m sure it will help.’

  He bent forward, straining to reach, and took a couple of mouthfuls. Then he slumped onto the pillow, exhausted by the effort.

  ‘Thank ye,’ he whispered and his work-roughened hand found hers and gave it a tiny squeeze. ‘I have faith in ye, Adeline.’ His eyes drifted shut.

  Mama came in with a tray. ‘Go have your dinner girl before it gets cold. I’ll sit with him now.’

  ‘Yes, Mama.’ Adeline bent and kissed her father’s hot forehead. ‘Rest now, Papa. I’ll come and see you tomorrow before I go out cutting.’

  He gave an imperceptible nod and she tiptoed out of the room, leaving her mother to dose him with her rhubarb and lemon syrup. Her cure-all for chest maladies.

  Adeline helped herself to the last of the mutton stew, her appetite sharpened by the long day on the reef. She peered at the lumpy brown sludge on her plate. As she’d suspected, all the choice bits of meat were gone. With a sigh she tucked in and gulped down the stew, her body filling with satisfying warmth.

  ‘Do you have to eat so heartily?’ Rosalie observed a moment later. ‘I’m sure Daniel would prefer you ate dainty portions like the Queen.’

  Adeline stared at her, her mouth open. ‘How do you know how the Queen eats?’

  ‘Mrs. Nance told me so.’ Rosalie squinted at her work, pierced the cloth with her needle and pulled it out again.

  ‘And I suppose Mrs. Nance has watched the Queen eat?’

  ‘Don’t be silly. Of course not.’

  ‘Well then, how does she know?’

  Rosalie studied her work in the light of the fire then plunged the needle into the cloth again. ‘She heard it from a patient she treated in Bath.’

  Adeline shook her head. Rosalie sucked up gossip like a baby feeding at the breast. Nothing was too trivial or too terrible to discuss and she bandied tidbits around the village without a care for the truth or people’s feelings, a trait Adeline had never indulged.

  After her dinner, Adeline cleaned up and examined the seaweed. The strands were already firm to her touch. She should leave them a little longer to harden completely but she couldn’t wait for more warmth to heat her chilled bones. She placed the strands on the fire and the flames grew bright, lighting the cottage with a cheery glow.

  ‘That’s better,’ sighed Rosalie. ‘In the half-light I can never see my stitching at all well.’

  Adeline glanced at the bonnet in Rosalie’s hands. The stitches, so small that one could hardly see where one stitch ended and the other began, sat tidily across the rent she was repairing. Adeline picked up the handkerchief she was working on and grimaced. Her stitching looked lumpy and uneven, like leeches Rosalie had once said. Admittedly her embroidery was only good enough for someone to blow their nose on.

  Mama returned and set the tray on the table. The syrup had disappeared but the pieces of bread had not been touched.

  ‘How is he?’ Adeline put a stitch on the handkerchief’s hem.

  ‘He complains of being cold and yet he is covered in every spare quilt we have.’

  A pang of fear swept over Adeline. ‘Will I not get the doctor? We could pay him with seaweed instead of money.’

  ‘I will not be beholden to anyone,’ Mama declared. ‘Least of all Dr. Vickery. He has already done me several favors and I can’t ask for more.’

  ‘But isn’t this —’

  ‘I will not seek charity,’ she said fiercely. ‘What would Magistrate Trevers think of me?’

  It was just like Mama to worry about her reputation with Daniel’s father. Adeline grimaced, knowing any further arguments were useless. Poor Papa. He’d just have to cope with Mrs. Nance’s potions.

  A thumping knock sounded on the cottage door.

  She exchanged a look with Mama and Rosalie. Whoever had called didn’t mean to be ignored.

  ‘Adeline, see who it is.’ Mama’s voice sounded irritated as she rinsed her father’s plate.

  Adeline gladly set aside her sewing and went over to unbolt the door. ‘Daniel,’ she said on an inward breath when she saw him on the doorstep. His face wore a serious look that made her heart beat faster. Surely he hadn’t come to talk about the wedding now?

  ‘Hello, Adeline.’ Daniel’s clipped voice sounded business-like. ‘Is your father within? I must speak with him urgently.’

  Chapter Two

  Adeline glanced back at her mother then held open the door. ‘Please, come in.’

  Daniel stepped into the room and put his covered lantern on the table. ‘Good evening, ma’am,’ he said to Mama. He nodded at her sister. ‘Miss Rosalie.’

  A welcoming smile stretched across her mother’s face. Rosalie inclined her head, observing Daniel with interest.

  Now that he’d stepped into the light, Adeline saw he wasn’t dressed in his usual clothes. He wore a dark buttoned coat with brown trousers tucked inside long leather boots. A pistol sat snug under a leather belt at his waist and a kerchief draped around his neck. He looked like the pirates Adeline had heard about from the local fishermen and all at once she knew why he had called.

  ‘Good evening, Daniel,’ Mama said, her glance straying to his gun. She indicated Papa’s stool by the fire. ‘Please sit down and tell us what brings you out at this time of night?’

  Adeline shut the door with a snort. Her mother must have guessed Daniel’s reason but she never missed an opportunity to play the lady.

  Daniel sat and stretched his feet towards the fire. His boots were wet and the smell of seawater clung to him. ‘Mrs. Perran there will be a smuggling run tonight. A cutter is caught out on the reef. The men think she’s a Frenchie blown off course and she’s leaning deep into the swell and breaking up. A crew is getting ready to launch the rowboat and I need William.’

  Adeline’s heartbeat quickened. A French cutter on the reef!

  Mama’s mouth puckered with worry and she shook her head. ‘I’m sorry Daniel but William can no more row the galley boat than eat his dinner. He’s ill and cannot be moved from his bed.’

  Daniel frowned. ‘But I saw him at the harbor this morning.’

  ‘He’s come down sick.’ Adeline pulled up a stool. ‘He’s coughing badly and he’ll not be any use to you tonight.’

  Daniel expelled a breath and raked a hand over his face, tinged red by the firelight. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. I trust he recovers soon. But who am I going to use as my main man?’ He thought for a second. ‘I suppose there’s James Johnson.’

  ‘Johnson!’ Adeline said with a start. ‘But he’s the town idiot.’

  ‘Adeline.’ Mama did that thing with her eyes when she wanted to convey a message without seeming to. ‘Comporte-toi.’

  Mama always reverted to her native language at times of stress. Brought up to speak French fluently too, Adeline sucked in a breath and replied in kind, ‘Pardon, Maman.’ She shouldn’t have said what she did about Johnson but the man did the most appalling things.

  Last summer he climbed the roof of The Robin’s Mill Inn and jumped off right in front of a passing carriage. Luckily, he’d been drunk and fell on the road verge like a basket of dead fish. The carriage driver had swerved and missed him but it had been a close run thing, with only his stupid hat crushed into the track.

  ‘You can’t possibly use him,’ she said to Daniel. ‘He’s too much of a risk.’

  ‘I don’t have any choice. The Marrak brothers are on the horse and cart, I’ve
got the usual farmers and their wives on the beach waiting to collect the barrels and even Mr. Yates from the inn is doing signals on the cliffs. There’s no-one else skilled enough to row out and board the ship.’

  A brace of hacking coughs sounded from the back room and Daniel’s eyes caught her own. ‘Poor William. He sounds bad. I shall miss him tonight.’

  Had Papa been well, he would have been the galley boat leader rowing with five other men from the village out to the stricken ship, their strokes sure and swift against the waves. She would have watched from the cliff top, yearning to be down on the beach with the other women but Papa had always insisted she stay home. ‘Tis no place for a lass. The King’s officers are never far away and they don’t hold with smuggling. If they catch ye there’ll be hell to pay and men who are caught can hang.’

  But with her father lying ill there was more reason to help tonight and in the last two smuggling runs there hadn’t been any trouble. ‘I could do the job,’ she said boldly.

  Rosalie spluttered and Daniel and Mama looked shocked.

  ‘Have you taken leave of your senses?’ Mama demanded. ‘A woman’s place is in the home, not out at sea.’

  ‘I agree with you, Mrs. Perran.’ Daniel’s face registered disbelief that she’d even made the suggestion.

  ‘I don’t see why not.’ Adeline glared at him too incensed with his attitude to pull back now. ‘You know I’m a strong rower. I could beat half those men in a race.’

  ‘Possibly … but it’s not all about rowing.’ He raked his hair back with an air of frustration. ‘You need skill —’

  ‘Which I have —’

  ‘ — to bring the galley close and board the cutter,’ Daniel finished. ‘It requires a lot of strength.’

  ‘I’m strong. You know I am.’

  He shook his head. ‘Women aren’t strong enough and I cannot stand the thought of you getting hurt.’

  If she had been born a boy there would have been no quibble whatsoever. ‘So you’re going to let Johnson row instead?’

  Her voice sounded harsh but whole situation was ridiculous. Why couldn’t she go out? She had always longed to do something exciting and here was the perfect opportunity. To be stymied because she was a woman was so unfair. ‘Don’t you want the cargo?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ Daniel ground out. ‘I’m sure the cutter is heavily loaded and no-one wants to let her go. But no matter how well you row Little Star — you’re not coming.’

  ‘Thank goodness.’ Mama gave a pleased nod in Daniel’s direction. ‘At least someone is showing some sense.’

  Adeline rounded on her, furious that she should side with Daniel. ‘But we need the money. You know Papa earns as much as a fortnight’s wage when he does a run and if we had that money we could get the doctor to him.’

  Mama’s mouth pinched into a thin line and Adeline’s stomach knotted at the familiar gesture.

  ‘No Adeline, and that is my final word. Papa would not care for you to be out there and I am not having you risk your life. We need the weed money you bring in.’

  A crushing disappointment stabbed Adeline in the stomach. It was true she brought in the bulk of their livelihood but it didn’t make her feel special — only duty-bound. ‘But Papa needs help,’ she said, unable to let it go. ‘You must see that.’

  Mama nodded, decision writ large on her face. ‘Mrs. Nance owes me a favor. I will go and see her in the morning.’

  Adeline forced herself to remain quiet. Continuing to argue with Mama would be wasted breath but Papa deserved so much more than Mrs. Nance’s potions.

  Rosalie, who had listened to all of this in her demure manner, stood and moved closer to Daniel. No-one who didn’t know her would suspect she had a withered left leg. It was only half the width of her right, but for all that she moved with a gracefulness that Adeline had never mastered. Rosalie’s leg stopped her doing the seaweed cutting but Adeline suspected that it didn’t hinder her as much as she would have everyone believe.

  Rosalie pressed Daniel’s hands. ‘God speed tonight. Stay safe and may the light of the stars guide you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Daniel said with a gentle smile, ‘but I would prefer the clouds to hide us from the revenue officers.’

  ‘Do you expect them tonight?’ Adeline asked.

  ‘There’s no saying but the men have their muskets ready and we have spotters on the track from the harbor. But I must get going. With William ill, I’ll need to get that galley manned.’

  He retrieved his covered lantern from the table. ‘We will hide the cargo in the usual spot so when the Marrak brothers come past with the loaded cart, make sure your door and shutters are bolted. The less you know the better.’

  ‘We will,’ Mama said, getting to her feet. ‘And I will tell William that you called. I’m sure he would wish you well tonight.’

  Daniel dipped his head and turned his searching gaze on Adeline. All playfulness had gone from his expression and a grim determination had taken its place. He looked older, more manly, and weighed down with responsibility.

  ‘Take care tonight,’ he said softly.

  For an instant her heart faltered at the ardent look in his eye. ‘You too, Daniel.’

  He scrutinized her a moment longer, then making sure to shield his lantern from curious eyes, opened the door and headed off down the harbor track.

  Adeline followed him out. She did wish him a safe run as she had no desire to see him hurt but she also damned him for his rejection of her offer. Would he never trust her with a difficult job?

  She went around the house, closed all the shutters then came back inside and bolted the door. It was a prudent thing to do but still, she was tempted to steal up to the cliff top and watch the cutter go down.

  ‘Bank the fire, Adeline,’ Mama said, lighting the candle in her holder. ‘It’s late and best we go to bed. I don’t want anyone thinking we’re part of what is happening on the beach.’

  Rosalie yawned and put away her sewing. ‘People wouldn’t think that of me anyhow, not with my leg.’

  ‘That is true,’ Mama said with a smile. ‘But it is not just your leg. If an officer called, he would only have to look at your pretty face and manners to know you would never do anything untoward.’

  Rosalie blushed. ‘Oh, Mama.’

  Adeline scowled and grabbed the fire tongs. She would give anything to be down there amongst the men, bringing in the barrels.

  She jabbed at the burning coals and covered them in ash making sure they would cool, but not too much, so they would reignite in the morning. She lit a small candle from the coals and after saying goodnight to Mama, both she and Rosalie went to bed.

  Their room had been added to the original cottage when it became apparent they would need more space. It only fitted two beds with one small table between them.

  She placed the candle holder on the table and they both undressed, not lingering in the cold air. Her hair had dried and she braided it quickly before climbing under her patched quilt.

  ‘A pity I didn’t get more sewing done tonight,’ Rosalie said, getting into her bed. ‘But I daresay Daniel’s news was more interesting.’

  ‘Interesting!’ Adeline pushed up on her elbows and stared across at her sister’s shadowy form on the other side of the room. ‘It was an opportunity gone to waste.’

  Rosalie clicked her tongue. ‘You cannot seriously think to row out to that ship? That’s madness and Mama is right to be concerned about your reputation, no matter how difficult times become.’

  ‘You may think differently if Papa dies and we are destitute.’

  ‘That’s absurd.’ Rosalie yawned and rolled over. ‘Papa is robust and healthy. He’s just got a bad cold.’

  Adeline leaned over and blew out the candle and with a shiver sank down under her quilt again. ‘I hope you’re right.’

  ‘Of course I am. Now will you be quiet? I’m really tired.’

  Rosalie fell asleep quickly but Adeline could not settle. The constant
coughing from her parents’ room kept intruding and after a while she gave up and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Papa had never been this unwell. He’d had the usual colds and aches that all fishermen suffered but this illness seemed different.

  A cough, louder than the others, split the air, the sound guttural and choked. Her father gasped and paused and for a moment she thought he’d found peace, only for the coughing to resume again with wretched force.

  She’d always been closest to Papa. Not that Mama wasn’t a good woman but somehow warmth and joy did not spark between them. Adeline had tried to please her but she knew Mama found her a constant disappointment and unlike the genteel daughter she’d obviously imagined.

  Papa had always believed in her and hugged her close, and she had no doubt he loved her. He had taught her how to row, how to mend nets and how to ride a horse. He had been her mentor and now he lay sick in the next room. If only Mama had let her get Dr. Vickery.

  Papa’s coughing stopped and she could hear the wind buffeting the cottage. The shutters on the window rattled and the house sighed and groaned, as though the wind were a swirling demon straining to get inside.

  The cutter would be listing heavily by now, full of barrels containing brandy, tea or gin. If she could get a small keg or even a hogshead of brandy and sell it in the next village, they could afford Dr. Vickery’s services. Despite what Mama thought, Adeline had faith in the doctor’s care. He was a gentle man of extreme understanding and Papa liked him.

  Daniel had said there were spotters on the track from the harbor but she would bet her cutting knife there weren’t any in the cove this side of the headland. It would be too far from the main action for him to station men there. If she went out in Little Star and kept to the left of the reef, she could haul in a keg or two and be back before anyone noticed her.

  A flash of daring stirred her. None of the villagers would care if she came back with a piece of French cargo. It was only what Papa would do and Daniel and Mama would not need to know, not if she returned in a couple of hours and hid the contraband under the sacks in the stable.