Free Raised By Wolves 3 - Treasure by W A Hoffman Page A

strongly in French, with a fine voice that made me wonder what Gaston’s would sound like if it had not been broken.
    “These men were in my employ,” he continued, the courtier repeating each phrase in proper English. “I gave them poor orders. I did not intend for an altercation to occur.”
    “And you are?” Modyford asked suspiciously.
    “I am the Marquis de Tervent,” the man said with a smile toward me.
    Modyford glanced at me.
    I smiled thinly. “As my matelot’s father is the Marquis de Tervent, and this man bears a striking resemblance to my matelot, I would judge him to be who he says.”
    The Marquis smirked once he heard the translation.
    Modyford frowned, but quickly rearranged his features into a genteel smile of diplomacy and bowed. “Greetings, my Lord, I am Governor Modyford, appointed by the King of England to govern this English colony.”
    The Marquis gave a slight bow and smiled. “As I said, I regret to make your acquaintance under these circumstances.”
    The governor nodded thoughtfully, and his gaze darted from the Marquis to me and back again to settle on the Marquis. “My Lord, I must ask, what this is about?”
    “It should not have been a matter of your concern, Governor,”
    Vittese stepped forward to say in French, earning him a short-lived glare of annoyance from the Marquis. “The matter involved a French citizen, and my Lord Tervent takes needless blame in the matter. I am the one responsible for the poorly given orders. We did not understand that the man we sought would be in the company of others.”
    “But…” Modyford began, while eyeing Theodore and me.
    “The man you sought,” Theodore said briskly, “is now an English citizen. Governor Modyford signed the petition himself.”
    This surprised both Vittese and the Marquis.
    “We received notification from the Marquis that he was here and wished to meet with his son,” I said smoothly. “Mister Theodore delivered it to us. We came, but before we could arrange any sort of meeting, or for that matter, even deposit our baggage in our house, we were accosted on the street.”
    Vittese took umbrage at that, but the Marquis seemed to feel guilt – and his glare at Vittese showed who he blamed for it.
    “I am sorry,” the Marquis said, to me, in French, and waved off the courtier’s translation. The fox’s grin was gone. “That was not my intent.
    The last thing I wished to do was cause more harm.”
    I bit back many words, not only because to my amazement I judged him sincere, but also because we were still surrounded by others who had no business in the matter.
    “We must speak,” I said in French.
    He nodded resolutely.
    I turned to the governor. “I need to speak with the Marquis in private. Is there anything else you need from either of us?”
    “My Lord,” Lynch said from beside the governor. “Do you wish for these men to be charged with a crime?”
    “Nay,” I said quickly, and then paused to think. “I feel they have paid for their hubris and indiscretion far more than they deserve. I would see nothing more come to them.”
    “Very good, my Lord,” Lynch said. He turned to address the Marquis.
    “Then, my Lord, if you would be so kind as to arrange to have men from your ship remove these men from my gaol. Your son has already been kind enough to tend to their wounds.”
    This surprised the Marquis, but he gestured at Vittese. “My man will see to it.” Then he looked to me.
    “Your son is a fine physician and surgeon,” I said. “Doucette trained him.”
    The Marquis nodded thoughtfully. “Shall we speak then?” He looked to Modyford and the others. “If you gentlemen will excuse us.”
    They nodded, and I nodded, and the Marquis and I began to stroll down the side of the building toward the wharf, with Vittese and the courtier.
    I stopped. “As you already know, you will not need him.” I pointed at the courtier and nodded politely. “And I will not countenance his being present.” I