Free The Captain's Christmas Family by Deborah Hale Page B

rolling Scottish cadence.
    It was not only the way Miss Murray spoke that appealed to him, but what she had to say. Their opinions might differ widely, particularly when it came to spiritual matters, but he could not question her sincerity or her judgment. Indeed, he respected both. The differences between them added a certain zest to their discussion that made his conversation with anyone else seem stale.
    Last evening, in Miss Murray’s company, time hadflown by more agreeably than he’d ever experienced before. Tonight, as he paced the library, hoping she might appear again, every minute crawled as if some physical force were hindering the movement of the clock’s hands. When those hands finally struggled to half-past eight, Gideon reluctantly acknowledged that he would not likely see Miss Murray that evening.
    What had made him imagine he might? A sigh gusted out of him as he sank onto the nearest of the armchairs. Miss Murray had no reason to visit the library so soon again. Last evening she had procured a book that might take her many hours to finish in what little free time she had for pleasure reading. It was doubtful she would return to the library for a week at least.
    To his bewilderment, Gideon found himself counting the days until Sunday when he could be certain of spending time in her company again.
     
    “Will Captain Radcliffe be coming to church with us again this week?” asked Cissy as Marian fixed her hair the following Sunday morning. The child sounded as if she were bracing herself for something unpleasant.
    “I’m not certain.” Marian tried to ignore the odd little spasm that gripped her stomach when Cissy spoke the captain’s name. “I suppose I ought to have asked him.”
    She had been strongly tempted to seek him out the previous evening for that very reason, but she’d feared she might find him at dinner again and he might feel obliged to invite her to join him. Not that she would have found it unpleasant—quite the contrary. But a repetition of such behavior might provoke comment among the servants. She did not want to risk exposing the captain to more undeserved gossip within his own household.
    Now she almost wished she had consulted him, so she would know whether she and the girls could expect to see him this morning. The uncertainty made her rather anxious.
    “I hope he will come.” Dolly looked up from the atlas she had been examining with unaccustomed concentration. “It’s much nicer driving to church in the carriage than walking. Besides, I have lots more questions I want to ask him.”
    “If the captain does accompany us,” Marian said, brushing a lock of Cissy’s lustrous dark hair around her finger to make a final ringlet, “please try not to pester him with too much chatter.”
    “Why not? He didn’t seem to mind last week. He told me all sorts of interesting things.”
    So he had, Marian was obliged to admit. Just by listening to them, she had learned a few new facts. Captain Radcliffe had been remarkably patient in answering the child’s endless questions about ships and the sea. In fact, he had appeared to welcome them to fill the awkward silence that might have pervaded the carriage otherwise.
    “Get on your cloaks and bonnets, girls. If the captain is coming with us, we don’t want to keep him waiting.” And if he was not, she feared they might be late for church.
    As Cissy rose from her chair in front of the dressing table, Marian stooped to glance at herself in the lookingglass. She’d given in to an unaccountable whim to wear her hair differently this morning, parting it to one side rather than straight down the middle. For such a minor change, it altered her appearance considerably, softening the severe simplicity she had affected until now.
    She noted other changes, as well, that the difference in parting her hair could not account for. Her lips looked fuller and her nose less prominent than usual. Her complexion had a youthful brightness that made