Free Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati Page A

toothy smile
shifted in her direction; the tilt of his head said he expected her approval.
    "At your service,
Miss Somerville."
    "You are boring
me."
    He drained of color.
"I only meant--"
    Giselle turned her
attention to the opposite side of the table, ignoring Johnson's apologies.
    "Captain
Pickering, it has been a very long time indeed since you have come to our cold
corner of the world. The navy abandons me at this time of year, but I can
always count on you."
    The man Giselle was
addressing had been turned toward Moncrieff and deep in conversation, but he
looked up gladly at her request, and Robbie and Nathaniel both drew up in surprise
at this first clear sight of his face.
    The bush was a hard
place; Nathaniel had grown up in the company of men and women who bore terrible
scars with a combination of forbearance and dignity. But Pickering's face was
not the result of a tomahawk blow or a battle with the pox or fire. Nathaniel
suspected it was much harder to bear. It looked as if his maker had finished
with him, disliked what he had produced, and attempted to rub out the errors,
mashing an overlarge nose into a face like a soggy oat cake. Everything on him
was lopsided, from the small, upward-slanted eyes to the low-hung shelf of
brow.
    "Maria save us,
look at the man's snout," muttered Robbie. "He's mair pickerel than
Pickering. Nae wonder he went tae sea."
    "Mademoiselle."
Pickering inclined his head. "I have brought you more than seafaring
tales. If you'll permit--" he half rose, and gestured to someone out of
sight in the next room.
    Giselle laughed.
"Horace. I knew I could count on you. A surprise. I do love surprises.
Shall I try to guess?"
    "Ha!" called
Quinn. "It's anyone's guess what Pickering's got tucked away in that merchantman
of his. Could have an elephant or two crashing about in the hold."
    A servant appeared at
the door, carrying a small lidded basket. There was a great scramble of serving
men as plates and platters were cleared to make room for it just in front of
Giselle.
    "You brought me
such a lovely set of ivory carvings from India when last you were here,"
she said, eyeing the basket. She had turned so that Nathaniel could see her
face. Time had not left her untouched, but there was the same spark in her eye
and high color in her cheeks, and he didn't wonder that Otter had got caught
up, despite the difference in their ages. Stronger and more experienced men had
floundered in the good fortune of attracting this woman's favor. There were
some prime examples around the table.
    Pickering was drawing
out the suspense. "We were on our way to Halifax from Martinique ..."
    Quinn put down his
glass with a rattle. "Pickering, you sly dog, were you there when Jervis and
Grey took Martinique?" They were no sailors, but the promise of direct
news of a victory over France would have been very welcome to the army
officers.
    Pickering smiled
politely but did nothing to satisfy their curiosity. Instead he put one hand on
the basket, as if to quiet whatever was inside.
    "I took these on
board not knowing if they would survive the journey, but I had some luck. And my
most excellent surgeon, of course, nursed them all the way." With a
graceful flourish he flipped back the wooden lid of the basket and reached
inside.
    "You will note by
the sweet smell that they are quite perfectly ripe." And he drew from the
basket a pair of swollen and discolored human hands, no larger than those of a
child of ten, with lightly curled fingers.
    There was a moment of
shocked silence as he held them up. Even Giselle's voice seemed to fail her.
    A sandy-haired major
of the Royal Highlanders leaped to his feet. "By God, man, have you been
consortin' with cannibals?"
    The room was suddenly
in chaotic movement as all the men surged forward. Nathaniel's view was blocked
by Otter, who stood with the rest of them. Robbie stood, too, and then, having
lost his peepholes, sat again.
    "Let me put your
mind at rest, MacDermott. These grow on the