Free The Lost Empress by Steve Robinson Page A

really bring herself to do what the Dutchman had asked of her. But given the stakes, how could she not?
    Chester was still staring up at the side of the ship, clearly as impressed as his grandfather hoped he would be. ‘Are there any battleships?’
    ‘No, lad, and more’s the pity. But that’s progress for you. They outgrew Chatham several years ago. The Medway is too shallow and too difficult for the new Dreadnoughts to navigate.’
    When Alice’s father moved on again, still holding Chester’s hand as they went, Alice deliberately slowed down. ‘I suppose you’ve been in the Royal Navy since you were old enough to join up,’ she asked the young naval officer.
    Her sudden interest seemed to take him aback. He smiled keenly. ‘Yes, I was fifteen,’ he said. ‘Family tradition, I suppose. I don’t think I had much choice in the matter, other than running away from home.’
    ‘Have you ever dreamed of doing something else?’
    The officer drew a thoughtful breath. ‘No, I can’t say I have. The Navy treats me well enough.’
    ‘And what do you do when you’re not escorting admirals and their daughters around the dockyard?’ Alice asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Don’t tell me. Let me guess.’ A moment later, she added, ‘I know. You must be in charge of the whole dockyard, is that it?’
    ‘You flatter me.’
    ‘Well, maybe you’re only passing through, and you’re really the captain of a submarine.’
    The young officer laughed at the idea. ‘Now you’re getting carried away. Besides, I’m too tall. I’d be forever bashing my head.’
    Alice laughed with him. Then she asked the question she’d been steering him towards answering. ‘I suppose submarines are being built here now?’
    ‘Yes, indeed, and Chatham is well up to the task. New submarines have been coming out of No. 7 slip since C17 was laid down in 1907.’
    At hearing that, Alice quickened her pace, and they soon caught up with her father and Chester again.
    ‘She’ll have a top speed of twenty-eight and a half knots,’ her father said, continuing to further Chester’s education of the C class light cruiser that was to be HMS Calliope .
    At that point, Alice tripped over a rusty length of chain and fell onto her side. Both the young officer and her father were beside her at once.
    ‘Are you hurt?’ the officer asked.
    ‘Get up with you,’ Alice’s father said, showing no concern and very little patience.
    Together, they helped Alice to stand again, but when she put her weight on her left foot, she winced. ‘I think I might have sprained my ankle.’
    She put her foot down again, and this time she winced more loudly and started to hop on her other foot.
    ‘Blast it!’ her father said. ‘I told you, you shouldn’t have come. Didn’t I say that?’
    ‘Yes, Father. I’m sorry.’
    ‘It’s too late for apologies now. You’ll have to go and get it looked at.’ He addressed the young officer. ‘Fetch some help, and have my daughter taken to the medical hut.’
    ‘I’m sure I can manage to take her there by myself, sir,’ the officer said a little too eagerly.
    ‘You’ll do what you were instructed to do and remain here with my grandson and me,’ Lord Metcalfe said. To Alice he added, ‘We’ll collect you when we’re ready to leave. And for Heaven’s sake, look where you’re going in future.’

    Alice did not have to wait more than a few minutes for the young officer to return with help, which came in the form of a nurse and her orderly.
    ‘Be a good little sailor for your grandfather,’ she told Chester.
    Then she limped away, keeping up the pretence until she was lost to the fog, which although persistent was gradually beginning to lift. They passed the Mast Pond on their left, where once the wooden masts and spars were seasoned in salt water to prevent the resin from setting and making the wood brittle. Ahead and to her right, she could see pale sunlight on the roofs of the covered slips,