Free The Prisoner's Dilemma by Sean Stuart O'Connor Page B

Schwarzsturmvogel’s deck.
    * * * 
    Three days later Sophie had still not left her cabin.
    At around eleven o’clock on the third of these, there was a soft knock on her door. The handle turned and Zweig’s great frame filled the tiny doorway.
    â€˜Sophie. Good morning. I trust you are well,’ he said brightly. ‘I had feared that you were seasick but I’m told you are a natural sailor.’ There was no answer but he continued to smile down at her as she sat by her berth. ‘I was looking forward to showing you the ship, he continued, I know of your scientific interests and I thought you would like to see how we navigate our position and work the sails.’
    Sophie continued to stare bitterly down towards the slatted flooring of the cabin, refusing to answer or even acknowledge his presence.
    â€˜Please don’t stay shut away in here,’ Zweig said, now more quietly, ‘the men are worried for you. And, you must know, I wish for nothing but your happiness.’
    Whilst he said this Sophie had not taken her eyes from the decking. Now she lifted her head and rose from the chair to lookZweig full in the face.
    â€˜If you do not know why I am here then you must be a madman.’ She whispered this quickly in a low, hoarse voice but her tone rose as the anger mounted in her. ‘Yes, a madman. You think I’m here for my happiness? You think I want to be with you? You come to my father’s house with your disgusting blackmail; you do not so much as look at me, never even a word. Then you take me as a hostage for your debt, a debt so deceitfully arrived at that you should be in prison for it. And now you think I can make all this disappear in the name of your one sided love! Be clear Zweig. I see through you. I see through your schemes. How dare you presume that I should ever feel anything for you but contempt. Happy? Leave me alone.’
    Zweig listened to this torrent in silence, his look downcast. There was an air of immovable dignity in his manner as he heard Sophie out. Of understanding, but not without sadness. Now he replied in a soft and measured tone.
    â€˜Sophie. You must know this. I have loved you from the first second I saw you. For weeks afterwards I thought of nothing but you. I had no rest, I moved about as if in a dream. Then I saw you again at that bear garden in the Rathaus. We spoke and I knew then that my soul would never be complete as long as we were apart. I had no idea how to proceed. But fate intervened. Your father fell into debt with me and I knew he would be ruined if I insisted on repayment. Then I saw that some good could come of it. There was no blackmail, it was just my destiny that I saw before me. The money means nothing to me. My life will be unchanged without it. But my life would be destroyed without you.’ He paused for a moment to look at her. ‘I see how you feel about me now but I hope and pray that you will come to view me in a different light in time. Sophie, you know it all now.’
    There was a silence. Sophie continued to stare coldly back at him in reply and he knew there was nothing more to be said. He gave a quick nod of quiet respect and took a step back, gentlyclosing the door as he did so.
    * * * 
    For two days more Sophie endured the suffocation of her tiny cabin. The weather had been kind to them in the Baltic as they’d travelled west towards Kiel but now as Zweig altered course north towards the Kattegat the vessel beat into the vicious headwinds that hurtled down the length of the Storebælt. Progress had been painfully slow for thirty hours or more and the troubled seas had exhausted the crew as they’d fought for every inch of headway. At last they’d reached calmer waters as they rounded the top of Sjælland and, as the wind veered round, Sophie decided that facing Zweig again was preferable to the insanity that threatened her if she spent another day in her cot.
    As she