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take you in hand. It will never do for you to present
yourself to her Grace of Stafford until you have
overcome certain odd notions of behaviour. I flatter
myself that I am as able as anyone to teach you how to
go on unexceptionably, though I daresay you will never
be as pretty-behaved as Muriel. Muriel is exceptional."
"Yes, ma'am, and thank you, but I missed both
breakfast and luncheon!"
"Kinsey, fetch some nourishment for Miss Danville.
And you may tell Miss Muriel to come down. She has
spent quite enough time with young Graylin for this
afternoon."
The abigail went off and Teresa dressed. In a few
minutes a knock at the door announced Willy, the
cabin boy, bearing a tray. "Cap'n's compliments, miss,"
he said as he set it carefully on the table, "and there's
over a hundred Africans been saved. I seen 'em, miss.
They's up on deck, wi' a bit o' canvas rigged to keep
the sun offn 'em. And I seen them slavers too, in irons
in the brig. Summun told 'em it was you as saved
them Blacks and they was cussing something awful!"
"That will do!" said Lady Parr severely, and Willy
departed in haste.
Muriel came in while Teresa was eating. "Captain
Fitch wants to see you on the quarter deck," she said,
"if you are quite recovered. Oh, Miss Danville, you
were splendid! I cannot imagine how you could be so
brave. Why, it frightens me only to see their black
faces at a distance."
Teresa looked at her in surprise. "They are people,"
she said gently. "I could not let them drown without
trying to save them. If you will excuse me, ma'am, I
shall go up to see the captain."
Captain Fitch wanted to know what she expected
him to do with her protégés. Andrew leaned on the rail,
grinning at her disconcerted expression.
"I'll impress a score or so of the men," the captain
went on. "We've lost that many of the crew to Yellow
Fever and such, and there's enough of the Blacks
healthy. The rest, there's the women and children, and
a lot of them sick."
"Then the first thing is to attempt to cure them,"
said Teresa. "After seeing the conditions they were
kept in, I should say fresh air and decent food will be
enough for most of them. However, I shall fetch my
herbs and see whether I can help any of them. Perhaps
65
the doctor could meet me there?"
As Teresa joined the ship's doctor amidships, she
looked round at the rescued slaves. Some of the
children were sufficiently recovered from their ordeal
to run and play, and a number of the men were
standing and stretching, or walking about. Others sat
huddled or lay sprawling. She imagined they must
enjoy simply having space to breathe.
When they saw her, many of them called out in
incomprehensible words. A young girl, perhaps fifteen
or sixteen, came towards her. She was clad only in a
piece of white cloth tied above her breasts and hanging
to mid thigh.
"They are blessing you, miss," she said in excellent
English. "They know that without you they would be
dead. I am Annie, miss, and I too bless you and thank
you."
Teresa felt her cheeks grow hot and quickly asked,
"How is it that you speak English?"
Annie explained that since she was a small child
her mother had lived with a white man, who had
treated her as a daughter. Both her mother and her
adoptive father had died of some nameless tropical
disease, and she had been sold to the slavers by the
local chief.
She made herself useful interpreting as Teresa and
the doctor moved among the others, cleaning and
binding wounds, dosing fevers, washing inflamed eyes
with herbs.
When they had seen all the sick, Teresa went to
report to Captain Fitch. As she climbed the steps to
the quarter deck, she looked up to see Andrew
watching her. She gave him a weary smile. "I think
they will all survive," she said. "I must tell you how
grateful I am that you went with me to the Snipe.
Without your support I could have done nothing."
"Without your initiative, nothing would have been
done, Miss Danville. I was prepared to take the
Captain s word that they could not be saved. There are
times when a disregard for convention is estimable."
His voice was serious, and when Teresa looked for a
teasing light in his eye, she read only admiration. She
turned away to hide her flushed face.
Captain Fitch had decided to set his unwanted
passengers ashore at Grand Turk, in the Caicos
Islands, which they would pass close to in a few days.
66
He assured Teresa that it had a healthful climate and
that the men would certainly find work in the salt
industry which flourished there. She had to agree that
it would probably suit them better than England, had
it been possible to convey them thither.
She went down to the cabin to dress for dinner.
After all the adventure of the day, she was ruefully
aware of a ridiculous feeling of excitement when she
remembered that she was to wear her new gown.
She watched Kinsey help Lady Parr and Muriel into
their finery and arrange their hair. The first thing she
must do when she arrived in London, she decided, was
to find a competent abigail. There was clearly a definite
art to it, far beyond the services Josefa had rendered
her, which had amounted to little more than mending
and laundry. Muriel, whose blond ringlets had been
sadly disarranged by the breeze during her visit on
deck, emerged from Kinsey's clever hands fit to grace a
ballroom.
Then it was Teresa's turn. She held her breath as
the sprigged muslin slipped down over her shoulders.
It fitted perfectly. Kinsey took the captain's tiny mirror
off its hook and held it tilted while Teresa twisted and
turned, trying to see herself in her new finery.
At last she gave up, laughing. "I shall have to take
it on trust," she said, then added with unwonted
shyness, "Do you think you can do anything with my
hair?"
Kinsey sat her down at the table. Muriel obligingly
sat opposite holding the mirror while the ebony tide
was loosed from its bounds and brushed vigorously.
"It's beautiful," Muriel assured her, "but you will
have to cut it shorter to be à la mode."
"Not a bit of it," Kinsey said. "We'll take the most of
it and wind it up on top of your head, miss. Add a bit
of height, like. Then this that's left, it'll lie over your
shoulder like so. We'll put a curling paper in it tonight
and 'twill drape even better tomorrow, but isn't that
fine as fivepence right now, Miss Muriel?"
"Charming!"
Lady Parr raised her quizzing glass. "Astonishing!
I'd not have thought Miss Danville could look half so
well. I wore my hair thus in my youth. It was the quite
the fashion then, and Sir Archibald admired it
exceedingly. Of course, my hair was golden." She
studied Teresa's raven locks, sighed, and rose to lead
67
the way to the wardroom.
* * * *
Andrew rose and bowed as Lady Parr swept into the
wardroom. Even when, as now, dressed in puce rather
than white, she bore a startling resemblance to a ship
in full sail. His betrothed followed, as usual a figure of
quiet elegance in pale blue. Behind her came Teresa.
He frankly stared.
Her skin was darkened in contrast to the white
muslin. The ruffles and bows that flattered Muriel's
slender shape emphasized the wrong portions of her
fuller figure and even though the way she wore her
hair made her appear taller, she looked plump.
Somehow, in that simple gown that would not be out
of place in any drawing room in London, she managed
to look more foreign than ever.
She glanced at him anxiously. He could not tell her
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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