I darted a look towards the cabin hatch. I had been told that a blind man will hear twice as acutely as a sighted one: I had gone further than I intended.

~

Later in the evening, Argyle had handed over the watch to Declan Connolly, and as I passed him doing something or other he said carefully, ‘Miss.’

I stopped.

‘Fine evening, miss.’

‘Tis,’ I answered. My expression must have demanded what his business was.

‘Miss, don’t mean to trouble.’ His eyes were unexpectedly soft. ‘It’s my brother.’

‘Angus?’

‘Yes miss. Just makin sure you understand. He’s a simpleton, see. Daft. Means no harm by the cursin an such.’

This intrigued me. ‘You’re very close, you two.’

‘Have to be. He’s a danger to hisself otherways.’ A moment of evaluation in his eyes, a decision to continue. ‘Found him on the hulks, when we was both taken down. Connolly, yer brother’s ere, they said. An it was him all right. Wasn’t gonna lose him then. I had to give a price to git him shipped with me on the Marquis.’

‘A price?’

‘Aye. Had to give these uns to the surgeon.’ He pointed into his open mouth and I saw that all his teeth beyond the front ones were gone. He must have registered my shock. ‘Sorry miss.’

‘Not at all, Mister Connolly. Good to know about your brother, thank you.’

I placed this out of my mind: it was the master I wanted to talk to. He had gone to stand alone at the bulwark and from there he looked over the sea. My father was roaring drunk by now and could not have hoped to overhear anything. There was another matter that troubled me about our earlier discussion.

‘Mister Argyle?’

He turned to look at me, more welcoming this time. I wanted to rush the words.

‘You said you spoke to my father.’

‘Yes.’

‘And he mentioned my mother.’

‘He did.’

‘Did he tell you she is dead?’

‘Yes, he did. Or I gathered it from what he said. I’m not sure, exactly.’

I held my breath for just a moment. Then: ‘Did he tell you how she died?’

Again, the look in his eyes was faraway. A man who watches the sea during a rest from his work, which is watching the sea.

‘I am sorry, miss. He did not.’

~

I returned to the cabin and found my father, as I expected I would, seated on the inbuilt bench that faced the table. Two empty bottles rolled on the bench beside his hip, and a half-full one stood on the table in front of him. The empties looked like they had contained madeira. The full one I could not tell, but it smelt strong.

His face rose as he struggled to recognise the sound of me. ‘Eliza?’