by Jay Worrall
THE TWO-HUNDRED-TON barque Maryanne rounded Point of Ayr in the Irish Sea and entered the broad estuary of the River Dee five days later, having experienced largely favorable winds and moderate weather. With the brown mountains of Wales to starboard and the flat woodlands of Cheshire’s Wirral Peninsula port-side, the Maryanne proceeded as far upriver as was navigable in the early-morning mist. Chester had been an important seaport during the time Rome ruled Britain. The Dee estuary had silted up badly during the Middle Ages, however, and the Maryanne tied up dockside at the small port of Connah’s Quay a few miles west of the city.
Charles sent Bevan and Black, the purser, each with a small party of sailors, into the town. He and Winchester supervised the transfer of the remainder of the Louisa’s crew and their hammocks, duffel bags, and sea chests, including the wounded, to shore. Bevan was to hire whatever horse-and-wagon teams were available; Black was to arrange the purchase of beef, pork, vegetables, cheese, beer, and so on to feed them for a month. They could buy more later. By midmorning a train of four heavy wagons pulled by teams of horses was assembled in a small square just inside the Watergate in Chester’s walls. Two were loaded with the wounded (attended by Lincoln, the surgeon); the remainder were filled with casks, boxes, and bags of foodstuffs and the sailors’ gear.
The Chester townsfolk, who think of themselves as a fairly sophisticated lot, stared curiously as the wagons set off for the Dee Bridge accompanied by nearly a hundred sailors on foot and a small herd of cattle and swine. Almost immediately there was more animated and suggestive conversation between the sailors and certain young women they encountered along the roadway than Charles liked. He ordered the petty officers to organize the men by divisions, to remind them that they were still under orders, and to encourage a sense of decorum.
Charles rode on the bench of the leading wagon driven by Tom York, an able seaman who was clearly more at home reefing a sail than managing a team of drays. Once over the bridge and into the countryside, the procession began to spread out, slowed by the meandering livestock. He ordered several halts for everyone to regroup and for the small bands of seamen who had run off excitedly in pursuit of escaped sows or errant bullocks to be gathered back up. By noon they were nearing Hatton and the turnoff that led past Gatesheath to Tattenall. It was also time to think about feeding the men. Charles decided that the grounds of the Brown household would be the perfect place to stop and prepare their dinner. After all, Penny might be there.
Charles’s heart quickened as his heavily laden wagon splashed through the same stream he had raced across on Pendle the day he had bought him. As they lumbered around the bend, he stared at the place where he had overturned Penny’s cart and then set her broken arm. Soon the procession turned off the road and began its way up the drive to the Brown home. Too late, Charles hoped it wouldn’t inconvenience them.
Peter saw them first, an army of sailors, wagons, cattle, and pigs strung out along the drive and far down the road. Charles watched as the boy shouted something excitedly to the house and then ran to see who it was descending on his property. Seeing Charles, the boy stopped and waved. “Greetings to thee, Charles Edgemont,” he called out. “What art thou about?”
“Hello, Peter,” Charles said, signaling to York to stop the wagon. “I was hoping to use your land to prepare a meal for my men. Would you tell your father that we’re here…and your sister?”
The boy nodded, spun on his heel, and ran toward the mill. Charles’s heart seemed to stop when he saw Penny come from the house and with a wave start toward them. She had pulled a long cloak over her dress and the January wind pulled at the edges of her bonnet. She looked altogether lovely. “Let’s go,” he said to York. “Stop when we reach the woman.”
The sailor managed to start the horses forward, only to stop a few paces later, when Penny caught up to them. Charles moved to jump down from the wagon seat. York put a hand on his arm and restrained him. “Mind y’er ankle, sur,” he said. Charles sat nervously and waited.
“Hello, Penny,” he said from his perch atop the wagon.
“Oh, Charles,” Penny said, seeing his sling. “What hath happened to thy arm?”
“It’s nothing,” he said reassuringly. “Nothing’s broken. Look, I can move it.” He flapped his damaged arm like a chicken’s wing.
Penny looked at him suspiciously. “Why dost thou not descend?”
Charles thought of three different excuses all at the same time, none of them satisfactory. “I can’t,” he said finally. “I’ve broken my ankle.”
“I’ll get ye down, sur,” York offered. “Just a minute.” The seaman jumped from the wagon and whistled shrilly for some of his mates.
Penny’s face turned ashen as a half-dozen men lifted Charles bodily from the wagon and set him gently on the ground. York proudly handed Charles his crutch. “This isn’t as bad as it looks,” Charles said hurriedly as he hobbled toward her. “I wasn’t shot in the leg. I tripped over a cannon and broke it by accident. It could have happened to anybody.”
“Thou wert shot in thy arm?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Well, as a matter of fact…” Charles began.
“It were a big battle, ma’am,” York interjected enthusiastically, trying to be helpful. “You should have seen it. Lots of people were injured worse. Y’er Captain Edgemont was lucky.”
Penny smiled sweetly at York. “Were any killed?” she asked.
“Oh, my word—ouch!” York cut short when Charles rapped him sharply on the shin with his crutch.
“I’ll talk to you about it later,” Charles said. “I’ll tell you the whole story, I promise.”
She took his good arm and moved close to him. “I am pleased to see thee,” she said. “Tell me the truth. Art thou badly injured?”
“No, I’m not, really,” Charles said. “I have a minor wound to my wrist that will soon heal, and I broke a bone in my ankle when I tripped and fell.” When she turned her face up to look into his he said, “That’s the truth.” Then he kissed her.
“We will talk of this later,” she said, blushing, conscious of the men standing around and watching them. She asked, “Is this thy navy?”
“My crew, yes,” he said. Then on an inspiration he added, “I brought them to attend our wedding.”
“Didst thou really?” she said in amazement.
“Well, partly,” he answered.
Soon they were joined by her mother and father, Bevan and Winchester, and a growing circle of curious sailors.
“I was hoping that we might use your land to prepare dinner for my men,” Charles said to George Brown. “We’re on our way from Chester to Tattenall. We’ve brought our own food.”
George Brown nodded, “That would be fine. Thou art welcome to any firewood thou needs and water from the well.”
“We would gladly feed thee all,” Elizabeth Brown said, looking in wonder around her, “but I think we haven’t enough food.”
“Thank you,” Charles said, “we can prepare our own meal. I’ll send some people over later in the week to replace any firewood or whatever else we use.” Just then, one of the larger wagons, attempting to turn at the end of the drive, drove against the corner of a fence in front of the house and knocked it flat. In a torrent of blasphemy one of the younger midshipmen yelled at the seaman driving the wagon, who in turn swore loudly at his team of horses.
“And we’ll repair any damage,” Charles said. Turning to Bevan, he added, “Get them organized, will you? One cooking fire for each division. Let them prepare whatever they want. And get them to watch their language.”
“What about the wounded?” Bevan asked.
“Wounded? What wounded?” Penny exclaimed.
Charles turned to Penny and said seriously, “We have twenty-seven wounded men in those wagons over there. They are being looked after by the ship’s surgeon. Some of them are in very serious condition and some have lost limbs. I didn’t have the heart to leave them in Portsmouth. I thought they would
have a better chance of recovery at Tattenall. We’ll feed them along with the others.”
“I want to see them,” Penny said.
“It’s not very pretty,” Charles continued confidently. “Certainly not a place for a woman.” Due to the intimacy involved, very few women ever attended to sick or injured men. Those who did were generally considered to be little better than harlots.
Penny looked at him sharply. “Dost thou imagine life for women is always pretty things?”
“Well, no,” Charles said. “But—”
Penny called to her mother.
Very soon thereafter Charles reluctantly followed Penny, and George and Elizabeth Brown, to the wagons with the wounded. He found Lincoln inside the second, bending over one of his patients and changing a dressing over the stump of the man’s arm. Without a word Elizabeth Brown hoisted her skirts and climbed up into the wagon, followed closely by her daughter.
The surgeon looked startled at the appearance of the two women. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Elizabeth Brown knelt next to a groaning man with a large bandage around his chest. “Which are the most serious?” she asked Lincoln over her shoulder.
“You shouldn’t be here, ma’am,” Lincoln insisted. “These are sick men.”
“I can see that,” Penny’s mother said brusquely. “Which are the sickest?”
Lincoln looked to Charles in frustration. “Sir,” he protested.
“Answer her questions,” Charles said. “I think she means to help.”
The surgeon turned back to the older woman with a shrug. “There are six in this wagon and three in the other,” he said respectfully. “They’re the worst.”
Elizabeth Brown turned to Charles. “Wouldst thou please have thy men carry those nine into the house? Penny will show them where.” To her husband she said: “Send Peter to fetch Joseph Willard immediately. After he calls on the doctor, he is to go to the Worrall and Clayton farms. Have them bring their wagons and bedding. Surely each of us can care for three of these poor creatures.”
Peter soon galloped off on horseback, and while Lincoln was supervising the transfer, Charles spoke to Penny’s father. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I thought Quakers didn’t abide fighting men.”
The older man looked at Charles seriously. “It’s the fighting we don’t abide. These men are each one God’s creatures and deserve our care. It wouldn’t matter if they were English or French.”
“At least I can pay for the doctor’s visits and any expenses to you in keeping them.”
“I thank thee,” George Brown said. “Joseph Willard will charge nothing for his services in this case, nor will the Worralls or Claytons for food and board. We do this for love of God, not profit.”
“I see. Thank you. I am most grateful.”
As the last of the stretchers was being carefully lifted out of the wagon, Charles turned to see Penny returning, tight-lipped, pale, and clearly agitated. He knew what she would be upset about and decided that it was something they were going to have to deal with sooner or later. “Come into the house,” she said brusquely. “I must converse with thee.”
He followed dutifully as she led him to the doorway, opened it, and stood aside without speaking as he hobbled through. Charles felt he could cut the silence with a knife.
“Charles Edgemont, see what thou hast done,” she said, her anger spilling out as soon as she had closed the door loudly behind her.
“I didn’t do it,” he said defensively. “The Spanish did.”
“Yes, but thou wert a willing conspirator,” she said furiously. “If thou and thy warship were not there, thou wouldst not have been set upon, and these poor men would still be whole.”
Charles faced her squarely. “I was not set upon,” he said evenly. “I gave the order to attack the Spanish warship. A warship, I might add, considerably larger than the Louisa. I saw an opportunity to defeat her and I took it. This is my duty, the thing that I do. If I have another such opportunity I will do the same again.”
Penny stared at him for a long moment, her face pale and strained. “I do not like war,” she said at last. “Thou can see what it does.”
“Yes,” Charles said, “I don’t like war either. Hardly anyone does. But sometimes it is necessary.”
“No, Charlie, it is not.” There was an intensity in her tone that he had never heard before. “Oh, the men of the world always speak of war as necessary and heroic and honorable. But it is never thus. War is murder, cruelty, and greed, bloodlust and thievery. Why are all the women ravaged after a battle? Why are all the goods and chattels looted? War is not noble. War is man’s lowest instinct. It is butchery, arrogance, and lust, and nothing more.”
Taken aback by her outburst, Charles raised his voice. “You must remember that France declared war on England. Surely we are entitled to defend ourselves.”
“In God’s love, Charlie,” her outrage building, she almost shouted, “we are the same people. It doesn’t matter who declared first. If they hadn’t we would have the very next day. England and France have had one war after another this past century and longer. All this violence has yielded nothing, only death and widows and cripples and orphans and poverty. A hundred years ago we fought against the French long and hard because we could not agree on who would be the king of Spain. Imagine,” she exclaimed, “English blood over the king of Spain. Then there was war and war and war with Spain herself. For what? A few islands. Then more war with France. And the so-called Seven Years War; and the American War; and now this war against the Republic of France because their people overthrew a vile and stupid king—their king, not ours. Still we fight and fight and murder and slaughter without end. I ask you, what good has come of all this war? What good at all?”
Charles stood, stunned and mute. She was not entirely wrong, he thought, if one looked at it her way. He knew he could argue with none of it, not in any terms that would pacify her. And he had a greater worry as he watched the anger in her face, one that terrified him. “Does this change our…plans?” he said in a very soft voice.
Her breath still came rapidly, but her eyes softened. “No,” she spoke in more measured tones, “I am not angry with thee. I am angry at the world. I have long known who thou art and have resigned to it.” Looking firmly up into his eyes, she added, “But if thou comes home to me dead, Charlie, I will be angry with thee forever.”
He pulled her to him and put his arms around her. “I’m very sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry to have distressed you. I wouldn’t cause you pain for the world.” They stood together for some minutes, close together and alone in the hallway while he felt her breathing slowly return to normal.
Soon after, she led him to the parlor at the back of the house, helped him out of his coat, and set him down at a table. She left to go into the kitchen and, after a moment, came back with a tray containing two bowls of steaming stew, one rather larger than the other, and bread and butter. Once the food was arranged on the table she sat opposite him.
There was something more he wanted to know; something he had never fully understood. “Penny,” he asked, reaching for her hand, “why are you resigned to me? Why do you put up with my ways?”
She met his gaze and answered seriously: “Because thou art kind, Charlie; I fear too kind for thy profession. I saw it immediately when thou tended my horse and set my arm. That is why I love thee. I am sorry for thee and what thou feels thou must do, and I pray that it will not always be thus.” Then she smiled brightly at him and gave a small laugh. “There is that, and also because thou art not frightened by me. All the others have been.”
“I can well imagine,” he said, thinking of something entirely different and gently rubbing his thumb in small circles on the palm of her hand.
She instantly met his eyes and pulled her hand away. “Oh, thou art a challenge to me,” she said, slightly flushed. “What am I to do with thee?”
“If you give me a little time, I may come up with a
n idea or two,” he said with a grin.
He felt her shoe rub against his calf. “Thou art impertinent,” she said without expression and promptly changed the subject. “How long before thou returns to the sea?”
Charles hesitated. “Two months, maybe longer. It depends on how long it takes the dockyard to repair my ship.”
“And thy injuries?”
“My injuries will be healed before then. Lincoln says I should be able to use my wrist in about a week and put some weight on my foot a little after that.”
“I would like Joseph Willard to look at thee while he’s here.”
“All right.” Charles put down his fork. “I’d like for us to be married, if you’re still willing.”
“I am,” she said, touching his hand. “When wouldst thou wish to have the ceremony?”
“As soon as possible,” Charles said seriously. “I’d like for us to be able to spend as much time together as we can.” He held her hand tightly in his.
“I want that also,” she said softly. “But there is planning to do. People will have to be invited. I need a dress fit for a wedding. And you must speak with my mother and father. They know, but thou must make thy intentions direct.”
“Of course,” Charles said, trying to arrange the details in his mind. “I would still like it to be soon. I want to be with you,” he added huskily. “We can talk to your parents this afternoon.”
Penny lowered her eyes and nodded.
Charles heard someone clear his throat and looked up to see Bevan standing in the doorway. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, looking from Charles to Penny, “really sorry. Your servant, ma’am. The men have eaten. They’re cleaning up. Do you want us to wait for you?”
“No,” Charles said. “Just leave York and one of the wagons. Get the men settled in at Tattenall as best you can. I’ll be over later.”
“All right,” Bevan said and turned to leave.
“Daniel,” Charles said hurriedly, “don’t leave without congratulating us. It’s official.”
“I feared as much,” Bevan said, crossing the room and kissing Penny on the cheek. “Good luck. You, miss, in particular will need it. And you, Charlie,” he continued, shaking Charles’s hand, “if luck were cows there wouldn’t be anywhere to step.”