by John Drake
None the less, when we reached our destination she graciously condescended to let me provide for her, which was the next best thing.
Bloody woman. The trouble she’s caused me! But at least she never had to go back to her old trade again.
We finally reached Jamaica at the end of September 1794, avoiding Kingston and Port Royal and anchoring up in the north-west of the island, near Pedro Point: not a good anchorage, but private and suiting both Mr Cloud’s business and mine.
I was now just about as far from the Coignwood inheritance as it was possible to be. I was an ocean away, and outside of the Law. Worse still, since becoming identified as Bosun Dixon’s murderer, and having escaped lawful authority by the use of violence, I had made an enemy of the only institution known to mankind that exercised its power across the entire globe: the Royal Navy.
On the other hand, Sammy, Kate and I had nearly a hundred pounds between us, in gold, and Jamaica was busy with trade of all kinds in those days. If I couldn’t make a fortune for the three of us out of that, then my name wasn’t Jacob Fletcher.
And of course, I did have the enormous satisfaction of knowing that Lady Sarah bloody Coignwood was dead and burned to ashes in the ruins of 208 Maze Hill.
41
The Town, nay the World, rejoices to learn of La Belle Coignwood’s delivery from the flames by a faithful servant. It further rejoices that the wicked wound inflicted upon La Belle by the hand of a POPISH RIOTER has not only failed to prove mortal, but has equally failed to harm something more important by far than her life, viz: HER BEAUTY! We learn that the wound is confined entirely to the upper bones of the skull where the famed and lustrous tresses of LONDON’S FOREMOST BEAUTY provide a complete and entire screen. Furthermore, EVENT succeeds ADVENTURE for LA BELLA DONNA who, although thankful for her narrow escape, may be more sanguine in her sentiments as regards the recent escape from DOCTOR CRICK’S INSANE ASYLUM in Staffordshire of her son, Victor who is reputedly become a MALICIOUS MURDEROUS MANIAC.
(Extract from “Lady D’Arcy’s Chatterbox” of 15th July 1794, in The Polite Monitor.)
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