A | B | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14A | 14B | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30A | 30B | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41A | 41B
PART II
MAY, 1780
RATHBONE HOUSE
LONDON, ENGLAND
βMARIANNE, I UNDERSTAND and respect your concerns,β Marquess Rathbone said the next morning as he paced in front of Celia and her mother, seated comfortably in the library Celia had not touched since Rathboneβs return. βBut I am also in complete sympathy to your husbandβs position.β
βBut my lord,β Mary murmured. βSurely it cannot have escaped your notice that he did not attempt any rescue at all, much less go to the lengths you have gone. What honorable man would not pursue his familyβs captors if he has the means to do so? You cannot imagine our suffering, and now to know he did not even bother β¦ β
Lord Rathbone took a deep breath and turned away from them, his hands behind his back, his head bowed.
βI donβt ken that, either, Marianne,β he said low. βI cannot explain it and I cannot demand an answer because he is my commanding officer. I do believe he regrets it.β
Regret?
Lord Rathbone began to pace and Celia kept her face carefully down while following his every move from under her eyelashes and in her periphery, as she would not be put off her guard. Being this close to him, this involved in conversation, in truth terrified her.
But Celia was not expected to speak. She might not be capable of speech even if she were, as her heart drummed so hard and so loudly she feared Rathbone could hear it.
He went to his window and looked out upon the darkened glass that had raindrops running down it, sparkling in the candlelight. He had one hand on his hip and the other was massaging the bridge of his nose.
βI will not have her taken away from me,β Mary pronounced. βNot after she has been lost to me for so long.β
He sighed. βThe court has decided, Marianne, and Iβll not finance an appeal. She will have toββ
βMy lord,β came the grave voice of the butler at the door of the library. The marquess waved a hand. βYou have a caller. He claims to have personal knowledge of the Lady Captain Fury.β
Celiaβs heart nigh leapt out of her chest, but Rathbone only harrumphed. βAnother one. Send him in. One of these days, someone will appear with real information. Not even my house guests who spent weeks aboard her bloody ship can give me anything useful,β he grumbled.
As if the day had dawned with the express intent of making Celiaβs life a living hell, in was shown Marcus Zimmerman, who had endured his flogging and recuperation, but not well or with any dignity.
He approached with the affect of a penitent, his clothes ratty, his face filthy, and his cap in hand. βMy lord,β he said, and bowed.
βYes, yes, yes. Who are you and how do you come to know Fury?β Zimmerman glanced at Celia and her mother, but Rathbone said, βGet on with it, man. I have more important business with these two than with you.β
βI was on the Thunderstorm when she blew the blockade.β
That got her uncleβs attention. βReally,β he drawled. βWhat is your name and how came you to seek a berth with her? What were your duties?β
βMarcus Zimmerman, my lord. I needed passage and funds, and was set to various chores needing great strength to accomplish.β
Rathboneβs mouth pursed and he studied Zimmerman for a moment until the man became more twitchy than Celia had ever seen him. βYouβve the look of trouble about you, Zimmerman, and whatever else she is, Fury is not careless. I canβt imagine she approved of you.β
βShe didnβt. Her boβsun hired me.β
βAye then. Why are you here, and make it concise.β
βI know where her ship is.β
Celiaβs growing tension waned a bit. He couldnβt know, as she had set him ashore in Ireland. It was not such a habit for the privateer vessels to lay at anchor deep in Dutch waters. Calais, Oostende, even Dover, for those who were more willing to take the risk, were far more convenient for necessary covert ventures into England.
But Rathbone was no fool. βAye, well, I doubt that.β He waved a hand. βBegone, Zimmerman, and take your tales with you.β
βShe and Captain Judas are lovers,β he blurted.
Rathbone stiffened and he stared at Zimmerman, his head cocked to one side. βAnd how do you know this?β
βWe were becalmed for a time, grappled to two ships. I believe they were the Silver Shilling and the Mad Hangman. βTwas a near sennight of merrymaking.β
βYou believe?β he asked calmly. βWhere were you during this β¦ party β¦ in the middle of the ocean?β
βIn the infirmary.β
βWhy?β
He paused. βI β¦ was flogged, Sir.β
βWhy?β
βI β¦ did not obey an order quickly enough to suit her, Sir.β
Rathbone cackled and slapped his palm down on his desk. βGod, I love that woman as much as I hate her. If I ever get my hands on her, Iβll fuββ Celia barely choked back a startledβnay, delightedβlaugh. He cleared his throat. βThen what?β
Zimmermanβs Adamβs apple bobbed. βI was in the hold for the duration.β
βAh, she threw you in the brig, did she? Why should I trust you any more than she did?β The great weasely fellow opened his mouth, but was cut off. βCan you identify Judas by sight?β
βCaptain Fury only, Sir.β
Rathboneβs eyebrow rose. βI can identify Fury by sight. I need Judas, whom you cannot give me.β He paused, tapping one long finger on his desk. βZimmerman, I will offer you this: Write a full report of your experience. You can write, can you not?β
βYes, my lord.β
βGive me your direction and I will send a lad to collect it tomorrow. If βtis helpful to me, Iβll see that you are compensated for your time.β
Zimmerman rattled off an address that Celia was not familiar with, but would remember on pain of her life, then took his leave.
βNasty business, that Fury,β Rathbone muttered as he wrote it out for himself before ordering one of the kitchen ladsβwhom Celia had every reason to doubt were, in fact, simple kitchen ladsβto follow Zimmerman and report back. βTruth be told,β he mused, βI could use a few more captains like her. Her and that goddamn Hollander she sails with.β He shook himself. βMarianne, Iβm terribly sorry, but Celia must attend Lord Hylton tomorrow.β
βI understand,β she whispered. βBut β¦ I fear he will take the opportunity to snatch her and lock her away, that perhaps this marriage business is a ruse.β
Rathbone speared her with a glance. βYou do not know your husband very well, then, Lady Hylton,β he said stiffly. βThough I suppose that is to be expected after so many years apart. Dismissed.β
The simpleton and the invalid shuffled to their chambers together slowly. Oh, so slowly. But once they had entered and the door locked, Mary hissed a stream of curses that had even Celia raising her eyebrows.
βMan and Woman here! Then Zimmerman! And you summoned to Nathanβs home!β
Zimmerman was one problem Celia could solveβand quickly.
βOne thing at a time, Mama. One thing at a time.β
βMURDERED?!β
Lord Rathboneβs enraged bellow fair shook the house the following day at precisely one oβclock.
Mary and Celia looked up from their stitchery in vague curiosity, but Aunt Harriet was looking at the door of the room where she was receiving afternoon callers.
βGet the Mockslings in here this instant!β
Woman cast a panicked glance at Aunt, who was not disposed well enough toward her to give her any encouragement. One eyebrow rose. βYou heard him.β
βWhy does that bitch not work for me?!β
Celia quelled a smirk and bent back to her stitchery, of which she was making an absolute botch, awaiting this moment when Rathbone would learn the fate of yesterdayβs unexpected informant.
Capβn!
Ah, now you are more willing to pay proper respect.
The only respect Iβll pay you is between your thighs, biβ
After she had gathered every piece of parchment in Zimmermanβs rooms and retrieved her dagger from his forehead, she had left him there, bleeding on the floor, and slipped out, heading for a busy tavern on the wharf. With great care, she had fed each sheet into the hearth fire.
βGODDAMMIT!β Everyone flinched when the sound of shattering glass sliced through the house. βNo report? Did you search everywhere?β
The ladβs voice was low.
βThat bitch is here in London, and she wants me to know it else sheβd have disposed of his body. Interview every last creature in this house right down to the mice and then comb the wharf. FIND HER! MOCKSLING!β
βWhat have you done?β Mary hissed once Aunt Harriet left the room in a huff to shush her husbandβs bellows and to inform him that Man had taken himself off to findβto Womanβs horrorβgainful employment.
Celia never raised her head from her work and continued to struggle with the one piece of floss that refused to lie smooth. Zimmerman was of no import, and murdering him had been a relatively simple task.
But in little more than an hour, she would have her audience with Admiral Lord Hylton, Nathaniel John Bancroft, the man whose name she bore.
And as soon as she had a plan, he would be as dead as Zimmerman.
If you donβt want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
Pirates!
Just Thee and me, Moj. Must be a Zoom night.
Buying books for my 10-year-old nephew. I already gave him Moj’s book, obvs. But something more age appropriate?
Lady Chatterley’s Lover?
I did a book report on one of the Fleming Bond novels in sixth grade.
Thinking for a starter: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea.
*weird*
Ted’S’ comment about a book report reminded me that I did a book report on Ursula K. Le Guinβs The Lathe of Heaven in ninth (?) grade. And then your comment.
Assuming only fiction?
In what vein/s? What does he like and dislike?
He’s addicted to Minecraft and he’s a D&D nerd. Actually studies the players manuals. Plural. I have to restrain myself from noogieing him.
Fuggit, I’ll but him the Drizzt Do’Urden books. Dumbass will love them.
(I enjoyed them.)
The Sword of Shannara
Uh, The Princess Bride? Haven’t read it, I admit.
I don’t really know much sci-fi, for kids or adults. I mostly remember A Wrinkle in Time and The White Mountains.
I have read the Princess Bride. It’s a case where the film is better than the book.
+1 Wrinkle in Time – more age-appropriate than my first recco.
Then again, I was reading my mom’s Stephen King paperbacks when I was 10 and she was done with them so what do I know about “age-appropriate”.
I Haaaated a Wrinkle in Time.
Avoid anything that won the Newbury Medal, unless your goal is to beat the love of reading out of the kid.
What is wrong with you?
Voyages of Dr Doolittle
Johnny Tremain
Rifles for Waite
The High King
Sounder
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIHM
Bridge to Terabithia
Half of those are not as great as their reputation, the other half prove my point.
The John Carter series may work for him. Not sure if you should wait a year or two.
Unironically, I would recommend Prince of the North Tower
Okay it is a bit violent (you can preview it on this site if you’re worried) but given the details thusfar provided, I think he’s like it.
Bought and thank you.
And The Sword of Shannara. And the dumbass Drizzt books, and Earthsea.
I’ve read most of Ursula before she became too hippie (by the late 70s or so), except the Earthsea stuff. I just couldn’t get into it for some reason.
I loved Earthsea, especially the Tombs of Atuan. It’s a dark chapter.
Groat, try the Lloyd Alexander books, starting with The Black Caldron. Right age range, right action.
Heck, I might reread them now.
I’d add Princess and Curdie/Princess and the Goblin
Patricia A. McKillip and the three Riddle Master of Hed books. Wonderful fantasy. Good for young readers, and pleasurable for adults.
Terry Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (honestly, all of them, but some get dark for young kids)
Heinlein juveniles
Old pulp Burroughs books
The Hobbit and the Narnia series would also both work.
I love my nieces and nephews. Not, like, wanting anything to do with them. But I’m happy they exist, and I like buying them books. I spent hundreds of dollars and my sister’s older kids. She’s pregnant with her fifth! Thank goodness, she’s making up for the rest of us siblings.
Gonna saddle him with so much Adams and Michener and Crichton and Clavell in a couple years, you watch.
Thanks for the prompt, GS. Nephew same age and I was a little lost to what was age appropriate.
Nice. Get ’em hooked on adult stuff early. Most kid-lit sucks.
HoW dOeS tHiS kEeP hApPeNiNg?
*fistbump*
Twelve, ten and five-year-old nephews, here. I’ve been present for the latter, rather than being (somewhere) in Asia. He’s the most likely me of the three and I’m consistently marveled by how *comfortable,* cozy, he is with me. Dad gave me the odd compliment that I should be really proud of that accomplishment, though he is remarkably outgoing and well-spoken for his age. Important faux-fatherhood moments, we had over my last weekend. A tremendous long-term goal I’m happily invested in. Always good to keep that in mind.
Don’t know how old your nieces are, about Roald Dahl for both sexes? Especially the short stories for adults: The Landlady, Lamb to the Slaughter…
Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke? Lord of the Flies?
All Summer in a Day ring any bells?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgNKG5W4ka8
Yeah I inhaled everything Clarke at that age.
Oh man, you are right. I read a bunch of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov around that age.
https://youtu.be/7UQPh88zdFU
Wonderworks fucked my child mind up.
Nice to see all of you on the Zoom. π
All I can do is cough and croak.
πΈ
What’s the addy, I’ll embarrass myself again
No need – nobody is on there.
Too popular, nobody goes there anymore
Nah – it’s because I said I really needed company tonight. Message received.
Cupid Stunt
I’m a terrible friend, but I’m around if you want to talk. Ask anyone here, they’ll tell you so.
Also: Laurus is terribly, similar to The Aviator. terribly, horribly depressing.
RIP
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Routledge
Kicked the bouquet.
Wow, long run.
That show was fantastic.
I’m sorry I missed her as Lady Bracknell.
I’m an HBO subscriber and I received this email:
Starting on November 17, 2025, the CNN Max live news feed will no longer be available on HBO Max.
You will continue to have access to select CNN Originals, including award-winning documentaries and series, available as part of your subscription.
Jokes on them. I didn’t know CNN Max existed.
I get incessant texts that I am eligible for HBO Max (and Disney+ and some other junk) but the one time I tried to access it they said “Psych!”
I think it’s because I’m on a group account with my apartment building. I had to create an account to get a cable box but now I can’t even log into it anymore. Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Alright Cupid I guess I’ll spend the next month worried about you.
So far in Vodolozkan’s Laurus:
He parents are dead.
His granfather is dead.
He impregnated a girl. She’s dead.
their baby is dead.
Yeah, it’s a Russian novel.
I do not understand Russian Lit.
It’s not great.
Gulag archipelago, Lolita, crime and punishment.
All amazing.
All very dark…
Still amazing.
Break out the vodka.
The vodka is dead
π±
It is a beautifully written novel. You’ll not be disappointed.
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’ve read a more beautifully written novel than this.
But I don’t want to be sad.
You can’t not be sad.
Seeking it out is different from dealing with what comes organically.
My sister is conscious of your prayers god damn it/ She’s pregnant again
UCS if you’d please be kind
What? I’m not the one getting her pregnant.
UCS is indefatigably kind. It’s what I love about him so much
I love UCS so much.
I had a very funny joke UCS isn’t in on but you’d have loved it friend
Uncivil…. leaf…. you had to have been there
Rewind?
Splunk is the past tense version of Spank. Change my mind.
A job in a redoubt. Whatever that means. I’d love it. Put my out of my misery.
Put me up in a tower.
Moj knows.
Go forth and be well, y’all, just don’t head out to the stores for a bit. On my morning journey through the aisles, I *may* not have my jacket, which I may have accidentally left at work. Bringing an extra shirt just in case, cuz walking through the frozen shit is damn cold, first thing in the morn.
The improv event last night was interesting. The first group were not impressive, though the second two weren’t bad. Trick they had was not knowing when to end each bit. I’m going back tonight to scope out Day 2, but first, Cubs play the Brewers in Game 1 at 2pm. We won the season series, 8-7, IIRC. Take it to the hoop.
Yo ho ho, ye squiffy wenches!
βοΈπ΄ββ οΈπ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkVy2FeqIyc
πΆπΆ
suh’ fam
whats goody yo
TALL WEEKEND CANS!
Happy national vodka day πΈ
I could get behind that but Ive got too much shit to do.
Great British literature is about being civilized and genteel
Great American literature is about the journey of making yourself great, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
Great French literature is about cheating on your spouse (and how it was totally justified).
Great Russian literature is about the deepest darkest depths of the human soul.
So I guess the Marquis de Sade took things a bit too far?
Mornin’ all!
Got myself switched over from AT&T Air-Fi to Fiber. No more risk of throttling (not that I ever noticed any) and $5/month cheaper. That’s 20% of my rent increase recouped right there π
So your internet is more regular now?
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-chase-armored-car-robbery-suspects-through-philly-and-montco-source-says/4279702/
How exciting.
Looks like Japan is going to have its first bevulvaed prime minister.
As a positive, she said she’d delete the phrase “work-life balance” from her vocabulary.
She was a long shot last i read a few days ago. I wonder what went on in the backroom.
Why are there 4 cops for a simple traffic stop?
Visitors from Germany caught speeding on Ohio interstate
Officer safety, oviously.
#stack207 5/5
πππππ
β±οΈ 2m 51s
π₯ streak: 1
puzzlist.com/stackdown