Fic : The Baboon Incident part 2
In which Archies' day gets better,Lady Pellew shines and there is a slice of domestic life that Archie finds inspiring.
No baboons or marmosets were harmed in the making of this fic.
Lady Pellew's blood pressure we are less certain about however
given that,albeit offstage,Mr Kennedy is having a bath.
Author:Nodbear
Word length: circa 2700
pairings; Archie and Horatio,Edward and Susan just assumed.
A/N : Archie and Horatio and Oldroyd are not mine
Ned,Susan,Sennett,and the midshipmen all are real
As are the baboons.
inspired by conversations online of late and thse two quotations :
The picture sits at the interface between control and disorder implied by the monkey
greenwich catalogue entry on the picture of midshipmen at leisure.
I hope, dearest ,that you will dispose of your tiger and your wild beasts by the time of your return for remember that they are too expensive to keep had we room, a keeper and no fear, which I confess I have .Nor do I think that I can live in the same house with monkeys, babouns or any others of the race…
Susan Pellew to Edward Pellew on his return from being C in C East Indies.
Part 2
“They have got loose?” Susan queried , her smile encouraging Archie for a moment to forget his dishevelled state and he found himself telling the story with some drama, realising as he did so quite how ridiculous it was and laughing despite himself
.
“So now you need to recover the other animals and sell them on to the agent ?”
Archie explained about the missing marmoset ,adding, “ But the agent does not want to purchase the marmosets in any case, but I shall have to enquire of the youngsters anyway because they should not have taken it .I shall have to return to the ship as soon as Sennett is back with some others to search. “
“ Mr Kennedy I know you to be a man of courage will you allow me to forward a different plan for your consideration?”
Archie felt his head, which was still pounding from a fall on the flat roof of a stable whence he had been trying to coax down a baboon ,was thick and heavy and sluggish in understanding but he replied “ yes, my lady , all offers of help welcomed “
Let us sit down on the bench in the inn yard a moment Susan suggested , and did so without any consideration for her dress , beckoning to Archie to join her and smiling at Oldroyd.
Mr Oldroyd , I gather that you are the hero of the hour for your valiant attempts to prevent the cart from being toppled"
Oldroyd, disarmed and overcome with both the fact that the captain’s lady knew his name and remembered him and by the presence of the lady herself, nodded, and then blushed a deep shade under his tanned cheeks saying ; “ I don’t know about that my lady , I did my best but it weren’t possible .”
“ Could you do you think take a message if I write one now to the civic reception and deliver it straightway to Sir Edward or Mr Hornblower = into their hands directly ?”
“yes, ma’am “ replied Oldroyd, noticing that Archie’s glance was almost as puzzled as his, except that then Susan turned to him and asked “ you were understood I make no doubt to have a few hours liberty after you had done these tasks today ? And Oldroyd too ?
At Archie’s assenting to this Susan began to write on a small notebook she carried in her reticule .
I am of the opinion you need that cut on your head attended to and our home is no much further than the harbour and I have my little gig moreover . Truly it must have been more than an apt coincidence that I chose to be otiose today and not to walk. Mr Oldroyd can tell Sir Edward what has happened and he can return with them here and Sir Edward will I am sure pay any compensation that is deemed owing. W e shall in the meantime return to my home and see to your head and find you a cooling drink.
“ But, Lady Pellew, I ought to see this through - the captain ..I …
You were doing Sir Edward great personal service , it was hardly a matter of command as a military action would be deemed, as he will admit I am sure , and have done more than your share already ,Now let me send this note and all will be well I promise you - if I have your trust .
“Certainly you do, ma’am- “ Archie said with enthusiasm, and a smile that made Susan glad she had chosen that moment to look up from her writing.
“We will wait until Senett returns with reinforcement s for the baboon hunt and you may brief them first . She handed Oldroyd the note and several coins .” since you are working above duty too Mr Oldroyd you will please not be too proud to accept a drink for my gratitude.”
Twisting the note to seal it she handed it to the young man who saluted, half bowed and ran off with amazingly intact energy .
She had written ;
“ Dearest , Mr Kennedy has been injured - slightly but in need of attention- in the course of carrying out his mission for you which he has accomplished the most part of in circumstances difficult but beyond his control .I know that you will wish to hear the full story but in view of present conditions may I request that you call at the Inn on your way back and you will find out the details then and then bring Mr Hornblower with you home .Mr Kennedy I have asked to a accompany me. We are in his debt that he has helped us with a domestic matter. I asked you not to bring those animals home so I feel as responsible as I know you will and for that he deserves our hospitality this day.
As ever my dear ,
SP
Archie’s inner admiration[, which was already considerable] grew by the moment as he watched Susan’s charming manner ensured that her command of the situation faced no opposition Soon after the other Indefatigables whom Sennett had brought arrived and Archie explained the plan which was to keep t food visible to tempt the animals down and to net them once on the ground as a way of capture without injury to anyone. They might have several hours to wait but it was be hoped that the plan would eventually work.
Susan had meantime spoken with the landlord and arranged for a proper explanation to be given to Sir Edward and had had her driver transfer the marmoset cage to the shady floor of the little gig The journey to the Pellew’s home was short though steeply uphill and inevitably they passed numerous people known to the lady- all of whose greetings she returned amicably and when they were stopped as happened twice introduced Archie as Lieutenant Kennedy of theIndefatigable with a gracious and calm smile for all the world as if he were in dress uniform not dusty and blood stained and sporting a birds nest in his hair .Archie found himself wondering if there were somewhere an equivalent to the lieutenant’s examination for officers wives … if so Lady Pellew would have passed hers first in the fleet he thought…
Once into the hall of the Pellew home he revised this judgement rapidly upwards.
His hostess was talking to a young footman and an older maid “ Jacob, will you take some water for a bath up to Master Pownoll and
Master Fleet’s room please, as they are away at school it is easiest, and can you show him the way there, please”
“Mr Kennedy, we can surely find you something clean to wear” - Susan nodded Archie’s protest gently away and continued to think out loud .”Anything of Pows or Fleets will be from last winter and too small ..but anything of Edward’s is far too large, -she wrinkled her nose in thought which led Archie to say under his breath “ Passed for Admiral of the Fleet no less” .Susan gave no sign of having heard but snapped her fingers “ I have it = Martha, we do still have those things of Captain Bergeret which they would not let him take to the prison do we not ?”
“ Yes my lady, in the linen room” .
“ Fetch them please , and leave them outside the door for Bryant to take in for Mr Kennedy and arrange with Molly to have his own things washed immediately . As Archie gratefully followed the young man Bryant up the stairs he found himself thinking that the die sometimes fell the right way when one least expected it .
An hour later a very clean acting lieutenant dressed in clothes only slightly too lengthy for him and with hair rapidly drying in the breeze sat with a tall glass of a fruit cordial under the shade made by a cypress tree in the garden. Susan sat opposite him and had been hearing the story of his suspicions of Hart, Kempthorne and Cadogan concerning the marmoset when there was the sound of children’s voices and then a small boy, limping a little but keeping up with the older girl who ran alongside him flew across the garden .
“ Mama - we saw the pretty little monkey - mama we can keep it can’t we “
“ Mama I said to George you would not say yes = but mama, you have to see , the poor thing, it is afraid …
“No doubt it is if you two have been roaring around making that kind of noise at it poor creature!
Now Julia, remember your manners - you have met Mr Kennedy before I think - Julia looked abashed and curtsied in a rush as Archie stood up to greet her , bowing with his unconscious grace “ Miss Julia -how do you do ?”Susan was interested that she could gauge Julia’s maturing in the slightly stunned air her younger daughter bore .Last time Mr Hornblower and Mr Kennedy had met the girls Emma had talked of nothing else for days if not weeks and had been amazed at Julia’s professed lack of interest in their appearance and address but now it seemed her little girl was learning to appreciate with a new eye .There was ,after all, she smiled inwardly, much to appreciate.
"And this is Master George, our youngest …"
Archie was shaking hands with the solemn chubby little boy when Julia whooped
Papa! And both children set off back across the lawn - George lifting his arms to be picked up by his father and being hoisted ,in what appeared to be a familiar routine, upon to his shoulders.
Horatio looked at Archie,a hundred questions in his dark eyes and as ever,the slight crooked turn to his mouth when he was uncertain but he was arrested by Sir Edward’s hand on his shoulder.
Hornblower !- feel free to shed that coat- you don’t mind my dear ? The dam-- again he caught Susan’s eye - er wretched things are impossible to have to wear on a day like this!He peeled his own coat off as he spoke and threw it over a garden chair ,George having been swung down lightly a few moments before.
It was an invitation not to be resisted; Horatio was hot and tired not least from a whole hour of Alderman Rythean , whose monotonous drone and innate suspicion of all things naval had not helped his fraying spirit .He subsided into a chair, feeling the breeze across his damp shirt sleeves and a sense of immediate release.
After more drinks had appeared Sir Edward turned to Archie and raised a glass “ Mr Kennedy, as Lady Pellew may have told you, your task today was an immense favour to your captain lest he should fall under that hardest of sanctions for a sailor returning home, which is to incur the wrath of his wife !
Aware of the fond irony in the tone Archie caught the look that his captain and lady exchanged and found it revelatory - that was the kind of look only those who belonged to one another , body and mind, could generate .It was how he dreamed that he and Horatio might one day become - how he sometimes thought they might already almost be , were the world and the navy a different place .Sir Edward continued
“ and so for services to saving his superior officer from a dishonourable defeat and enduring a street fracas without benefit of bookshop as reward I give you Acting Lieutenant Kennedy ,very soon to be acting no more I would wager.”
Archie knew a polite inclination of the head would be most appropriate but for once - maybe it was the sun or little George raising his pottery mug of lemonade in the exact copy of his father’s raised glass he could not hold back the grin that illuminated his whole face.” Thank you, sir - might I beg leave to suggest we add training in handling irate women with parasols and butchers apprentices with menacing dogs to our general training exercises - for, as we know, an Indefatigable is never found wanting whatever the day or the deed”
Maybe he knew or maybe it was a truth that slipped out in a moment of hope, but to Horatio and Sir Edward in their several ways , that identification as an Indefatigable was something good to hear
Archie’s words inevitably led to the toast “ The Indefatigable “ and then a peaceful silence rested there a moment before Sir Edward added:
“ you will however enquire of the whole of the young gentlemen on return as to the missing marmoset Mr Kempthorne and Mr Hart are to be advised they will have additional navigation classes for three weeks and Mr Cadogan too if, as I suspect, he is the eminence grise of that little escapade ..If the creature is to remain on board it will be formally added to their duties to care for it and keep it within during action and so forth .They may hold a lottery for the right to name it and the prize money will go towards some new books for the schoolmaster.
Which reminds me” - he dipped his hand into the pocket of his coat on the chair and produced a blue bound book .”Since you were detained from the visit you might have made to the bookseller Mr Kennedy, I thought you and indeed the wardroom as a whole might like to have this - Mr Hornblower tells me it is a volume you have all missed . being able to read again.” Archie took the copy of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman with some delight but was saved from any further embarrassment by George’s having heard the jist of the conversation .”
“Papa the other marm - monkey - it came here with Mr Kennedy may we keep it - please may we ? “
“That is for your mama to say, George .She is the one who will have to endure what happens when I am away …”
“Please say yes mama !”
Several pairs of eyes rested on Susan, glass in her hand and smiling, and though she stroked her sons head as he sat by her knees she spoke over his head, for there were one pair of eyes alone to whom she addressed her reply.
“Oh I said yes long ago, George, in a garden by the shrubbery, and I am still discovering just how many things that ‘yes’ can mean.”
No baboons or marmosets were harmed in the making of this fic.
Lady Pellew's blood pressure we are less certain about however
given that,albeit offstage,Mr Kennedy is having a bath.
Author:Nodbear
Word length: circa 2700
pairings; Archie and Horatio,Edward and Susan just assumed.
A/N : Archie and Horatio and Oldroyd are not mine
Ned,Susan,Sennett,and the midshipmen all are real
As are the baboons.
inspired by conversations online of late and thse two quotations :
The picture sits at the interface between control and disorder implied by the monkey
greenwich catalogue entry on the picture of midshipmen at leisure.
I hope, dearest ,that you will dispose of your tiger and your wild beasts by the time of your return for remember that they are too expensive to keep had we room, a keeper and no fear, which I confess I have .Nor do I think that I can live in the same house with monkeys, babouns or any others of the race…
Susan Pellew to Edward Pellew on his return from being C in C East Indies.
Part 2
“They have got loose?” Susan queried , her smile encouraging Archie for a moment to forget his dishevelled state and he found himself telling the story with some drama, realising as he did so quite how ridiculous it was and laughing despite himself
.
“So now you need to recover the other animals and sell them on to the agent ?”
Archie explained about the missing marmoset ,adding, “ But the agent does not want to purchase the marmosets in any case, but I shall have to enquire of the youngsters anyway because they should not have taken it .I shall have to return to the ship as soon as Sennett is back with some others to search. “
“ Mr Kennedy I know you to be a man of courage will you allow me to forward a different plan for your consideration?”
Archie felt his head, which was still pounding from a fall on the flat roof of a stable whence he had been trying to coax down a baboon ,was thick and heavy and sluggish in understanding but he replied “ yes, my lady , all offers of help welcomed “
Let us sit down on the bench in the inn yard a moment Susan suggested , and did so without any consideration for her dress , beckoning to Archie to join her and smiling at Oldroyd.
Mr Oldroyd , I gather that you are the hero of the hour for your valiant attempts to prevent the cart from being toppled"
Oldroyd, disarmed and overcome with both the fact that the captain’s lady knew his name and remembered him and by the presence of the lady herself, nodded, and then blushed a deep shade under his tanned cheeks saying ; “ I don’t know about that my lady , I did my best but it weren’t possible .”
“ Could you do you think take a message if I write one now to the civic reception and deliver it straightway to Sir Edward or Mr Hornblower = into their hands directly ?”
“yes, ma’am “ replied Oldroyd, noticing that Archie’s glance was almost as puzzled as his, except that then Susan turned to him and asked “ you were understood I make no doubt to have a few hours liberty after you had done these tasks today ? And Oldroyd too ?
At Archie’s assenting to this Susan began to write on a small notebook she carried in her reticule .
I am of the opinion you need that cut on your head attended to and our home is no much further than the harbour and I have my little gig moreover . Truly it must have been more than an apt coincidence that I chose to be otiose today and not to walk. Mr Oldroyd can tell Sir Edward what has happened and he can return with them here and Sir Edward will I am sure pay any compensation that is deemed owing. W e shall in the meantime return to my home and see to your head and find you a cooling drink.
“ But, Lady Pellew, I ought to see this through - the captain ..I …
You were doing Sir Edward great personal service , it was hardly a matter of command as a military action would be deemed, as he will admit I am sure , and have done more than your share already ,Now let me send this note and all will be well I promise you - if I have your trust .
“Certainly you do, ma’am- “ Archie said with enthusiasm, and a smile that made Susan glad she had chosen that moment to look up from her writing.
“We will wait until Senett returns with reinforcement s for the baboon hunt and you may brief them first . She handed Oldroyd the note and several coins .” since you are working above duty too Mr Oldroyd you will please not be too proud to accept a drink for my gratitude.”
Twisting the note to seal it she handed it to the young man who saluted, half bowed and ran off with amazingly intact energy .
She had written ;
“ Dearest , Mr Kennedy has been injured - slightly but in need of attention- in the course of carrying out his mission for you which he has accomplished the most part of in circumstances difficult but beyond his control .I know that you will wish to hear the full story but in view of present conditions may I request that you call at the Inn on your way back and you will find out the details then and then bring Mr Hornblower with you home .Mr Kennedy I have asked to a accompany me. We are in his debt that he has helped us with a domestic matter. I asked you not to bring those animals home so I feel as responsible as I know you will and for that he deserves our hospitality this day.
As ever my dear ,
SP
Archie’s inner admiration[, which was already considerable] grew by the moment as he watched Susan’s charming manner ensured that her command of the situation faced no opposition Soon after the other Indefatigables whom Sennett had brought arrived and Archie explained the plan which was to keep t food visible to tempt the animals down and to net them once on the ground as a way of capture without injury to anyone. They might have several hours to wait but it was be hoped that the plan would eventually work.
Susan had meantime spoken with the landlord and arranged for a proper explanation to be given to Sir Edward and had had her driver transfer the marmoset cage to the shady floor of the little gig The journey to the Pellew’s home was short though steeply uphill and inevitably they passed numerous people known to the lady- all of whose greetings she returned amicably and when they were stopped as happened twice introduced Archie as Lieutenant Kennedy of theIndefatigable with a gracious and calm smile for all the world as if he were in dress uniform not dusty and blood stained and sporting a birds nest in his hair .Archie found himself wondering if there were somewhere an equivalent to the lieutenant’s examination for officers wives … if so Lady Pellew would have passed hers first in the fleet he thought…
Once into the hall of the Pellew home he revised this judgement rapidly upwards.
His hostess was talking to a young footman and an older maid “ Jacob, will you take some water for a bath up to Master Pownoll and
Master Fleet’s room please, as they are away at school it is easiest, and can you show him the way there, please”
“Mr Kennedy, we can surely find you something clean to wear” - Susan nodded Archie’s protest gently away and continued to think out loud .”Anything of Pows or Fleets will be from last winter and too small ..but anything of Edward’s is far too large, -she wrinkled her nose in thought which led Archie to say under his breath “ Passed for Admiral of the Fleet no less” .Susan gave no sign of having heard but snapped her fingers “ I have it = Martha, we do still have those things of Captain Bergeret which they would not let him take to the prison do we not ?”
“ Yes my lady, in the linen room” .
“ Fetch them please , and leave them outside the door for Bryant to take in for Mr Kennedy and arrange with Molly to have his own things washed immediately . As Archie gratefully followed the young man Bryant up the stairs he found himself thinking that the die sometimes fell the right way when one least expected it .
An hour later a very clean acting lieutenant dressed in clothes only slightly too lengthy for him and with hair rapidly drying in the breeze sat with a tall glass of a fruit cordial under the shade made by a cypress tree in the garden. Susan sat opposite him and had been hearing the story of his suspicions of Hart, Kempthorne and Cadogan concerning the marmoset when there was the sound of children’s voices and then a small boy, limping a little but keeping up with the older girl who ran alongside him flew across the garden .
“ Mama - we saw the pretty little monkey - mama we can keep it can’t we “
“ Mama I said to George you would not say yes = but mama, you have to see , the poor thing, it is afraid …
“No doubt it is if you two have been roaring around making that kind of noise at it poor creature!
Now Julia, remember your manners - you have met Mr Kennedy before I think - Julia looked abashed and curtsied in a rush as Archie stood up to greet her , bowing with his unconscious grace “ Miss Julia -how do you do ?”Susan was interested that she could gauge Julia’s maturing in the slightly stunned air her younger daughter bore .Last time Mr Hornblower and Mr Kennedy had met the girls Emma had talked of nothing else for days if not weeks and had been amazed at Julia’s professed lack of interest in their appearance and address but now it seemed her little girl was learning to appreciate with a new eye .There was ,after all, she smiled inwardly, much to appreciate.
"And this is Master George, our youngest …"
Archie was shaking hands with the solemn chubby little boy when Julia whooped
Papa! And both children set off back across the lawn - George lifting his arms to be picked up by his father and being hoisted ,in what appeared to be a familiar routine, upon to his shoulders.
Horatio looked at Archie,a hundred questions in his dark eyes and as ever,the slight crooked turn to his mouth when he was uncertain but he was arrested by Sir Edward’s hand on his shoulder.
Hornblower !- feel free to shed that coat- you don’t mind my dear ? The dam-- again he caught Susan’s eye - er wretched things are impossible to have to wear on a day like this!He peeled his own coat off as he spoke and threw it over a garden chair ,George having been swung down lightly a few moments before.
It was an invitation not to be resisted; Horatio was hot and tired not least from a whole hour of Alderman Rythean , whose monotonous drone and innate suspicion of all things naval had not helped his fraying spirit .He subsided into a chair, feeling the breeze across his damp shirt sleeves and a sense of immediate release.
After more drinks had appeared Sir Edward turned to Archie and raised a glass “ Mr Kennedy, as Lady Pellew may have told you, your task today was an immense favour to your captain lest he should fall under that hardest of sanctions for a sailor returning home, which is to incur the wrath of his wife !
Aware of the fond irony in the tone Archie caught the look that his captain and lady exchanged and found it revelatory - that was the kind of look only those who belonged to one another , body and mind, could generate .It was how he dreamed that he and Horatio might one day become - how he sometimes thought they might already almost be , were the world and the navy a different place .Sir Edward continued
“ and so for services to saving his superior officer from a dishonourable defeat and enduring a street fracas without benefit of bookshop as reward I give you Acting Lieutenant Kennedy ,very soon to be acting no more I would wager.”
Archie knew a polite inclination of the head would be most appropriate but for once - maybe it was the sun or little George raising his pottery mug of lemonade in the exact copy of his father’s raised glass he could not hold back the grin that illuminated his whole face.” Thank you, sir - might I beg leave to suggest we add training in handling irate women with parasols and butchers apprentices with menacing dogs to our general training exercises - for, as we know, an Indefatigable is never found wanting whatever the day or the deed”
Maybe he knew or maybe it was a truth that slipped out in a moment of hope, but to Horatio and Sir Edward in their several ways , that identification as an Indefatigable was something good to hear
Archie’s words inevitably led to the toast “ The Indefatigable “ and then a peaceful silence rested there a moment before Sir Edward added:
“ you will however enquire of the whole of the young gentlemen on return as to the missing marmoset Mr Kempthorne and Mr Hart are to be advised they will have additional navigation classes for three weeks and Mr Cadogan too if, as I suspect, he is the eminence grise of that little escapade ..If the creature is to remain on board it will be formally added to their duties to care for it and keep it within during action and so forth .They may hold a lottery for the right to name it and the prize money will go towards some new books for the schoolmaster.
Which reminds me” - he dipped his hand into the pocket of his coat on the chair and produced a blue bound book .”Since you were detained from the visit you might have made to the bookseller Mr Kennedy, I thought you and indeed the wardroom as a whole might like to have this - Mr Hornblower tells me it is a volume you have all missed . being able to read again.” Archie took the copy of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman with some delight but was saved from any further embarrassment by George’s having heard the jist of the conversation .”
“Papa the other marm - monkey - it came here with Mr Kennedy may we keep it - please may we ? “
“That is for your mama to say, George .She is the one who will have to endure what happens when I am away …”
“Please say yes mama !”
Several pairs of eyes rested on Susan, glass in her hand and smiling, and though she stroked her sons head as he sat by her knees she spoke over his head, for there were one pair of eyes alone to whom she addressed her reply.
“Oh I said yes long ago, George, in a garden by the shrubbery, and I am still discovering just how many things that ‘yes’ can mean.”