Drabble Series: 'An Execrable Business' (45/?)
450 words, with thanks to my dear hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.
Previous bits...
1. Tortuga
2. Happiness
3. Festive
4. Last Minute
5. Calm
6. Truth
7. Bargain
8. Spook
9. Down
10. Wounds
11. Moon
12. Monsters13. Beauty
14. Name
15. History
16. Service
17. Advice
18. Captain
19. Awe
20. Cross
21. "You've made a big mistake"
22. Heroism
23. Gold
24. Echo25. Greed
26. Advance
27. Challenge
28. Adventure
29. Sentence
30. Treasure
31. North
32. Coat
33. Good and Evil
34. Sickness and Health
35. Lost
36. Court37. What if?
38. Island
39. That can't be
40. Prophesy
41. Ten Years Later
42. French
43. Deed
44. Tea
And here's today's...
45. Scarlett and Giselle
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
Her name was the Écarlate, and her captain, Armand Récamier, nephew of one of the richest men in France, was about to fail his uncle, as well as his illustrious passengers, Henri Pelletier and his wife, Louise, returning to France after three years in Cap-Français, Hispaniola.
Pelletier was a retired diplomat and had brought Madame to the isle for her health, after an inflammation of the lung had nearly carried her off one cold Paris winter. The fact that the Pelletiers had large investments on Hispaniola had been entirely secondary to the matter. Madame Louise must have the greatest care, the most salubrious climate, and the Parisian doctor who had prescribed for her and seen her through the worst of the malady, had recommended Cap-Français as an idyllic setting, sure to benefit Madame's impaired health.
But though Madame's health had indeed been almost entirely restored, her spouse had eventually succumbed to the ague, indigent to the island. For this reason, and because their daughter had written to tell them that they would soon have the pleasure to be addressed as grand-mère et grand-père, they were most anxious to return to France immediately, bringing along the many small comforts they had shipped from France three years before, to which a few minor purchases had been added while they were in residence on the island.
The small comforts - everything from furniture to jewelry to Madame's spoiled and very beautiful cat, Giselle - occupied nearly half the available area of the ship, while the other half was taken up by the usual load of spices, indigo, and excellent tobacco. In effect, the Écarlate was a miniature treasure ship, and though she was possessed of a few well-polished guns, her crew had seldom used them even for practice and it would surely have been wise to wait for the usual well-armed escort to be readied. Unfortunately, the Pelletiers were in a great hurry, a very great hurry, Madame must not be away from her daughter at such a time, and Monsieur Henri had taken it upon himself to provide an extra incentive to Captain Récamier, a token of their faith that he would deliver them quickly and safely to France.
Captain Récamier looked out at the shadowed monstrosity that was in the final stages of bearing down on his beautiful Écarlate. He raised his glass to study the evil, grinning faces lining the side, every one of them seemingly slavering for his demise. Moments before, a warning shot had been fired, whooshing over the bow inches from his second mate.
"Armand, when will you learn to trust your own judgment?" he said to himself, and then, regretfully, gave the order to lower the colors.
TBC...
Previous bits...
1. Tortuga
2. Happiness
3. Festive
4. Last Minute
5. Calm
6. Truth
7. Bargain
8. Spook
9. Down
10. Wounds
11. Moon
12. Monsters13. Beauty
14. Name
15. History
16. Service
17. Advice
18. Captain
19. Awe
20. Cross
21. "You've made a big mistake"
22. Heroism
23. Gold
24. Echo25. Greed
26. Advance
27. Challenge
28. Adventure
29. Sentence
30. Treasure
31. North
32. Coat
33. Good and Evil
34. Sickness and Health
35. Lost
36. Court37. What if?
38. Island
39. That can't be
40. Prophesy
41. Ten Years Later
42. French
43. Deed
44. Tea
And here's today's...
45. Scarlett and Giselle
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
Her name was the Écarlate, and her captain, Armand Récamier, nephew of one of the richest men in France, was about to fail his uncle, as well as his illustrious passengers, Henri Pelletier and his wife, Louise, returning to France after three years in Cap-Français, Hispaniola.
Pelletier was a retired diplomat and had brought Madame to the isle for her health, after an inflammation of the lung had nearly carried her off one cold Paris winter. The fact that the Pelletiers had large investments on Hispaniola had been entirely secondary to the matter. Madame Louise must have the greatest care, the most salubrious climate, and the Parisian doctor who had prescribed for her and seen her through the worst of the malady, had recommended Cap-Français as an idyllic setting, sure to benefit Madame's impaired health.
But though Madame's health had indeed been almost entirely restored, her spouse had eventually succumbed to the ague, indigent to the island. For this reason, and because their daughter had written to tell them that they would soon have the pleasure to be addressed as grand-mère et grand-père, they were most anxious to return to France immediately, bringing along the many small comforts they had shipped from France three years before, to which a few minor purchases had been added while they were in residence on the island.
The small comforts - everything from furniture to jewelry to Madame's spoiled and very beautiful cat, Giselle - occupied nearly half the available area of the ship, while the other half was taken up by the usual load of spices, indigo, and excellent tobacco. In effect, the Écarlate was a miniature treasure ship, and though she was possessed of a few well-polished guns, her crew had seldom used them even for practice and it would surely have been wise to wait for the usual well-armed escort to be readied. Unfortunately, the Pelletiers were in a great hurry, a very great hurry, Madame must not be away from her daughter at such a time, and Monsieur Henri had taken it upon himself to provide an extra incentive to Captain Récamier, a token of their faith that he would deliver them quickly and safely to France.
Captain Récamier looked out at the shadowed monstrosity that was in the final stages of bearing down on his beautiful Écarlate. He raised his glass to study the evil, grinning faces lining the side, every one of them seemingly slavering for his demise. Moments before, a warning shot had been fired, whooshing over the bow inches from his second mate.
"Armand, when will you learn to trust your own judgment?" he said to himself, and then, regretfully, gave the order to lower the colors.
TBC...