Shipwrecked With The Captain. Diane Gaston
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would love to have some family relation to claim her.
She ought not to push herself on a lady, though. She took a step across the threshold.
Lady Rebecca called her back. ‘I would like to speak with you more. I am quite alone. My maid suffers the mal de mer and remains in her cabin.’
Claire glanced down. ‘The sea has never bothered me. I suppose I have a strong constitution that way.’
‘Will you talk with me?’ Lady Rebecca asked. ‘Maybe there is some sense to make of this.’ Her hand gestured between them.
Claire gazed into her cabin, perfect for a poor governess, but unsuitable for a lady. ‘You are welcome to come in, but there is very little room.’
‘Come to my cabin, then,’ the lady said. ‘We may be comfortable there.’
Claire followed Lady Rebecca to her cabin, which included a berth larger than the one in her cabin and a table and chairs that provided a view of the sea through a porthole. As the gentleman had said, the sea was rough, with choppy waves and white foam.
Lady Rebecca waved towards a chair, inviting her to sit. When they were both settled across from each other at the table, Lady Rebecca asked, ‘Where are you bound, Miss Tilson?’
Claire would have thought she’d ask the obvious question, the one that burned inside her—why do we look alike?
‘To a family in the Lake District,’ she responded. ‘Not a family, precisely. Two little girls whose parents were killed in an accident. They are in the care of their uncle now, the new Viscount Brookmore.’ And with any luck at all, the Viscount wouldn’t often be in residence.
‘How sad.’ The lady frowned sympathetically.
Yes. The little girls were alone in the world. Claire knew how that felt.
But she did not wish to dwell on gloomy feelings, not when her life might improve. ‘And you, Lady Rebecca? Where are you bound?’
‘To London,’ she replied.
‘London!’ Claire smiled. A city of shops, palaces, theatres and town houses in picturesque squares. The Tower. Westminster Abbey. Hyde Park. ‘How exciting. I was there once. It was so...vital.’
‘Vital, indeed.’ Lady Rebecca, looking like Claire herself, appeared scornful.
Claire peered at her. ‘You sound as if you do not wish to go.’
The lady met her gaze. ‘I do not. I travel there to be married.’
Claire’s brows rose. ‘Married?’
Lady Rebecca waved a hand. ‘It is an arranged marriage. My brother’s idea.’
There were worse things than an arranged marriage. ‘And you do not wish to marry this man?’
‘Not at all.’ Lady Rebecca straightened in her chair. ‘May I change the subject?’
Claire blinked. She’d forgotten herself and had spoken out of turn, as if they were equals. ‘Forgive me. I did not mean to pry.’
Lady Rebecca shrugged. ‘Perhaps I will tell you the whole story later.’ She leaned forward. ‘For now I am bursting with questions. Why do we look alike? How can this be? Are we related somehow?’
The same questions Claire longed to ask.
They discussed possible family connections, but came up with none that connected them.
It would have been more of a surprise if they had been relations. Lady Rebecca was the daughter of an English earl whose estate was in Ireland and Claire was the daughter of an English vicar who’d rarely travelled out of his county.
They had both grown up in English boarding schools, however, although Lady Rebecca’s was a rather progressive school in Reading and Claire’s Bristol school had catered to girls like her, who would eventually have to make their own way in the world. It was through her boarding school that Claire had procured the governess position in Ireland.
Lady Rebecca blew out an exasperated breath. ‘We are no closer to understanding this. We are not related—’
‘But we look alike,’ Claire finished for her. ‘An unexpected coincidence?’
Lady Rebecca stood and pulled Claire towards a mirror affixed to the wall.
‘We are not identical.’ Claire was almost relieved to find some differences. ‘Look.’
Claire’s two front teeth were not quite as prominent and her eyebrows did not have Lady Rebecca’s lovely arch, and Claire’s eyes were closer together. Still, the differences were so minor as to be easily overlooked.
‘No one would notice unless we were standing next to each other,’ she admitted.
‘Our clothes set us apart. That is for certain.’ Lady Rebecca turned from the mirror and faced Claire. ‘If you wore my clothes, I’d wager anyone would take you for me.’
Claire admired the travelling dress Lady Rebecca wore, a vigonia-wool confection with ribbon trim at the hem. She’d also admired Lady Rebecca’s cloak, grey, like hers, but of a much finer wool. ‘I cannot imagine wearing fine clothes like yours.’ She sighed.
‘You must wear them, then.’ Lady Rebecca’s eyes—so like Claire’s eyes in colour and shape—brightened. ‘Let us change clothes and impersonate each other for the voyage. It will be a great lark. We will see if anyone notices.’
Claire was horrified. ‘Your clothes are too fine for you to give up. Mine are plain.’
‘Precisely.’ Lady Rebecca crossed her arms. ‘But I believe people pay more attention to dress than to other aspects of one’s appearance. Perhaps even more than one’s character. In any event, I think there is nothing undesirable about wearing a simple dress.’
Claire’s dress was certainly simple. A plain brown poplin.
She touched the fine wool of Rebecca’s travelling dress. ‘I confess, I would love to wear a gown like this.’
‘Then you shall!’ Rebecca turned her back to her. ‘Unbutton me.’
They undressed down to their shifts and swapped dresses, acting as each other’s maids.
‘Fix my hair like yours,’ Lady Rebecca said.
Claire pulled Lady Rebecca’s hair in a simple knot at the back of her head, feeling inexplicably sad to make Lady Rebecca as plain as she.
‘Let me do yours now.’ Lady Rebecca removed Claire’s hairpins and her hair fell on to her shoulders. She brushed Claire’s hair high on her head and, with a little pomade, twisted curling tendrils around her face.
Claire and her likeness gazed in the mirror again and laughed. They had indeed traded images.
There was a rap at the door.
‘Answer the door as me.’ Lady Rebecca grinned.
Impersonate a lady? ‘I could not.’
Lady Rebecca gave her a little push towards the door. ‘Of course you can!’
Claire straightened her spine as Lady Rebecca sat back down at the table.
Taking a deep breath, Claire opened the door.
It was a seaman deftly balancing a tray as the boat continued to pitch. ‘Some refreshment, m’lady.’ He took her to be Lady Rebecca!
The lovely clothes made Claire feel like a lady. ‘Thank you.’
Would he also assume Lady Rebecca was the governess? Claire gestured to her. ‘Miss Tilson passes the time with me. Will you bring her food here for her?’
‘That I will, miss.’ The crewman stepped into the cabin and placed the tray on the table right in front of Lady