Page 7 of Unforeseen Affairs (The Sedleys #6)

“It is rather exciting,” Alice breathed, her perfect curls quivering about her face. “Don’t you think?”

Miss Alice Pearce looked charmingly girlish, even more so than usual.

They’d grown up together, the Pearces and the Gearings, two naval families living on the same street who understood one another inside and out.

Alice’s brother, Lieutenant Abdon Pearce—Beaky to his friends—had even been a midshipman with Colin.

Colin supposed Alice to be everything a young lady ought to be, and that seemed well enough to him.

“Really? You were rather hesitant yesterday evening. Said you would be terrified if anything out of the ordinary were to happen,” Beaky teased.

They were in the nicest drawing room, the one that ran nearly the whole length of one side of the house. A large, round table that Colin did not recognize had been placed not far from the doors.

“Me?” Alice grinned.

She looked very pretty like that.

“Don’t worry; you shall sit between Colin and me,” her brother reassured her. “No spirits shall be allowed to distress you.”

She gave him a playful swat, which Beaky dodged easily. The two of them shared the same fair coloring and the same large, toothy smile, and while they were both slight of build, they possessed outsized appetites for amusement. As children, Colin had thought them the merriest of companions.

Especially since Bernard had been so much older than him, and far more serious.

Indeed, both Lieutenant Pearce and Miss Pearce were in high spirits, glancing about the room in excitement. And despite his own misgivings about the event, Colin found himself swept up in their eagerness for something new and exotic.

It felt good to be happy, after the week he’d had. Colin had suffered an episode after the tense exchange with his father in the morning room, which had laid him low for the next two days. Now, as he had begun to feel steady again, he was desperate for a friendly face.

Like Alice’s.

He felt his cheeks warming, and he quickly looked away.

There had never been any use in thinking of Alice that way. Not while he’d been at sea, and not now, either. He knew she’d always be here. And she ought to know, as a captain’s daughter and a lieutenant’s sister, that Colin was in no place to offer for her.

Not yet, anyhow.

When the time came that he could finally put this whole business with the dizziness behind him, he’d be off again—with a ship of his own, at last. Perhaps in a few years’ time he might be in a position to think seriously of Alice as something more than his friend’s younger sister.

Of course, he could well afford a wife now, with the prize money he had been awarded for his deeds, but it still felt incorrect somehow. Lieutenants didn’t marry.

Colin must go back to sea and earn promotion first. That was what was expected, what needed to be done.

His mother was chatting animatedly with Captain and Mrs. Pearce, as well as an unfamiliar pair of gentlemen. Colin’s own father, of course, was nowhere to be found. More than likely at the club, unwilling to entertain this sort of endeavor. Or to hear any mention of Bernard.

His mother caught his eye, and waved him over excitedly.

“Colin, Colin!” she called. “Come, allow me to introduce you—Mr. Bass is desperate to make your acquaintance!”

As he crossed the room, he realized that he hadn’t seen the Sedley girl, or her bizarrely dressed associate. Huh , he thought. One would think they’d be here by now . After all, it was they who were to run the entire affair.

The two strange gentlemen were quite opposites of one another—one was tall and broad-shouldered, with a neatly combed mustache and side whiskers, and uniquely garbed in a lavender neckcloth, while the other was stout and clean-shaven, with a sour expression to match his dark clothing.

“Mr. Bass, this is my son, Sir Colin Gearing,” his mother said, her cheeks rosy with pride. “The hero of the Iapyx .”

“Ever so pleased, ever so!” the mustachioed man greeted him with a lilting accent.

“Why, I must’ve read the account of your adventure several times over.

Not one, but two vessels! My, my.” He smiled and inclined his head.

“Thaddeus, if you would. Thaddeus Taggart Bass. Lovely to have a sitting with someone of your esteem, sir.”

Colin nodded, unsure of what to say to that.

“The strength of will that must have required!” Mr. Bass waxed on, becoming more animated with each breath.

“The sheer masculine determination, the character necessary for such an act! And here you are, so calm and steady. I don’t know how I’d ever manage such a thing, with all those sailors rushing about, manning the cannons, with watery death lapping at our heels at every turn! ”

“I acted only as any lieutenant would, I assure you,” Colin said awkwardly.

He scanned the room, searching for Beaky. He would certainly attest to that, were he party to this conversation.

“And humble as well,” Mr. Bass said. “The rarest of all virtues, indeed.”

Colin glanced back at Mr. Bass with a half-smile. Something about his manner felt smarmy.

“Oh, tch ,” his mother cut in with a laugh. “Mr. Bass is quite humble as well, for he hasn’t spoken a word of his own accomplishments, which are assuredly vast.”

Mr. Bass flashed a wide, disarming grin in response.

“And this,” his mother said with a gesture to the other, more dour gentleman, “is Mr. Trenwith, his companion—”

“Assistant,” Mr. Bass cut in, with a glance at Mr. Trenwith. “He’ll be assisting me—well, all of us, really—tonight as we reach out into the void to commune with the spirits.”

Mr. Trenwith, still scowling, did not reply.

“I suppose you ought to fetch the bag, Trenwith,” Mr. Bass directed.

Mr. Trenwith nodded and went off.

“Our materials for the evening,” Mr. Bass said. “Nothing exciting, I assure you, just small necessities. A cloth for the table, that sort of thing.” He waved a dismissive hand.

Mrs. Gearing’s face was so full of hope it nearly broke Colin’s heart in two. “As I said, Mr. Bass is far too humble himself. Do you not recognize him?” She looked at Colin expectantly.

He squinted.

The man had a serene, self-effacing air about him, completely at odds with the flashy fabrics and fine cut of his clothing.

He wore his hair somewhat long, down to his shoulders, but it was as neat and tidy as his facial hair.

Were Colin to spot him across a crowded railway station, his eyes would no doubt skate right over him, for he gave the impression of a not-so-serious man.

Someone for a young lady to pine over, or perhaps for an elderly lady to dote upon, but not one to offer much in the way of conversation with a young, capable man such as himself.

Perhaps he seemed a touch familiar, but these fashionable types often did, as they were often imitated.

Colin smiled apologetically at his mother.

“It’s quite alright, Mrs. Gearing. I make no boasts as to my abilities,” said Mr. Bass.

From the corner of his eye Colin caught a hint of movement. He glanced behind him.

Miss Sedley had entered the room alongside Mrs. Stone. Both were dressed head-to-toe in black, a striking and ominous sight. To add to the effect, both women pinned the group with cold, empty glares.

“But, I will allow,” Mr. Bass continued, raising his voice now so that nearly all in the room could hear, “that my skills in manifesting spirits and communing with the unknown are so well-regarded that I’ve held circles for counts in Italy, princes in Sweden, and innumerable other audiences both here and abroad,” he finished with a flourish.

“You’re a medium?” Colin turned to his mother, confused. “Mama?”

“Mr. Bass offered to demonstrate for us at quite the last moment,” Mrs. Gearing said guilelessly. “Who was I to refuse? I’m sure Mrs. Stone will be amenable to—”

“You!” A high-pitched, accusatory voice interrupted from behind them.

A hush fell over the room.

The petite Mrs. Stone made a beeline for Mr. Bass, and she stood before him in challenge, with Miss Sedley flanking her.

“Thaddeus Taggart Bass!” Mrs. Stone threw out the name as if each part were its own distinct insult. “How dare you beguile your way into my circle, you odious blackguard?”

Across the room, Alice stifled an awkward giggle.

“Well met, Elsie,” said Mr. Bass coolly. “My goodness, it’s been an age, hasn’t it?”

“Mrs. Stone! So lovely for you to join us,” Mrs. Gearing said, gliding between the two mediums with her hands outstretched in the same manner as one deflating a brawl between lads in short pants. “Our circle really ought to be more promising with so many receptive individuals, don’t you agree?”

She guided the two closer together, and their voices quieted even as their postures and countenances betrayed the animosity simmering between them.

Colin had meant to listen for Mrs. Stone’s response, but his attention suddenly shifted to Miss Sedley, who remained a few strides behind the two mediums and his mother.

The room eased back into quiet conversation. Mr. Trenwith had returned and was smoothing a dark purple cloth over the large circular table at the end of the room. Some sort of oil was burning, or perhaps a candle, though the aroma was heavy and indulgent, unlike the usual faint hint of petroleum.

Miss Sedley looked more striking than when he had last seen her, done up in a black crepe gown, her black locks pinned back in elaborate fashion.

Colin couldn’t help but study her, trying to determine what else was different.

Her eyes seemed bigger, darker, and he couldn’t help but notice the line of her neck, and the way her jet earrings dangled from her small, delicate ears.

When she met his stare with a murderously cold expression, his heart skipped.