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As for what she’d do once she was homeShe supposed she’d have plenty of tiure that out

"Good sir!" she called out to the o "When do you leave?"

His bushy brows rose at her question, then he cocked his head toward the ship and said, "You mean the Rhiannon?"

"Yes Do you head back to Britain?" She knew that ht they usually did so on the way to North America

"To Ireland," he confir, if the weather holds"

"Friday," she murmured in response It was only a few days away "Do you carry passengers?" she asked, even though she knew that they had done so for the ard voyage

"We do," he said with a brusque nod "Are you looking for a spot?"

"I ht be? Shouldn’t you know by now?"

Cecilia did not dignify this with an answer Instead she e of the wife of the son of an earl--and waited until the man jerked his head toward another fellow farther up the embankment "Ask Timmins He’ll knoe have space"

"Thank you," Cecilia said, and sheclose to the bow of the ship One had his hands on his hips while the other gestured toward the anchor Their stances did not indicate that their conversation was urgent, so as Cecilia approached, she called out, "Your pardon, sirs Is one of you Mr Ti toward the anchor doffed his hat "I aentleo was being loaded--"er?"

"Man or woman?" he asked

"Woman" She sed "Me"

He nodded Cecilia decided she liked him His eyes were honest

"We’ve room for one woman," he told her "It would be in a shared cabin"

"Of course," she said She doubted she could afford a private cabin, anyway Even a shared one was going to be a stretch, but she’d been careful to keep enough funds to pay for her passage ho to live on before Edoke up She’d never been so hungry in all her life, but she’d kept herself to one ht I know the cost, sir?" she asked

He told her, and her heart sank Or maybe it soared Because the fare was almost one and one half times what she’d paid to come to New York And that was more than she had saved She didn’t knohy it was more expensive to sail east than west Probably the ships charged more simply because they could The people of New York were loyal to the crown; Cecilia iers tended to be more desperate to leave New York than to arrive

But it didn’t h

"Do you want to purchase passage?" Mr Timmins asked

"Ehrm, no," she said "Not yet, anyway"

But maybe on the next ship If she siphoned off a bit of

She sighed She was already a liar She ht as well be a thief, too

Thoeon He knew there were plenty of people in the front rooet it up the stairs

When he reached rooh, he saw that Cecilia was not there He was not entirely surprised; she hadn’t said anything about going out at breakfast, but he couldn’t iine that she’d want to hole herself up in the roo here in the rooet it, after all He had i Thomas’s trunk like a hard-won prize

Instead, he sat on the bed, staring at the da up half the available floor space

Edward had already seen the contents Back at the army office, Colonel Stubbs had thrown open the lid before Tho so is there," Stubbs had said "Do you knohat he kept in it?"

"Soh he was better acquainted with Thoh it on far tooout Cecilia’s letters so that he could reread her words

Sometimes he didn’t even do that So

Sometimes that was all he’d needed