“You want me to chaperone the midshipmen?” Adele said carefully. She didn’t seem hostile to the idea, though “cool” would be a fair description of her attitude. Well, “cool” would generally describe Adele’s attitude.
“Not that, not controlling their behavior,” Daniel said, trying to explain a concept that was more subtle than words could really express. His words, at any rate. “Dorst and Vesey are adults with the rights and responsibilities of officers of the RCN. And God knows, when I was their age . . .”
His voice trailed off. He wasn’t much beyond their age now, not in years. Had his first commanding officer, Commander Gray, felt this way about him?
“Anyway . . .” Daniel continued, feeling his face warm as he looked at himself with the eyes of Midshipman Daniel Leary, age eighteen. “I don’t want you to keep them on leashes, Adele, but I’m afraid that if they go off with any of the other senior warrant officers, they’ll . . . well, the only question would be whether they spent their liberty in bars, brothels, or a gambling house.”
A smile drove the self-conscious embarrassment from Daniel’s face. Voicing the thought he said, “Of course, Sexburga’s a major port. I’m sure there are a number of establishments providing all three entertainments under the same roof.”
Sobering he went on, “And I don’t care if my midshipmen do spend their liberty in one. I don’t want to force them into that choice, though, as sending them off with Woetjans would guarantee. I can’t order you to do this—”
Actually, he could: he was captain of the Princess Cecile, and if he ordered his crew to spend their whole liberty in church, regulations permitted him to do so. His chance of having anybody report aboard for the next leg of the cruise was a great deal more problematic, however.
“—but it would be a favor to me and to the RCN.”
Adele nodded. “All right,” she said. “I didn’t have anything more exciting planned than sightseeing in what seems from the description in the Sailing Directions to be quite an interesting city. If Dorst and Vesey would care to join me, I’d be pleased to have their company.”
She looked down at her rumpled utilities. “I suppose I should change? I see the others are.”
“Dress grays are traditional for officers on liberty,” Daniel said. “If you’d prefer civilian clothes, that’s perfectly acceptable also. That is, on my ship it is.”
“I sincerely hope I’ll never travel on anybody else’s ship, Daniel,” Adele said with a faint smile. “Certainly not as a member of the RCN.”
She stepped toward the suite she shared with him. “I’ll put on my uniform. It’s perfectly comfortable and I’m—”
Adele paused, looking back over her shoulder. “Actually, I’m rather proud to wear the uniform. Although I’m still surprised to feel that way.”
Grinning broadly, Daniel keyed first the attention signal and then the PA system. “Midshipmen to the bridge,” he ordered.
Hogg stepped onto the bridge, wearing his version of liberty dress—high boots, red beret, orange pantaloons, and a canary yellow shirt with flaring sleeves. He’d been waiting politely in the passage for his master and Adele to finish their conversation. “If you won’t be requiring me, sir,” he said, “I thought I’d go ashore and pick up a few things we’ll need for the voyage.”
“Certainly, Hogg,” Daniel said. “I only hope that you don’t pick up anything that you don’t mean to.”
Hogg drew himself up, which still left him a hand’s breadth short of Daniel’s own modest height. “Loose women,” he said in a tone of injured innocence, “are not a problem of mine, young master.”
He cleared his throat and added, “Though I’ll be fair and say that I never noticed you to have problems finding them neither. Quite the contrary.”
“We’ll trust that they don’t have anything on Sexburga that the sick-bay computer can’t solve,” Daniel said. “But of course you’re free to go, Hogg. Have fun.”
Daniel watched the vivid form of his servant disappear down the companionway. Hogg had grown grayer day by day during the long, brutal voyage. It wasn’t so much a physical change as a lowering of the intense spirit that usually animated his pudgy form. He’d never flinched, let alone complained, but Daniel wasn’t sure how much reserve there’d been remaining.