Leaving Lisbon

"I shall break into a trot," Raoul said, speeding up his pace, the saddlebag bouncing against his back. "I could manage a canter..."

"Good man!" Stephen flashed a smile over his shoulder. Eventually they stopped in front of a house in one deserted alleyway, apparently empty, with weeds growing between cracks in the wood. "Keep watch now," said Stephen as he took a lockpick from his pocket and began his solicitations.

Raoul stared for a moment, ignoring Dr Maturin's request, before realizing that he was watching him break into an apparently abandoned house... Suppressing a grin, he turned to lean idly against the wall of the house next door, glancing up and down the alley. "Whose house it it?" he whispered.

"A family's," said Stephen, then grinned as the lock clicked the door swung open. "I will not be a moment. I just need to leave the signal."

Raoul leaned back, watching a single white cloud pass across the end of the alley, where it descended in steep steps, leaving a slice of clear sky, with sea below it, almost indistinguishable except for the dark, hazy line, and the black outline of a ship making its way out to sea.

Stephen ran up the stairs of Cabral's house, and once he reached the front upper room - a bedroom, he opened the window and, taking his catling from his pocket, began to cut away all the ivy that grew around it.

Raoul heard a noise, and looked round and up - Dr Maturin had appeared at the window and was ... A strand of ivy fell, and Raoul caught it, smiling up at the doctor. That, presumably, was the signal...

Once the window was entirely free of ivy, Stephen laughed down at des Sablières, grinning up like some idiot troubadour. When Cabral visited the house that night, he knew that he would be safe to return his family to their home. He went back down the stairs, and closed the door, the lock clicking in place behind him. "Thank you, Capitaine - away to your doctor now."

Raoul cocked an inquisitive eye at Dr Maturin, but then turned round to get his bearings. Lisbon's hills made navigating difficult, and even if you could see your goal, the lanes seemed intent to lead you astray. But the sight of the sea at the bottom of the lane helped, and Raoul led him with slightly assumed confidence along the alley and back into the wider streets. He stopped, looking both ways, and said, with a slight laugh: "I will find it. Give me a moment..."

Stephen grinned up at his companion. "We do no better than several nights ago, Capitaine - wait, that road leads to the Cathedral. I am sure of it."

Raoul followed the direction Dr Maturin indicated. "It does - if we'd been looking for the Cathedral, we would have had no problem." He hesitated. "Would you like to go there?" He did not like to remind Stephen of his interrupted confession - but a Cathedral would surely have priests willing to take confession, if that was what Stephen wanted.

Stephen saw the tentative, nervous look on des Sablières' face, and knew exactly what he was referring to. He had been successful thus far in keeping Paix from his thoughts; the smile fell from his face. "No," he said quietly. "I cannot. Not yet."

"I am sorry," Raoul apologized. "I cannot, either..." He looked down the street, away from the cathedral. This time, the view was blocked by a square church, probably built a century earlier. He recognized it, and tried a smile. "But the house where Dr Crozier was staying is along here - we came this way..."

He stood looking up at the frontage of a house. "This is it," he said with certainty, and knocked at the door. He recognized the girl who answered and said: "Sally, is Dr Crozier here? It is Capitaine des Sablières, to see him if he has time."

Leat, trailing a canvas bag over his shoulder - a few last minute purchases before they sailed - was walking sedately down the narrow street towards Crozier's lodgings where he had promised to meet the surgeon and accompany him back to the ship. All the rest of his dunnage (what little he had taken ashore) had been stowed aboard earlier that morning.

However, on approaching the house the lieutenant was surprised to see two constrasting figures standing on the doorstep, talking to the housemaid. He stopped and gaped as he realised that the smaller man was in fact known to him.

"Doctor Maturin!" he called, forgetting all dignity and rushing over to the two men. "Doctor! Is it really you?"

Stephen turned around in shock, and shielded his eyes against the sun to identify the figure running towards them. He smiled warmly. "Upon my word - Lieutenant Leat?"

Leat's already sunburnt skin noticeably flushed pinker across his cheekbones as he grinned.

"I thought that perhaps you might not remember me, sir," he said, a little embarrassed. "I apologise for calling out so - only I was surpised to see you here. Overjoyed to meet you again, though I would have thought we'd hear if the captain were here... I hope he is well? Which ship does he have now, and where are you moored?"

"Of course I would - from the Lively, yes?" His smile faltered a little. "The captain is not here, I am afraid - he is ashore in England. He is prime, the last I saw of him - he is married now, with two little girls, and planting roses. I am lending my services to the army for a time."

"The army? Why on earth would you want to hang around with the lobsters, sir?" Leat asked, somewhat surprised in the way of a sailor that anyone would choose to spend much time on land - especially a man which he only remembered as a naval surgeon - but he quickly realised that such a question was impertinent, and changed the subject.

"I give the captain joy of it, sir. I read of his marriage, and remember well the lady he was courting. Miss Sophie, she was; a fine lady to make any man a good wife. You are here to see Dr, Crozier as well?"

The girl Sally shook her head. "He's down at the ship," she said, and simpered at Raoul. He smiled back, and turned to look at the newcomer. A slim young man in the uniform of a Royal Navy lieutenant, with red hair tied back neatly, he was beaming at Dr Maturin, clearly delighted to have met him. He was able to respond to the lieutenant's question. "The girl says he's on the ship."

Stephen smiled again. "We are, so." He straightened his wig, guilt at his illiberal preconceptions making he want to make a good first impression on the kind young man des Sablières admired so much. "Oh, forgive me, I have been remiss - Lieutenant, this is Captain des Sablières of the Troisième Hussars - Capitaine, this is Lieutenant Leat. Forgive me, sir, I do not know your ship."

"Oh."

Leat's brow creased with disappointment as the stranger delivered the news. He spoke good English, but there was something that wasn't quite right about him... but then Maturin introduced the gentleman, and it seemed that was explanation enough.

"Your servant, sir," he said formally, inclining his head a little. He turned his attention back to Maturin. "I had arranged to meet Dr. Crozier here... But perhaps he has forgotten?"

Raoul nodded courteously, conscious of being in the wrong place, and falling silent, his eyes on Dr Maturin. If the doctor wanted him to leave, he surely would not hesitate - they would not stand on ceremony with one another...

"You are of the Terpsichore then, Lieutenant? That is a piece of luck, to be sure - the doctor did the captain a good turn during the week, and was very kind to him. We had wished to thank him, and wish him a pleasant voyage. Do you sail shortly?"

"We do, sir," Leat looked at the Frenchman with renewed interest, perhaps trying to guess where it was Crozier had sewed him up. "On tomorrow's evening tide. I suppose he's busy seeing the rest of his stores in. I could walk you down to the Terpsy if you'd like - I was on the way there myself."

"Only if we would not be disturbing him, or yourself - well do I know the rushing when a ship is about to leave." Stephen looked up at des Sablières - it was his errand, and thus his call.