3_4

Annie Sheppard and her brother lived alone, and the house reflected this. Every thing was clean and polished, and sitting in a comfortable chair, de Hogue looked about the room with interest. Some one had been a soldier by the look of things. Over the mantle was an old sabre, and below it a regimental arms emblem stood, flanked on either side by two small portraits. On the left was a soldier in the bright crimson uniform of the Royal Marines, and on the right was a handsome woman in a pale blue dress.
“Your parents?” he asked.
“Yes.” Annie Sheppard replied. “Would you care for tea or perhaps some small beer?”
“Oh… tea please.” He smiled at her as she bustled from the room.
Her brother had sat silently by the window, and in the sudden empty silence left in Annie Sheppard’s absence, he suddenly felt compelled to speak.
“My Father was killed at St Vincent; he was a sergeant in the Marines.”
De Hogue nodded to the sabre, “Was that his?”
“No. That belonged to my maternal Grandfather. He served in the Horse artillery.”
“And your mother?”
“My mother died shortly after Annie was born.” He replied.
“I never knew my mother” Annie Sheppard said from the doorway, “and Father was always away. John raised me, and he’s looked after me all my life.”
“You’re fortunate you were never pressed” de Hogue observed.
“The press gangs don’t often come out to the island, and when they do most of us are out on the sea any way.” Sheppard replied calmly. “You’re in the service, aren’t you?”
“Aye” de Hogue nodded. “I was second lieutenant on the Vanguard when we put into Kingston harbour, back in oh three. Within two days I was down with the Yellow Jack along with half the crew and it took me six months to recover enough strength to come back on a ship. The port Admiral had found me a place on a troop transport, but I was called back to London for another position. Unfortunately when I arrived back home, I became ill again, and I soon found myself cast adrift without a ship and with out much hope of any further position.”
Sheppard nodded. Like all seamen he knew how difficult it was for a commoner to secure a position on a Royal naval ship.
“So you couldn’t pass for a gentleman eh?”
“That’s about it” de Hogue nodded.
“So why did you come to the island?”
“John!” Annie Sheppard cried. She turned to de Hogue with a proud look. “Mister de Hogue, we know why you’re here, and we support you!”
“Annie…” Sheppard all but whispered in a disapproving tone.
“But it’s true!” Annie Sheppard replied indignantly. “Every one’s saying it now.”
“What do they say?” de Hogue accepted the delicate cup of tea she handed to him.
“That you’ve come to put a stop to Bartholomew Thatcher and his gang!” she replied with an approving twitch of the head.”
He smiled and shrugged.
“Tell me about Mary” he replied.
Annie Sheppard put down her tea cup and shook her head softly.
“Oh, poor dear Mary” she began to weep into a small hand kerchief, sniffing and dabbing at her eyes. “She was so happy as well, and then it all went so terribly bad for her”“Bad?”