He ‘accidentally’ tripped up Reg, causing him and Prudence to fall; and then I ‘accidentally’ knocked into ‘Jim’ and my knee ‘accidental...y’ managed to coincide with his crotch. It was all accidental, ma’am.”“Curious. An unlikely sequence of accidents, Erika.”“Indeed, ma’am. That is the way of accidents: they are accidental, so not predictable as to timing.”“You are a clever girl, Erika. I have been looking over your class records, and while you started out mediocre, your performance has. Amos wanted to read it, see if he was mentioned, and mentioned in a good way. He headed to the bed, checking under the pillow. Nothing there. He checked between the mattress and the head board. Nothing there either. He checked underneath the mattress, all the way round. Nothing.Breathing fast, knowing that he was running out of time, he opened the wardrobe, moving aside shoes at the bottom. Nothing. There was a chest of drawers. He opened the top drawer. Pants and socks. Eurgh. Still nothing.. He realized he hadn’t smiled for a very long time. Still, she had hurt him too badly for complete trust. ‘For how long?’ he asked. She pressed her lips against his, salty and wet with tears, for a quick, fierce kiss. ‘Forever.’ He pulled her to him, tighter, closer, and said, ‘I’d like to see you try and stop me.’ ###### It took until the next morning for the doctor to release Danny into Christie’s custody. Physically, he was recovered, but alcohol called to him. Christie wondered how far he. Our only defense was the speed of our hull and the filled sails that let us escape time and again.Most of the crew was occupied down below still sporting the two female English indentured servants who were pressed into servicing the fat merchantman that dealt in human flesh. We had taken that prize with no bloodshed which is always a pleasant way to do business but it was lacking in proper excitement for the temperament of my men who needed some stress to keep their sharp edge. The females were.