Page 153 of A Winter By the Sea
Mr. Cordey nodded to Thomson and Bernardi. “You lotgot the jump on ’im, I see. Well done.” Mr. Cordey knelt at the fallen man’s side and felt for a pulse at his neck. “He’ll live.” He turned to his sons. “Help me carry ’im to his boat afore he comes to.”
Next Emily tentatively crept to the mouth of the cave, her frightened gaze traveling over the scene. Seeing the fallen man, her eyes widened. She ran forward, taking her sister’s hands.
“Oh, Sarah! I was so worried. Are you all right?”
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s due to Miss Emily we’re here at all,” Mr. Thomson said. “She’s the one who told us what was going on and decided to come after you.”
“Did you?” Sarah embraced her. “You should not have put yourself in danger.”
“Mr. Thomson insisted I wait up the beach, out of harm’s way. If things went badly, I was to return to town for help.”
“Things did go badly,” Mr. During muttered.
“They could have gone far worse,” Sarah reminded him.
“True.”
Sarah turned back to Mr. Cordey as his sons secured the smuggler’s wrists with the rope in case he should awaken and put up a fight. Thankfully fishermen were skilled in knot tying.
“What are you going to do with him, Mr. Cordey?”
“Don’t ’ee worry, maid’n. I’ll not take his life. He has a missus and little’uns. I’ll set ’im adrift without oars or sail. The current will return ’im to shore, but he’ll have time to repent of his ways till then. At least, I hope so.”
“You won’t take him to the authorities?”
“Not on yer life, maid’n. These three’ll leave soon,” he said, nodding to the visitors. “But we live here. This rascal’s got powerful friends and many accomplices. If we had ’im arrested, he’d get off anyway, and might come lookin’ ferrevenge. I don’t want to put yer kin, nor mine, in that kind of danger.”
Sarah’s throat tightened at the thought. She said, “I understand. Thank you for coming to our aid. I know it was a risk to do so.”
He nodded, then said, “Couldn’t let anythin’ happen to me best customer, could I?” Yet his teasing bravado did not erase the anxious lines from his face.
When the Cordeys left, Sarah turned to the others. “Get the case and let’s go.”
After retrieving it, the group hurried away, Emily linking arms with Sarah to lend her strength for the walk back.
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The room was made quite dark, except for candles placed on very high candlesticks.... In the middle were two coffins—one of which held the body and the other THE HEART.
—Charlotte Cornish, letter from Sidmouth
When they returned to Sea View, the five of them—Emily, the three men, and a bedraggled-looking Sarah—gathered in the office with the door closed to discuss what to do next.
“How should I proceed?” Mr. During asked, pacing in agitated strides across the room.
Emily sent Sarah a questioning look. Emily supposed they ought to advise him to confess, much as she and Georgiana had urged Billy Hook to confess after shooting Woolbrook’s window. In this case, however, Mr. During’s life was in real danger. If his intention to steal royal property was discovered, he might be hanged or at the very least transported, and what would happen to his mother and sisters then?
He covered his face with his hands. “I deserve whatever is coming to me.”
“But you decided not to go through with it, remember?” Sarah prompted.
“Only because you talked me out of it.”
“And you let me. I think you had already realized it was a mistake and were ready to return the candlesticks.”
He sighed. “I was.”
