“Captain Smith!” Ruth was agitated as she approached Smith. “I have a letter for you.”
“A letter?” Smith looked up in surprise. “Who the devil would write me a letter?”
Ruth shook her head. “I don’t know, sir.”
The fact that she addressed Smith as ‘sir’ warned him that Ruth was uneasy. “From where did it come, Ruth?”
“The Hounds Rest acts as a post office, Captain, as you know, but the landlord there doesn’t have much to do with us,” Ruth lowered her voice. “Sir Francis owns the lease, and the Hound’s landlord is Sir Francis’s man. So I send the boy over for any mail, once a week. This time, the Hound sent one of his servants to us.”
Smith held out his hand. “Let’s see it then, Ruth.”
The letter was on poor quality paper, folded once, and sealed. Smith examined the device impressed o
