June was already upon us, and we would soon set sail for Lisbon. My heart ached at the thought of parting Penny from Sam after Florence. Yet we had always known it would be so. And how could I forget poor Kitty? I had prayed for so long she might be back in England. That there was now no hope of this was hard to face.
Noah had written to the harbour master in Puerto Rico, telling him what we had learnt and asking him to make enquiries about her. We might hear something, should a letter arrive before we left, though time was short now. How could it not feel like abandoning her to her fate, especially when we … they had fought so hard to rescue my daughter? But it was all we had left to us.
I looked at Raphael by the light of the night candle, though dawn was now showing through the shutte
