Chapter Fifty-Four
Dr Pannett and the Captain – the long gallery – many meetings – Gladys’s failure observed – a dastardly attack – the Admiral takes stock – a shanty – the worst thing
Charlie led his friends into a long gallery. On one wall was a row of paintings, their subjects impossible to make out in the arc-light glare from the windows opposite. His eyes pained, Charlie looked away from the light.
Halfway down the long room was a woman wearing an oversized maid’s pinafore draped over a leather uniform. She held a man against the wall, a knife at his throat. It took Charlie a moment to recognise the woman as Captain O’Higgins. The man was Dr Pannett.
“Mr Decharles! Please help me!” Pannett whined.
Charlie tried to think of something cutting to say. But before he could, Gruffydd s
