“I did.” He thought of the house he’d fled the week before. He had walked past it yesterday and it was boarded, his former neighbours, who had not been swift enough to escape, now trapped within, hanging from the barred windows, begging for extra food from the constables. “Though I fear the contagion may be a trifle worse this year.”
“Trifle?” Lucy replied. “Pah! I do not think even so much. Besides, that was not the news I was after. What of your husband?”
“I am sure the captain does not want—”
“Nonsense.” Lucy seized Sarah’s hand. “My friend here is seeking her husband, William. You must know him—John Chalker, our fellow player. Missing these three days. Could you not help her seek him?”
“Child, you cannot ask a stranger to undertake such a thing.”
Lucy continued over Sarah’s protes
