CHAPTER NINEViola did her best not to show how terrified she was. The small rowing boat was pitching and tossing as they progressed towards the open sea.
‘Where can they be taking me?” she wondered, lowering her head so that her captors could not see that she was silently crying. ‘Surely they cannot be taking me all the way to Arabia in a rowing boat?’
The Russians remained silent and Viola was beginning to wish that she had eaten more at the ball.
‘But I was so preoccupied with the Earl, and keeping an eye on Millicent’s movements, that I only ate the merest morsel. And now, here I am, kidnapped. Are they going to kill me? Or harm me in some other way?’
She looked up to see on the horizon a ship coming towards them. It was all lit up and its funnels belched thick white smoke.
‘That m
