Genet gaped, as though a housewife had admonished him for his son throwing rocks at her chickens, then began to spout excuses in French, which she heard with only half an ear.
Nancy saw Daniel’s eyes glitter with amusement, not brandy. He was neither drunk nor trapped. That meant Genet was here for Daniel’s benefit, not the reverse. So this Norton was involved with Daniel and Trueblood more than socially. Well, if Daniel hoped to learn something from Genet, she had to throw them together as allies.
“Vous comprendez? He is a privateer, not a pirate,” the ambassador was saying. “The ship was taken in the name of the Republic of France.”
“Privateer? Is that the French word for pirate, the way embuscade means ambush?”
“Non, non, I say. He was commissioned by my government. You must understand, we are at war with England.”
“France is always at war with England. That is no excuse for accosting civilians on the high seas. One sailor had his head taken off by a cannonball, and I would not be surprised if some of the wounded did not die from those vicious splinters. Daniel himself took a bad one. And poor Trueblood was knocked overboard.”
“Monsieurs, forgive me for any inconvenience,” Genet said over the shocked gasps of the other ladies.
“Inconvenience!” Nancy repeated in apparent astonishment.
Both Tallents made deprecating noises, as though the whole incident were forgotten.
“Mais oui, I forget, you are a woman. What do you know of such matters?”
“Apparently a great deal more than you. I was there. Even making allowance for them being French, I found your countrymen crude and offensive.”
“Making allowance?” Genet sputtered.
Elise had turned away to bite her lip. Trueblood had his face buried in his wineglass, and Nancy thought she could detect bubbles. The girls looked expectantly at their father, who seemed oblivious to Genet’s discomfort. In desperation Genet turned to Daniel, who shrugged in sympathy.
“Monsieur, you were on that ship. Surely you did not regard it as an inhumane act?”
“Why, no, luck of the draw, I would say.”
“Was any disrespect shown to this woman?”
“Now that you.mention it, the seamen did search her baggage, and you know how women are with their laces and…such.” Daniel fluttered his fingers to indicate, Nancy supposed, frilly undergarments. “I expect that is why Miss Riley has taken such a pet. To have strange hands mauling her finery…” Daniel shuddered.
The daughters gasped even more at this ugly thought.
“Dirty hands they were, as well. Not to mention the language. I am quite certain the captain made an indecent proposal to me,” Nancy said, nailing Genet with a menacing stare.
“Why, I do not comprehend how this misunderstanding could have happened. The captain said the only woman on board was a—a…”
“Yes, go on,” Nancy prompted, her lips parted in expectation.
“Non, forgive me. I am sure he misread the entire situation. But he implied you were fluent in French.”
“I speak it, of course, but not the crude jargon of sailors. I think I made them understand me, but I could not follow half of what they said, and no one appreciates being insulted in a foreign tongue,” she said, disregarding her own brutal attack on Genet.
“Well, that is a blessing, if you did not understand. Even so, allow me to submit my most humble apologies.”
“Apologies? What good are your apologies now? I want your assurance that such an event will not occur again”
“Impossible!”
“Ah, I see, you have no influence.”
“Quoi?”
“No power with your government.”
“Non—oui! I have power to act for my government.”
“Ah, you could do the right thing, but you will not.”
“La Petite Démocrate will sail under the French flag as soon as she may be refitted,” Genet said angrily.
“A grave mistake, I assure you, sir. For the first English ship it encounters will blow it out of the water.”
“They will not even know.”
“Once my letters reach England, they will. Though, now that I come to think of it, I should perhaps protest to the American government, as well. Trueblood, who is the American equivalent to our foreign secretary?”
Trueblood rolled his eyes in mock reflection, keeping his mouth tightly compressed.
“Oh, never mind,” Nancy said. “I will write to the president. He will know who to forward the letter to.”
“President Washington?” Genet asked in a panic.
Nancy saw Daniel’s eyes flash at her in delight. Norton sat immobile, his chin resting on his fist as he gazed at her in fascination.
“I believe the ladies will withdraw now,” Elise said with a prim smile, “and leave the gentlemen to their wine.”
“Mon Dieu, you do not really—” Genet broke off as the women whisked out of the room.
“A trifle more wine?” Daniel asked Genet, and filled his glass unbidden. The French ambassador drank deeply.
“Will she really…?”
“Perhaps I may be able to talk her out of it,” Trueblood offered dubiously.
“I doubt it, brother.” Daniel shook his head slowly. “She is a bit more headstrong than the English ladies you are used to. A loose cannon is what she is. Best keep your distance so you do not get blasted.”
“My apologies, Monsieur Genet,” Norton offered. “I had no idea the young lady would take things so amiss.”
“Ah, I was forgetting.” Genet tapped his forehead. “She is English. That explains it. An American lady would never take offense at our privateers.”
“No!” the three men murmured in unison, shaking their heads and relaxing into a camaraderie of sex against sex.
“Unless, of course, she happened to be on an English ship,” Trueblood offered.
“Yes.” Daniel sighed sadly. “Those are the dangers of getting civilians involved in a war. One has no idea of the ramifications.”
“But I apologized. Why would she not accept my apology?”
“I doubt there is any way to conciliate a woman whose undergarments have been mauled,” Daniel said sagely, “whether she was in them or not.”
Norton coughed and Trueblood turned to the sideboard to reach for a decanter of brandy. “Vraiment? But I am the French ambassador, Citizen Genet, and she made me feel such a…such a maladroit.”
“Do not give it another thought,” Daniel said, thumping him on the back. “It happens to me all the time. Besides, it will never leave this room.”
“No,” the others murmured in assent.
When the gentlemen came into the parlor, Daniel glanced toward the door, and Nancy rose on that cue to thank the Nortons and take her leave of them. Genet, emboldened by the wine, came forward with another profuse, but tangled apology, swirling his French and English together like brandy and water in a glass. Nancy retrieved her hand and said, “I will…I will consider it.”
They were not half a block from the Nortons when Trueblood’s