![]() ![]() Sooner or later, if we are not first shipwrecked, I expect I will know the manner of everyone on this vessel.” I made a show of blotting the manuscript, even though the ink was hours-dry on my last addition. ![]() “Everyone has a manner and I remembered yours. “You have a manner, Mortlock,” I said pleasantly. “How did you know it was me, Doctor Coade?” The tall, stooping midshipman bent his head and shoulders into the low-ceilinged cabin. “Come in, Mortlock,” I said, swivelling in my seat, feigning the impression of being disturbed from innocent business. A knock sounded at the door, followed by the immediate sound of the door being eased ajar. I straightened them out, fixed them to my nose, and splashed water on my face from a cork-stoppered earthenware jar. Pince-nez spectacles were before me on the desk, slightly askew where the force of my slumping forehead had borne down on them. I lifted my head and pinched at the gummy corners of my eyes. I came around seated at my writing desk, face pressed to the pages of my manuscript. They were approaching with urgency: hard soles thudding on old, creaking timbers. ![]()
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