“Thank you, Mr. Perrin,” said Cammock. He bowed to Olivia and drank. “Go on, sir.”
“You see,” continued Margaret. “Well I must apologize, captain. It was part of my arrangement with Captain Cammock that he should not be told about our destination, nor about our plans, till we had left England. I need hardly say, captain, that that was not, well, not my desire. The merchants who consigned the cargo insisted on it. To tell the truth, it was only on the pledge of secrecy that the Board of Trade and Plantations gave me my commission.”
“Then you’ve got a commission, sir?” said Cammock.
“Yes. A limited one. But still. Had our plans been bruited abroad, we should have had a lot of opposition.”
“Who’d have taken the sweat to lift a finger to stop you?” said Stukeley.
“The West Indian merchants,” replied Margaret. “And the Chartered Brazil Wood Company, and the Spanish ambassador, among others, would have given us a lot of opposition. In fact, had the Spaniards known of it, we might have spared ourselves the trouble of sailing.”
“Hear, hear, sir,” said Cammock quietly.
“Our friend the beadle knows his job,” said Stukeley.
“Fill Captain Cammock’s glass, Edward.”
“Fill mine, too, please, waiter,” said Stukeley.