About this story
With O'Brien you escape Verdun parole as two travelling ladies and sit a court-martial on twelve charges, and two years pass behind Bedlam's barred shutter before General O'Brien knows your face through the bars. Fifty-two chapters carry you from a Portsmouth coach to the Hall, with Celeste.
How it opens
Family influence selected fourteen-year-old Peter Simple for the navy before knowledge supplied preparation.
Captain SavageWhich ship are you joining, youngster, and have you no letter of introduction?
Captain SavageThat sealed introduction bears my name; let me see what your family asks of me.
You snatched it back and declared that anyone opening another man's letter could be no gentleman.
Midshipman JenkinsSavage flogs whole watches for slow sailing and works new boys until they drop.
I have trusted uniforms, jokes, and sealed paper without knowing which deserved it.