About this story
The insult becomes a duel with the man's son; dawn on the dunes leaves a boy dead in the sand and his young brother screaming for the killer. On the crossing home, Romayne swears the scream now lives inside the ship's engine, and dreads what waits for him in the silence of Vange.
How it opens
November fog followed Lewis Romayne into the club and silvered his traveling coat.
My aunt refuses the Channel unless I escort her from Boulogne.
He possessed Vange Abbey, a fortune, and the settled belief that fortune persecuted him.
I will go as your companion, provided misery does not choose our dinner.
You mock me now, but wait until Boulogne proves my judgment sound.
Choose
I accept, and I reserve the right to contradict every complaint.
Go alone and discover that inconvenience is not fatality.
Tell me what truly frightens you about the crossing.