Unconquered Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mandy.”
    “I may be younger, smaller, and slower than you, sister, but my emotions are well developed. After all, I know what love is. You do not. No one has ever touched your heart. Hand me my gown, will you?”
    Amanda stepped into the high-waisted, puff-sleeved gown of pink sarcenet, and turned her back so Miranda might button her up. She could not see the perplexed look on Miranda’s face. Miranda felt very strange. She did not begrudge her sister happiness, but she had never not been first at anything. She quickly composed her face and, bending down, picked up her paisley shawl.
    “Better take yours too, twin. It will be cold on deck.”
    They came out onto the deck just as faint color was beginning to show in the east. The water was black and mirror-smooth. There was a very faint breeze in the sails, and as they stood facing the bow of the ship, they saw the coast of Long Island totheir right, through the gray mists of early morning. On their left, but farther away, the Connecticut coast lay shrouded in fog.
    “Home,” breathed Miranda, hugging her shawl around her slim shoulders.
    “It really means that much to you, doesn’t it?” said Mandy quietly. “Mother and Father are wrong, I fear. You will never love anyone as you love Wyndsong. It’s as if you are part of the land itself.”
    “I knew you would understand!” Miranda smiled. “We have always understood each other. Oh, Mandy, I cannot bear to think that this cousin of Father’s will inherit it someday. It should be mine!”
    Amanda Dunham squeezed her twin’s hand sympathetically. There was nothing she could do to change the situation, and nothing would soothe Miranda’s troubled spirit.
    “So this is where you two minxes have gotten to, and at such an early hour, too.” Thomas Dunham flung his arms around his two daughters.
    “Good morning, Papa!” they cried.
    “And are my girls anxious to be home? Even you now, Amanda?”
    They both nodded enthusiastically. Just then a brisk breeze suddenly sprang up and the remnants of fog disappeared. The sunrise spilled over the bluffs and dappled the green-blue waters with gold. The sky forecast a lovely, clear day.
    “There’s the Horton’s Point lighthouse!” said Miranda excitedly.
    “Then we’re almost home, darlings!” laughed Dorothea Dunham, coming out onto the deck. “Good morning, my daughters!”
    “Good morning, Mama,” they called in cheerful unison.
    “Good morning, m’dear.” Thomas gave her a loving kiss, which she returned.
    The ship’s crew scurried around them, and Captain Hardy joined the Dunhams. “We’ll come around Orient Point and anchor toward the bayside, so your yacht can come about more easily. Will your people be long? There’s a good breeze with us, and if it keeps up I might make Boston by late tomorrow.”
    “My yacht should be standing off Orient now.”
    “Very good, sir. I appreciate your cooperation, and may I sayit’s been a great pleasure having you and your lady and daughters aboard my ship.” He turned to Amanda. “I hope we’ll have the pleasure of taking you back to England next summer, Miss Amanda.”
    “Thank you, Captain,” said Amanda blushing prettily, “but it is not yet official.” She fingered her ring.
    “Then I shall not offer my felicitations until it is,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “I have a wife and daughter myself, and I know how important it is to you ladies to have all the proper amenities observed.”
    “Sail ho!” came the cry from the crow’s nest.
    “Can you make her out?” called back the captain.
    “Baltimore clipper, sir. American flag.”
    “Name and port?”
    “She’s the Dream Witch out of Boston.”
    “Hmmm.” The captain thought for a moment and then ordered, “Keep your present course, Mr. Smythe.”
    “Aye, sir!”
    They remained at the rail watching as the clipper made its way toward them. Suddenly a puff of whitish smoke came from the other vessel, followed by a dull boom