… He could see her now. Andromeda. He heard the door close.

Cornwall. It seemed ten thousand miles away.

There were fewer people in this corridor this time, or perhaps it was a different route. More doors. Two officers standing outside one of them. Just a glance, a flicker of eyes.

Nothing more. Waiting for promotion, or a court martial…

He cleared his mind of everything but this moment, and the man he was about to meet: John Grenville, still listed as captain, but here in Admiralty appointed secretary to the First Lord.

He remembered hearing Bethune refer to him as "second only to God'.

The porter stopped and subjected him to another scrutiny, and said abruptly, "My son was serving in Frobisher when Sir Richard was killed, sir. He often speaks of him whenever we meet. "He nodded slowly. "A fine gentleman."

"Thank you. "Somehow it steadied him, like some one reaching out. "Let's be about it, shall we?"

After the cell-like waiting room, this one seemed enormous, occupying an entire corner of the building, with great windows opening on two walls. There were several tables, one of which held a folding map stand; another was piled with ledgers.

Captain John Grenville was sitting at a vast desk, his back to one of the windows, framed against the meagre light. He was small, slight, even fragile at first glance, and his hair was completely white, like a ceremonial wig.

"Do be seated, Captain Bolitho. "He gestured to a chair directly opposite. "You must be somewhat weary after your travel. Progress has cut communication time to a minimum, but the human body is still hostage to the speed of a good horse!"

He sat cautiously, every muscle recalling the journey from Portsmouth. During the endless halts to change horses or rest them, he had seen the new telegraph system, mounted on a chain of hills and prominent buildings between the roof above their heads to the final sighting-point on the church by Portsmouth dockyard. A signal could be transmitted the entire distance in some twenty minutes, when visibility was good. In less time than it would take a courier to saddle and mount.