Somewhere Beyond the Lighthouse

Although she could clearly hear Peggy, Josephine and Annie's voices inside, intermingled with two male voices she did not recognize, her knocks received no response. The lively conversation meant they didn't hear her, Gwendolyn realized quickly. The presence of the two men, of course, meant going to the front door was out of the question in her state of undress. Concluding that all would be forgiven, Gwendolyn opened the door and stepped inside.

Avoiding the direction of the conversation, Gwendolyn crept down the hall. At the end, she found a room with four single beds and a wash-basin with just enough water to rinse off her dirty feet. Once that was done, there was little else for her to do but sleep, as there was no sign of any clothing to be had anywhere in the room. Of course, Gwendolyn was exhausted after her long swim anyway, and was more than content to lie down until Peggy or the others discovered her.

That was not to be for some time, for after dinner, Peggy invited Burgess and Raddler upstairs to the guest bedrooms, where she joined the captain and Josephine and Annie joined Raddler.

"Charlie, I have got to protest here!" I interrupted then. "I am certain this Mr. Raddler had a delightful evening, but surely you would agree it is totally inappropriate for Lillie to hear of what transpired!"

"Good heavens, Uncle Edmund, do you think I'm a nun?!" Lillie demanded.

"Well, in any event, I don't know just what happened upstairs," Edmund reassured me. "I could certainly guess, but I rather suspect your niece can as well."

"And how!" Lillie remarked. "I can just imagine what sort Peggy was in bed, as well, a woman of that age and experience!"

"Lillie!" I exclaimed.

"Do you think you are the only one who ever bristled under the yoke of your brother, Uncle Edmund?" she replied. "You're younger and more open minded than he is; surely you don't expect me to be a prim lady like he does."

I had to admit that I did not.

"Shall I stop, then?" Charlie asked us.

I began to suggest that perhaps he should, but Lillie exclaimed, "No! I want to hear all about this Martin's Isle! And if I might be so bold, I am not above hearing more about Peggy."

"Well," Charlie said. "I rather suspect you are correct about her prowess in the bedroom. I myself can only offer a secondhand account of a secondhand account, from Annie and Josephine. They, of course, had a great deal of experience in overhearing Peggy from the next room while they were otherwise occupied, so they knew she was capable of some wonderfully intense responses, and also of eliciting the same from any man she took to her bed. What nearly always happened was that she would end up with the least senior man in the party -- this particular night was an exception in that regard, of course -- who could only try to hide his regret at being paired off with the oldest of the women.

"Annie and Josephine would inevitably catch the young man gazing longingly at them as Peggy led him upstairs. Their own expressions were frequently tinged with jealousy of Peggy as he was often the most attractive of the bunch; but they felt more amusement than pity for the young man himself. They, having seen Peggy in the nude countless times, knew how wonderfully healthy and fit she was for her age, how beautiful she still was underneath, and most of all how well-practiced she was at the art of pleasure for both a man and herself in the bedroom. Many was the time Annie or Josephine would wind up with the captain, who would let slip a comment about what a lucky dog his junior officer was as the sound of their lovemaking wafted next door.

"Of course, on this occasion, the Captain ended up with Peggy. As for Annie and Josephine, Jamison's poor attitude meant they had to either share Mr. Raddler or choose one or the other of them to have no fun at all that night. Little doubt that Raddler was elated, but I couldn't tell you what they thought of him."

"I can just imagine him fumbling about, wondering just how he was to handle two women after never seeing one for all those weeks at sea," Lillie mused.

"I rather doubt he had much trouble learning," Charlie said. "What I do wonder is if he envied his captain at all, as I do have it on good authority that Peggy could out-shriek Josephine and Annie combined. The grass is always greener, I suppose."

"Oh, to be a woman like Peggy!" Lillie said, to my horror. "Just imagine being that worldly-wise and self-assured, and so talented in private as well!"

"Lillie, don't you ever let me hear you repeat those words to either of your parents," I warned.

"Do you really believe I am so stupid as to do that, Uncle Edmund?" Lillie retorted. "But they cannot stop me from imagining such a future for myself, and neither can you!"

"In any event," Charlie interjected, "I know nothing about exactly what occurred in either bedroom that night. What I do know, though, is what happened the next morning after Burgess and Raddler had been sent safely on their way."

"The fruit arrived safely in Sauraquid, then," I offered drily.

"That's not what he means and you know it!" Lillie protested.

Gwendolyn awoke from the most profoundly refreshing sleep she had enjoyed since her days on the mainland. Terrified for the moment that last night's wonderful discovery had been but a dream, she was overcome with relief when she realized she was still in the sparse room she had discovered the night before. Then she was overcome with fear when she realized three people were standing over her bed, and once again with relief when she realized the three people were Peggy, Annie and Josephine.

"Extraordinary," Peggy murmured.

"Hello, Gwendolyn," Annie said. "Why didn't you tell us you were one of ours?"

"She didn't know," Josephine said. "You didn't, did you, Gwendolyn?"

"Didn't know what?" Gwendolyn asked, sitting up. The sheets fell down, exposing her breasts; she quickly grabbed them back up to preserve her modesty in spite of all that had occurred the night before.

"In all my years on Martin's Isle, I have never heard of any woman being overlooked," Peggy said. "Certainly I have never been wrong like this until now. How absolutely wonderful."

"I'm glad to hear you feel that way, Peggy," Gwendolyn said. "But just what were you wrong about?"

"Your ability to find Martin's Isle," Peggy said. "When you arrived back on Sauraquid -- well, forgive me, Gwendolyn, but I remember you from your childhood and you were not the most upstanding young citizen of our island, you know; perhaps I simply didn't want to see you had the gift. What I thought, though, was that the soul-crushing experiences you had endured in the mills had killed something in you, if indeed it had ever been there to begin with."

"Those years killed plenty inside me," Gwendolyn allowed. To Annie and Josephine she added, "So this is where you were going all those times you couldn't join me after work?"

"I'm afraid so," Annie said.

"Sorry!" Josephine added.

"They didn't know any more than I did," Peggy reassured her. "And it is a secret that must be kept."

"It's hardly a secret!" Gwendolyn protested. "I've known all my life about Martin's Isle. I mean, no one knows for certain that it's real, but we all know the story of it!"

"Yes, exactly," Peggy said. "No one knows it's real but us, and no one back on Sauraquid knows who we are. And it must remain that way. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Gwendolyn took in the enormity of what was now before her. "So it is now my job to guide good sailors out of danger and bad ones into it, and go to bed with them if necessary to make it happen?"

"Well," Annie began, "We wouldn't phrase it quite like that, but..."

"But yes," Josephine finished. "It's not half as bad as it sounds. This young man we were with last night, he --"

"Josephine, you know the rules!" Peggy admonished her. Turning back to Gwendolyn, she added, "She is correct, though. It may sound unpleasant at first blush, but it's a wonderful way to live."

"But what about the sailors on the ships we don't like? They're not all evil, are they?"

"There will be casualties in war, Gwendolyn," Peggy said. "Now get out of bed and join us in the front room. It's time you had something to eat, I imagine."

"Then I'm not in any trouble?" Gwendolyn was still feeling rather wary, and was also now excruciatingly aware that she was naked under the sheets.

"Darling, no!" Peggy reassured her, and she bent down and took Gwendolyn in her arms. "We're delighted to learn you're one of us! But it is best that you understand this blessing of yours comes with certain responsibilities. If you aren't willing to accept those...but then, I know of no one who wasn't, once she realized just what a gift our lot is."

"You'll have to cosy up to some men who've been at sea for months," Annie warned. "They haven't had a bath or been near a woman in that time, and they smell and act like it. But you'll be saving their lives and dozens of others."

"And also help kill any man with the rotten luck to be shipping cargo we don't approve of." As it all sank in, Gwendolyn was beginning to wish she had remained ignorant of her gift.

"Gwendolyn," Peggy said with a firm tone usually reserved for when one of the girls had whipped up the men at the pub into a frenzy with their flirting. "You of all people, who have seen the ugliness of life on the mainland: the pollution, the waste, the exploitation of young men and women including yourself for heaven's sake, do you want Sauraquid to be like that?"

"No, Peggy," Gwendolyn admitted. "The day I was able to buy my ticket back to Sauraquid was the greatest of my life, and there is a reason why I never left again until last night."

"If that does not convince you, then consider: every sailor asea has heard of Martin's Isle and of us. Many were nevertheless foolhardy enough to try to sail into Sauraquid with the black heart of a whaler or a slaver, or with cargo that could have done us irreparable damage; but they did so knowing full well how very dangerous that was. It is their foolish judgment, and your only crime will be failing to tell them what they should have known for years."

Gwendolyn said nothing, but her face softened and once again she carelessly dropped the sheet that had preserved her modesty. She lingered happily but a moment with her breasts on display before remembering herself and gathering up the sheet again.

All three of the others laughed, though not unkindly. "Gwendolyn," Josephine advised, "If you are going to be one of us, you had best grow accustomed to spending a lot of time naked in company, particularly in our company. You're beautiful, and as a matter of fact that will be part of your job."

"Perhaps you should go outside and grow accustomed to being at one with nature," Annie suggested.

"Outside with...like this?" Gweondolyn demanded. "With no clothes?"

"You did swim all the way here that way, didn't you?" Peggy pointed out.

"That I did," Gwendolyn admitted. "I suppose I never really imagined it would come to this, though, or at least that it wouldn't be all quite as it is."

"Well, dear, it is," Peggy said. "Welcome to the sisterhood."

There was a detour to the front room for a breakfast of fresh bread and fruit. When they had eaten and Peggy continued to encourage Gwendolyn outside without offering so much as a loincloth, Josephine offered to undress and join her for her first foray outside, an offer Gwendolyn accepted quite gratefully.

Despite -- or maybe even because -- she had pranced so brazenly up the beach in the nude only hours before, Gwendolyn was mortified as she stepped out into the brilliant sunshine. Josephine showed no sign of any such inhibition and stepped out fearlessly onto the sand wearing only a broad smile. With a spring in her step, she jaunted off towards the surf, then turned around and stood facing the house. With her fiery red mane dazzling in the sunshine and her burning bush cloaking her womanhood in the most teasing way, she set an example of great confidence for Gwendolyn, who stood clinging to the porch banister. "Come on out, dear! There's not a soul on the island except the four of us!"

Gwendolyn reminded herself that she had wanted this more than anything, and that Josephine was right: there was no risk of anyone seeing anything who had not already seen everything. Forcing an air of confidence, she held her head high and marched out into the sun. By the time she reached Josephine, the confidence was as real as the delightful nervous tickle she felt all over her body. "My, you're right," she said. "This does feel lovely once you decide to let it!"

"Doesn't it, though!" Josephine agreed. "For all the distastefulness of letting the evil ships sink, it is a most wonderful way to live." She hooked her arm through Gwendolyn's and guided her into the warm surf and down the beach towards the southern horizon. "A bit lonely now and again, but we're never on our own for too long."

"What about those filthy disgusting men Annie was talking about?" Gwendolyn asked.

Josephine laughed. "They're ever so much fun to wash down!" Once she and Gwendolyn had both enjoyed a laugh, she continued, "The really distasteful ones can always be sent outside. It happened last night, after all. The others, well, they can be uncouth all right, but remember what else Annie said: they haven't been around women in a long time when they end up here. Besides, some of them actually appreciate that we saved their lives. They're so happy to be spending the night with us that most of them find whatever manners they have quickly enough."

Gwendolyn paused and gazed out at the sea, only just making out a hint of the lighthouse that had guided her to her new home. "Heavens, what a life," she murmured in a melancholy afterthought of a tone.

"It really is, though, Gwen, you'll get used to it sooner than you think!" Josephine offered, caressing Gwendolyn's back.

"No, I meant...I mean, I believe you," Gwendolyn said. "But I meant the life of a sailor. What a way to live, on a cork tossed about the ocean for months at a time, maybe not seeing your hometown for years at a time, if ever again!"

At once, Josephine was able to read between the lines. "You lost a man to the sea, didn't you?" she asked.

"Well..."

"Annie and I always suspected it, the way you look at the young guys at the pub as if you fear for them when you ought to be afraid of them," Josephine continued.

"He wasn't really a man, I wouldn't say," Gwendolyn corrected.

"You could say that about an awful lot of our sailors, now couldn't you?" Josephine nodded her agreement.

"No, I didn't mean it that way," Gwendolyn said. "He --"

"Charlie, I'm terribly sorry," Lillie interjected, bringing us all crashing back to London. "I hate to interrupt you and I hate even more to give Uncle Edmund another reason to accuse me of being unladylike, but I'm absolutely bursting for the ladies'. All this wine, you know. Please promise me you'll pick up just where you left off?"

"Well, of course I shall," Charlie said as Lillie stood up and excused herself. On the way to the loo, she waved to the bartender for another glass of wine; by then my own inhibitions were too far gone to care. I, too, wanted another round and the rest of the story, after all!

As soon as she was gone, though, I felt one final calling to preserve some modicum of decency. "Listen, Charlie," I said. "Surely there's a way you could tell this story without all these naked ladies frolicking around and all the sex with the sailors, isn't there? For her sake?"

"For her sake, my friend, I think it's quite clear that your niece doesn't want the clean version of the story," Charlie replied. "I mean no disrespect, but have you seen any sign of disapproval on her part? I have not."

"Well, of course, my good man. She's young and curious. But she's a lady."

"She's a lady who wants to know the way of the world," Charlie said. "I'll tell you what, Edmund, the moment she gives me any indication that she's uncomfortable, I'll say the story's over. Will you accept that in exchange for you no longer insisting she's uncomfortable when we can both see she's anything but?"

"I have to admit I want to know just what became of Josephine and Gwendolyn next," I said.

Charlie chuckled and downed the last of his drink as the bartender arrived with another round for all three of us. "So you think because there were two naked women on the beach, of course they had a go at each other," he said. "It's okay, Edmund, I'd be lying to say I didn't imagine that myself the first time I heard the story. But ask yourself, if you and I ended up naked on a beach somewhere..."

"Oh, dear God!" I laughed to block out the image. "Point taken, Charlie."

"What point would that be?" asked Lillie, reappearing at my side. "Don't you dare tell me you went on without me!"

"We did not," I reassured her.

"A promise is a promise," Charlie concurred. "Now, I believe I was just telling you how the chimes had begun to ring. Gwendolyn's very first time witnessing a ship coming by Martin's Isle, and of course she couldn't --"

"No," Lillie corrected. "You were telling how she and Josephine were just about to make love in the tide, I think."

I couldn't resist a laugh at Charlie's expense, and he looked almost happy at Lillie's error. "So even women find that idea irresistible," he said. "You learn something new every day. In any event, no, they didn't make love, in the water or anywhere else. What did happen was that just as Gwendolyn and Josephine were baring their souls to one another -- having already bared everything else, as we have established, the chimes began to ring."

"Oh, heavens," Josephine said, turning to glance up the beach at the telltale clinking. "Terribly sorry, Gwendolyn, but you'll have to tell me about your heartache later. Duty calls!" She gave Gwendolyn a quick hug and then took her by the hand. "Just as well that you learn the ropes so early on anyway. Our life may be a working vacation, but that means there is still work to be done!"

Gwendolyn made no complaint as they both rushed up the sand to the lookout, where Annie and Peggy had already arrived and were looking downcast.

"Not the good kind, I take it?" asked Josephine.

"Coal slag, from the look of it," Peggy said. "I heard a rumour about it in the pub. Old man Norton made one of his stupid deals to allow it to be dumped on Sauraquid in exchange for some business favours on the mainland."

"What sort of idiot would try to sail into Sauraquid with that?" Annie wondered.

"One who has sold his soul to the highest bidder," Peggy said. Seeing Gwendolyn still had cold feet about letting even an evil captain sail to his grave, she added, "You know, Gwendolyn, if he has any sense at all, he can always turn back. I have never actually killed anyone directly, and you won't have to either."

"Just think of what that filth will do to your home if he does get through," Josephine said.

"I hate it as much as you all do," Gwendolyn said. "But...I mean, look at the weather, it's beautiful! He's in no danger even if I wanted to sink him."

"Not if he can control himself, that's true," Annie said. "But you and Josephine are dressed just right to make a ship full of horny sailors lose control, aren't you?"

"You're joking!" Gwendolyn was horrified in spite of herself.

"We told you there was a dark side to your good fortune," Peggy said.

"Look on the bright side," Josephine said, taking Gwendolyn by the hand to lead her out of the shelter of trees. "Chances are none of them will live to say they saw you naked."

"I don't know whether to be happy about that or not," Gwendolyn said.

"You will be happy about it soon enough," came Annie's voice from behind her, and Gwendolyn turned around to see she and Peggy had also undressed and were following them onto the beach.