<blockquote>Miss Wilhelmina Laurence never leaves Nottinghamshire, and certainly not in the winter of 1805. When the Reliant captures an exhausted Amitie on her way out of a storm, Miss Laurence is grimly preparing for a country ball. Usually a merry occasion even for a confirmed spinster, this particular event is soured by the presence of Bertram Woolvey, who is likely to make Miss Laurence’s particular friend and neighbor an offer and therefore deprive her of her most beloved company.
When the queer porcelain egg hatches, several weeks later, and the officers are gathered around with the reluctant sacrifice stepping forward nervously, the black dragonet ignores them all. It takes seven men to hold the creature down long enough to harness it, even though it is a newborn. The dragonet does not stay silent for long, protesting at its treatment quite vehemently in both English and French–but it pays no attention to any man in particular, and seems in fact to resent them all. The officers are relieved as well as unsettled. They do not name it, but make for Madeira with all speed. </blockquote>
