"My friend, Mrs. Jackson, invited us for dinner tomorrow, " Aunt Chase said when she and Annabeth were sitting down to a supper of steak and kidney pie and treacle tart. "I believe you are acquainted with her son, Lieutenant Jackson."

Annabeth put down her knife and fork.
"He stayed with the Graces while I was at Skye Castle. He's Lord Skye's dearest friend."
"I've heard he's quite a dashing figure and popular with the young ladies wherever he goes."
Annabeth blushed and lowered her eyes.
"Is Lieutenant Jackson staying with his parents?"
"Mrs. Jackson says her husband and son are still in Portsmouth on Naval business. Dinner tomorrow afternoon will be just us ladies."
How would Lieutenant Jackson treat her if they encountered each other again? Would he be cold and reserved and brush him off as minx who had stepped out of line?  Or had a distance of two weeks made her trespasses look small and more forgivable?
Aunt Chase smiled at Annabeth from across the table.
"I have a special treat for after dinner."

A maid brought a pitcher of negus and a tray of chocolate biscuits into the drawing-room after supper.
Annabeth and Aunt Chase sat by the fire, underneath a portrait of Magnus in hunting dress which hung over the mantlepiece.

Aunt Chase pulled out an envelope that had been tucked into the red sash tied around her black gown.

Annabeth put down her glass of Negus.
"Is that a letter from Magnus?"
Aunt Chase nodded her head yes.
Magnus's letters from the Ottoman sultan's court with their tales of intrigue in a far-away, exotic land were as diverting as the best novel. His words brought them along on every adventure he had. It was not difficult to imagine herself in Magnus's place. Annabeth could easily recognize her own features in his beautiful face, which made him look something like a girl in boys' clothes. If Annabeth put on breeches, she would look just like Magnus.
Aunt Chase folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope.
"Did you write to your parents today?" 
"I found time to pen a quick letter after our afternoon walk."
As for adventures of her own, Annabeth had few of them to boast of. Aunt Chase was a delightful companion but the most interesting thing that had happened to Annabeth while in her care was an excursion to go sketch Portchester Castle.

Before bed, Annabeth added a postscript to her letter home telling her parents about how she had plans to dine with the wife of Admiral Jackson.

Atlantis Hall, the Jackson family's estate, was near a town called Southsea, about a mile from Portsmouth.  The carriage ride from Portchester to Southsea took a little less than two hours.
Aunt Chase's Berlin deposited them at an Elizabethan style half-timbered manor house made from white plaster and dark blue painted wooden beams.

Annabeth admired the multi-paned mullioned windows.
"Atlantis Hall, " she said. "More glass than wall."
A footman greeted them at the front door and showed them into the drawing-room.  A little girl of about eight was the only person waiting in there for him.  She played with a strange-looking wooden puppet that Lieutenant Jackson had once shown Annabeth: something he brought back from Tripoli.
The little girl could have been a childish, female version of Lieutenant Jackson. Her large, green eyes suited the emerald color of her dress. Dark curls spilled out from a white headscarf.

Once her face lost its infantine softness, it would be strong-featured and serious like her brother's.
Miss Jackson dropped her puppet and stared them with blinking, doe-eyes.
Annabeth smiled and curtsied to the little girl. She believed that children who are treated politely and considerately grow up to be well-mannered, courteous adults.
"Hello Miss, " she said. "Will your mother be along to join us?"
Miss Jackson curtsied to them and backed away to leave the room.
"I'll go tell Mamma that you're here to see her."
The little girl returned a few minutes later with a lady in a light blue gown and a white cap.

Mrs. Jackson had a kindly face, crossed with fine lines from much smiling and laughing gentle blue eyes, and a radiant smile. Her gold, anchor-shaped earrings shook as she dropped a curtsy.

"Pleased to finally meet you, my dear," she said to Annabeth. "Your aunt, and my son, have told  me a lot about you."
Annabeth blushed scarlet and lowered her eyes. Both Aunt Chase and Lieutenant Jackson knew plenty of things to her discredit.  To one, she was a spoiled, unruly child. To the other, she was an insufferable bluestocking who jumped to conclusions and was complicit in an elopement.
"So my reputation precedes me?"
Mrs. Jackson took Annabeth's hand in her own.
"Don't worry, it's a good reputation."
A gentleman in a naval uniform entered the drawing-room.
"Speaking of my son," Mrs. Jackson said.
Lieutenant Jackson bowed to Annabeth.
"Miss Chase."
Lieutenant Jackson always looked impossibly handsome in his uniform. Why did he have to wear it when they ran into each other again?
He scooped his little sister up into his arms.
"Why don't you show our guests how well you play the harpsichord, Stell?"
Miss Jackson scampered over to the harpsichord after her brother put her back down on the ground. Her little fingers danced across the keys as the company took their seats.
Mrs. Jackson picked up some embroidery work.
"I've heard that your stay at Skye Castle was quite eventful."
Lieutenant Jackson took a pinch of snuff.
"It had its moments."
"Didn't the Duke and Duchess's daughter elope during a ball?" Aunt Chase said.
Annabeth furrowed her brow at Lieutenant Jackson.
Now's your chance. Expose me as a meddling fool in front of my aunt and your mother.
"Lady Thalia and Captain Castellan were married last week in London," Lieutenant Jackson said. "Her parents weren't thrilled about it at first but they came around once it came out that Castellan is next in line to an Irish peerage. So, all was well in the end for our star-crossed lovers."
Aunt Chase patted Annabeth's hand.
"What a romantic story."

After dinner, Mrs. Jackson suggested that children give Annabeth a tour of Atlantis Hall. Annabeth smiled blankly as Lieutenant Jackson pointed out maps, model ships, and navigational equipment and listened politely as Miss Jackson prattled on about family portraits- probably parroting things she'd heard adults say about them.
Annabeth was surprised that the little girl was allowed to socialize with guests instead of being shooed away to the nursery. But Miss Jackson seemed like a well-behaved and precociously intelligent child. Annabeth was her match for brains at her age but her intellect had always been tainted with pertness.
Atlantis Hall's treasures dated back to the reign of Henry VIII, when the house was built and the first Jacksons moved in. Annabeth was able to track the passage of time by the procession of portraits from the Holbeins, to the Van Dykes, the Lelys, and finally, the Reynolds portraits of Admiral and Mrs. Jackson, done when they were first married.
Miss Jackson tapped Annabeth on the arm.
"Are you going to marry my brother?"
Annabeth lowered her eyes in mortification. Lieutenant Jackson glared at his sister.
"Estelle!"
"I've heard Mamma and Mrs. Chase talk about Percy and a young lady..."
"Estelle, be quiet!"
Annabeth pitied the little girl. As a child, she often got in trouble for repeating things she heard adults say when they thought she wasn't listening.
"My dear, " she said to Miss Jackson. "You shouldn't always believe everything grown-ups say. They are sometimes very silly and get ideas into their heads that aren't true."

Aunt Chase's Berlin left Atlantis Hall before it started to grow dark. Annabeth spent the two-hour ride home wondering what her aunt and Mrs. Jackson had said to each other concerning a possible marriage herself and Lieutenant Jackson. They'd gotten wind of the brief flirtation they shared during their early days at Skye Castle and mistook it for an attachment. From an attachment, their minds jumped to matrimony. 
Such flights of fancy only lead to disappointment.