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‘Make sure you stay well away frolanced behind him, as if to make sure no one else was around ‘I’ht’

‘It wasn’t,’ she said ‘None of it was her fault She’s only a child’

‘Well, the Navy can be an unforgiving host’ He reached out and touched her arain, and he tried to correct hiht?’

‘Oh, we’re fine,’ she said

‘You don’t need anything? Extra drinking water? More crackers?’

There were three lines at the corners of his eyes When he spoke, they deepened, testa at the sky

‘Are you going so to stop herself staring at hiood uniform’

‘Oh’

‘I’ht,’ he said He sood ‘For the dance?’

‘I’ht deck tonight Captain’s orders’

‘Oh!’ she exclaimed, more loudly than she’d intended ‘Oh! Good!’

‘I hope they turn the water on for a bit first’ He grinned ‘You girls will all run a mile faced with the scent of a thousand sweaty lanced down at her creased trousers, but his attention had switched to a distant figure

‘I’ll see you up there,’ he said, his marine mask back in place With a nod that could alone

The Royal Marines Band sat on their makeshift pedestal outside the deck canteen, a little way distant of the ship’s island, and struck up with ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ The Victoria’s engines were shut down for repairs and she floated serene and immobile in the placid waters On the deck, several hundred brides in their finest dresses – at least, the finest to which they had been allowed access – hirling around, so, with each other Around the island, tables and chairs had been brought up fro area, and were occupied by those unable or unwilling to keep dancing Above thehts, bathing the seas with silver

It could have been – if one bent one’s iuns, the scarred deck, the rickety tables and chairs – any of the grand ballrooms of Europe The captain had felt an unlikely joy in the spectacle, feeling it (sentiirl deserved in her final voyage A bit of pomp and finery A bit of a do

Themore cheerful than they had done for days, while the brides – mutinous after the temporary closure of the hair salon – had also perked up considerably, thanks to the introduction of eood for theht Even the ood tropical kit

They sat in noell-established huddles or chatted in groups, therank structure What the hell? Highfield had thought, when he was asked by one of the women’s service officers if he wanted to enforce ‘proper’ separation This voyage was already so does the Victoria take to refuel, Captain Highfield?’

Beside hiers, a little Wren to whom Dobson had introduced him half an hour earlier She was sthily about the specifications of his ship that he had been te for the Japanese But he hadn’t Somehow she hadn’t looked the type to have a sense of humour

‘Do you know? I don’t think I could tell you offhand,’ he lied

‘A little longer than your boys do,’ hed

In thanks for their fortitude over the water situation, Captain Highfield had promised everyone extra ‘sippers’ of ru a little, he had announced, to cheers He suspected, however, that Dr Duxbury had somehow obtained ain The ht for hi extra sippers himself If the water situation had been different he would have placed it in a bath of cold water – which seemed to ease it a little – but instead he was in for another near sleepless night

‘Did you serve alongside many of the US carriers?’ the little Wren asked ‘We caside the USS Indiana in the Persian Gulf, and I must say those American ships do seem far superior to ours’

‘Know much about ships, do you?’ said Dr Duxbury

‘I should hope so,’ she said ‘I’ve been a Wren for four years’

Dr Duxbury didn’t appear to have heard ‘You have a look of Judy Garland about you Has anyone ever told you that? Did you ever see her in Me and My Girl?’

‘I’hfield He had already endured several dinners with his proxy ing his terrible ditties He talked of hfield wondered if the Navy should have checked his credentials s, he had not requested a second doctor, as he e of conscience, that Duxbury’s distraction suited hi too