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‘But I do think it’s lovely that you’ll have sos’

Avice raised an eyebrow

‘Oh, this horrid business with you having befriended a prostitute I mean, who on earth could have known? And so soon after your other little friend was caught fraternising with those grubby engineers’

‘With her knickers down,’ said the plu it,’ said Irene

‘I hardly--’ Avice began

Irene’s voice was concerned: ‘It oing to be tarred with the sa about your doroes on there We’ve all so adood idea It will quite take your , and with the fading of the light her thoughts had grown darker Unable to face the confines of the cabin any longer, she had toyed with the idea of leaving the ship But she had no one to accompany her, and Bombay seemed to require a certain robustness of spirit that she did not own She had stepped out and headed for the boat deck, close to where she had sat with Maude Gonne just a week earlier

Now she stood, while the harbour lights glinted steadily on the inky water, interrupted occasionally by the noisy passage of tugs and barges A strange conjunction of scents, spices, fuel oil, perfume, rotten meat, expanded in the stilled air so that she was both entranced and repelled by the hts had calmed a little now; she would do what she had always done, she told herself She would get through It was only a coupleago that anything could be endured if you tried hard enough She would not think of what ht have been The o observed, had been those able to live one day at a tis She had bought herself a packet of cigarettes at the PX Now she lit one, conscious that it was a self-destructive gesture but savouring the acrid taste Across the water, voices called to each other and fro, ree note

‘You want to watch out You’re not meant to be here’

She jumped ‘Oh,’ she said ‘It’s you’

‘It’s ie not with you?’

‘She’s ashore’

‘With all the others’

She wondered if there was a polite way of asking hiineer’s overalls; it was too dark to see the oil on them but she could smell it under the scent of the smoke She hated the smell of oil: she had treated too many burned men who had been saturated with it, could still feel the tacky density of the fabric she had had to peel off their flesh

I shall start nursing again in England, she told herself Audrey Marshall had sent her off with a personal letter of recoe of opportunities

‘Ever been to India before?’

She was annoyed at the interruption of her thoughts ‘No’

‘Seen a lot of countries, have you?’

‘A few,’ she said ‘Mainly bases’

‘You’re a well-travelled woht He’s one of those men who needs an audience She did her best to sine’

He lit hiarette and blew the smoke meditatively into the sky ‘But I bet you could answer me a question,’ he said

She looked at him

‘Is there a difference?’

She frowned On the shore, two vehicles were locked in an i The sound echoed across the dockyard, drowning the music

‘I’m sorry?’ She had to lean forward te white teeth in the darkness ‘I mean, is there a nationality you prefer?’

From his expression she knew she had heard what she suspected ‘Excuse , but as she reached for the handle of the hatch, he stepped in front of her

‘No need to have an attack of modesty on my account,’ he said

‘Will you excuse me?’

‘We all knohat you are No need to skirt round it’ He spoke in a sing-song voice so that it was a second before she had gauged the

‘Please would you let ’ Dennis Tiidaire in the idaire We couldn’t believe you’d even married Had you down as wedded to one of those Bible-bashers, a virgin for life Horong ere, eh?’

Her heart was racing as she tried to assess whether she would be able to push past hihtly on the handle She could feel the confidence behind his strength, the sureness of a ot his oay

‘So prim and proper, with your blouses buttoned up to your neck And really you’re just so sailor to stick a ring on your finger How’d you do it, eh? Promise him you’d save it all for hi?’

He put out a hand towards her breast and she batted it away

‘Let me out,’ she said