Page 50 (1/2)

‘IYou’ll find this is sohfield ventured, when he had coh to speak ‘I’overnor’sthe faintest flush of colour Dobson’s face, serene under his cap, gave away nothing

‘I would add, Your Excellency, that this is by no means any indication of the level of our respect’ He tried to inject a note of huovernor’s wife, handbag held in front of her, nudged her husband surreptitiously She inclined her head ‘Nothing we haven’t seen before, Captain,’ she said graciously, her ht have been ahtening scenes than this one’

‘Quite,’ said the governor ‘Quite’ The tenor of his voice suggested that this was unlikely

‘In fact, it’s aders colis iovernor and the other passengers at Aden, the Victoria had begun tothe Suez Canal, a silver vein of water, lined by sand dunes, that shi froed to shade they under parasols and sunhats, the band ga in such teovernor and his wife had agreed to judge the Tap Dancing competition, the latest in the series of the Queen of the Victoria contests devised to keep the woe uin and tonic and faced with a line of giggling girls, even the governor had warmed His wife, who had taken the time to chat to each contestant, eventually awarded the prize to a pretty blonde girl, a popular choice given the hearty congratulations of the other brides She had confided to Highfield afterwards that she thought the Australians were ‘rather a nice lot Terribly brave to leave their loved ones and come all this way’ Infected with a little of the ree

And then it had all gone wrong again

Captain Highfield had been about to announce that the event was over, and suggest that he and his new passengers depart below decks to where the cook had prepared a late lunch, when he had noticed a flurry of activity on the starboard side The Victoria waslarge nuht deck Their brightly coloured dresses fluttering in the breeze, they waved gaily at the bronzed young reetings As he leant over to see, he could hear the wo froainst the wire perihfield stared at the scene,sure his suspicions were correct Then it ith a heavy heart that he reached for the Tannoy ‘I aovernor and his wife, such a rousing welcoovernor’s back stiffen in his tropical whites as he too took in the scene below ‘There will be extra refreshar for those ould like tea In theto are German prisoners’

Irene Carter had approached her after the contest to tell her she was glad Avice had won – ‘Best to s before the old varicose veins set in, eh?’ – and to show off her latest delivery of post She had received seven letters, no less than four frolassesyours round for tea since they discovered ere ship’

And I bet you’ve told her everything, thought Avice

‘Hey-ho I’ethers in the air There had been only one from Ian She had tucked it under her mother’s so that Irene couldn’t tell ‘Good luck with the next contest, anyway,’ she said ‘It’s fancy dress, I believe, so I’ so tanned you could wear a scarf round your waist and go as a native’ And clutching her ‘certificate’, Avice walked, with as little conceit as she could muster, away

Frances wasn’t in the dorht she was probably hiding so a lecture on places to visit in England She kicked off her shoes and lay down, preparing to read Ian’s latest communication in an ath the letters froolf), mother (travel details, dresses) and sister (‘quite happy by myself, thank you, blah-blah-blah’), then ca at how one could sense authority even in ink and paper Heriested that their character was solanced at her atch: there was ten minutes before the first lunch shift She had just tih of pleasure

A quarter of an hour later, she was still staring at it

Frances and Margaret were seated in the deck canteen when the rating found the ices Frances was now accustomed to the relative hush that descended whenever she dared show herself in public Margaret had chattered aith grim determination Once or twice she had asked the most persistent starers whether it was a bite of her ice-cream they were after and sworn at them under her breath as they blushed

‘Mrs Frances Mackenzie?’ the rating had asked He looked painfully young: his neck hardly filled the collar of his unifor him for days

‘Captain would like to see you in his offices, aret blanched ‘Do you think it’s the dog?’ she whispered

‘No,’ said Frances, dully ‘I’m pretty sure it’s not that’