‘Oh, that’s so kind of you. I’ll pay you back, I promise.’
‘Let’s not worry about that now. First we have to find you a berth.’
‘That’s easy,’ Dante said. ‘My sleeping-car is a double, and I’m only using one berth, so-’
‘So Toni can come in with you and Ferne can come in with me,’ Hope said, beaming. ‘What a splendid idea!’
‘Actually, Aunt, I was thinking-’
‘I know what you were thinking and you should be ashamed.’
‘Yes, Aunt, anything you say, Aunt.’
But he winked at Ferne, and she couldn’t help being charmed. The mere idea of this handsome, confident man doing what he was told was so idiotic, and his air of meekness so clearly an act, that she had to smile and join in the joke.
The inspector exchanged some more words with Toni before nodding and hurrying away.
‘He’s going to call the station now and tell them to look out for your things,’ Toni explained to Ferne. ‘Luckily you discovered the loss quickly, so they may pick them up before anyone else finds them. But, just in case, you must cancel your credit cards.’
‘How can I do that from here?’ Ferne asked, baffled.
‘The British consulate will help you,’ Dante declared, taking out his own mobile phone.
In a few moments he had obtained the emergency number of the Milan consulate, dialled it and handed the phone to Ferne.
The young man on duty was efficient. Quickly he looked up the numbers of the credit-card companies, assigned her a reference number and bid her goodnight. Calls to the finance companies achieved the cancellation of her cards and the promise of new ones. This was as much as she could hope for for now.
‘I don’t know what I’d have done without you,’ she told her new friends fervently. ‘When I think what could have happened to me.’
‘Don’t think about it,’ Hope advised. ‘All will be well. Ah, here is the waiter with a snack. Hmm, cakes and wine are all very well, but I should like a large pot of tea.’
‘English tea.’ Toni gave instructions to the waiter, who nodded solemnly, evidently familiar with this peculiarity among his customers.
The tea was excellent, so were the cakes, which the others piled onto her plate.
‘When did you last eat?’ Hope asked.
‘Properly? Oh-some time. I left on the spur of the moment, caught the train from London to Paris, then Paris to Milan. I don’t like flying, and I wanted to be free to stop and explore whenever I wanted. I had a few days in Milan, shopping and seeing the sights. I meant to stay there overnight and go on tomorrow, but I suddenly changed my mind, packed up and ran.’
‘That’s the way to live!’ Dante exclaimed. ‘Here today, gone tomorrow; let life bring what it will.’ He took Ferne’s hand and spoke with theatrical fervour. ‘Signorina, you are a woman after my own heart. More than a woman-a goddess with a unique understanding of life. I salute you-why are you laughing?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ferne choked. ‘I can’t listen to that guff with a straight face.’
‘Guff? Guff? Is this a new English word?’
‘No,’ Hope informed him, amused. ‘It’s an old English word and it means that you need a better scriptwriter.’
‘But only for me,’ Ferne chuckled. ‘I expect it works wonderfully on the others.’
Dante’s face was the picture of outrage.
‘The others? Don’t you realise that you are the only one who has inspired me to lay my heart at her feet? The only-Oh, all right; I usually get a better reception than this.’
His collapse into realism made them all laugh.
‘It’s nice to meet a lady with such an adventurous approach to life,’ he added. ‘But I expect it’s only while you’re on holiday. You’ll go back to England, your sedate nine-to-five life, and your sedate nine-to-five fiancé.’
‘If I had a fiancé, what would I be doing here alone?’ she demanded.
This made him pause, but only for a moment.
‘He betrayed you,’ he said dramatically. ‘You are teaching him a lesson. When you return, he will be jealous, especially when he sees the compromising pictures of us together.’
‘Oh, will he indeed? And where will these pictures come from?’
‘It can be arranged. I know some good photographers.’
‘I’ll bet you don’t know anyone better than me,’ she riposted.
‘You’re a photographer?’ Hope asked. ‘A journalist?’
‘No, I do theatrical work.’ Some inexplicable instinct made her say to Dante, ‘And he wasn’t sedate. Anything but.’
He didn’t reply in words, but his expression was wry and curious. So was the way he nodded.
‘Let the poor girl eat in peace,’ Hope admonished him.
She watched Ferne like a mother hen, finally declaring that it was time for bed. The four of them made their way back along the corridor and said goodnight. Ferne and Hope went into one sleeping car, Toni and Dante went on to the next.
As Ferne hung up the trousers she’d been wearing, a few coins fell out onto the floor.
‘I’d forgotten I had some money in my pocket,’ she said, holding them out.
‘Three euros,’ Hope observed. ‘You wouldn’t have got far with that.’
They sat down on the bed, contentedly sipping the tea they had brought with them.
‘You said you were English,’ Ferne recalled. ‘And yet you speak as though you’ve been here for some time.’
‘Over thirty years,’ Hope told her.
‘Do you have any children?’
‘Six. All sons.’
She said it with an air of exasperated irony that made Ferne smile and say, ‘Do you ever wish you had daughters?’
Hope chuckled. ‘When you have six sons, you have no time to think of anything else. Besides, I have six daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.
‘When our last son married, a few months ago, Toni and I decided to go on our travels. Recently we’ve been in Milan to see some of his relatives. Toni was very close to his other brother, Taddeo, until he died a few years ago. Dante is Taddeo’s elder son, and he’s coming back to Naples with us for a visit. He’s a bit of a madman, as you’ll discover while you’re staying with us.’
‘I can’t impose on you any further.’
‘My dear, you have no money or passport. If you don’t stay with us, just what are you going to do?’
‘It just seems dreadful for you to be burdened with me.’
‘But I shall love having you. We can talk about England. I love Italy, but I miss my own country, and you can tell me how things are there now.’
‘Ah, that’s different, if there’s something I can do for you.’
‘I look forward to you staying with us a long time. Now, I must get some sleep.’
She got into the lower bunk. Ferne climbed to the top one, and in a few minutes there was peace and darkness.
Ferne lay listening to the hum of the train speed through the night, trying to get her bearings. It seemed such a short time since she’d made the impulsive decision to leave England. Now she was here, destitute, reliant on strangers.
While she was pondering the strange path her life had taken recently, the rhythm of the train overtook her and she fell asleep.
She awoke to find herself desperately thirsty, and remembered that the snack bar was open all night. Quietly she climbed down and groped around in the darkness for her robe.
The three euros she’d found would just be enough for a drink. Holding her breath and trying not to waken Hope, she crept out into the corridor and made her way to the dining-car.
She was in luck. The snack bar was still open, although the tables were deserted and the attendant was nodding off.
‘I’ll have a bottle of mineral water, please,’ she said thankfully. ‘Oh dear, four euros. Do you have a small one?’
‘I’m afraid the last small bottle has gone,’ the attendant said apologetically.
‘Oh no!’ It came out as a cry of frustration.