“They didn’t think that.”
“They seemed to sometimes. I’m not going anyway. I like it here.”
“But, Tamarisk, it’s just a novelty for the moment.”
“It’s no longer a novelty. It’s interesting-the mission, these people, the feather-headed witch doctor.”
“It’s all so remote. It seems far from everything that is real.”
“It’s real to me here, and in any case I’m not going. If you go, you’ll have to go alone.”
“I see.”
“Surely you didn’t think you could decide what you wanted and could just say to me, come on, we’re off.”
It wasn’t like that. “
“It seems like it to me. All right. You go. I’ll stay.”
“Are you sure. Tamarisk?”
“Absolutely.” She paused and then went on: “It might be a little difficult. I can’t stay here, can I? I’m here with you … as a guest.
If you’re not here, why should I be? There’s not much room at the mission. “
“I expect you could stay here.”
“Until I find something.”
“Find something? Where? You talk as though this is somewhere in England where landladies let rooms!”
“Perhaps Karia would let me have a room here. You’d have to travel on your own.”
“I can do that.”
“It’s rather unconventional.”
“I think,” I said, ‘that there are times when it is necessary to be a little unconventional. “
I could see that she was adamant. She would not leave Casker’s Island.
When I told my father, he smiled.
“That,” he said, ‘does not surprise me. “
Karia also took the news calmly. I wondered if she had discussed my situation with my father. I told her that Tamarisk was wondering where she could live when I had gone, and Karia immediately said: “She can stay on here. Why not?”
“She had an idea that she was a guest here because she was accompanying me and naturally would stay where I was. She thinks that if I am no longer here she should not be and she should find other lodgings. And where, she was wondering, could she do that?”
“I like guests,” said Karia, ‘and she is welcome here. “
“Just think,” said my father.
“We shall hear the news of the mission from the horse’s mouth, as it were. She must stay here. I have something to tell you. I have written to a friend in Sydney an old friend whom I once knew very well. She has a son in London whom she visits from time to time. In fact, she is always looking for an excuse to cross the sea to him. I have suggested that she arranges to travel back with you. She will book the passages and you can travel together. Sibyl is amusing. You’ll like her.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“I hope to hear from her by the next ferry. Then we’ll go into action.”
The ferry had arrived. I sat with my father looking down on it as it came in.
“I can picture it down there,” he said.
“All the excitement of arrival. There is sure to be a letter from Sibyl. It would comfort me a great deal to know that you were sailing together. She’s a very experienced traveller and I should like to think she would be with you. If she can’t, well, my dear, I suppose you wouldn’t be the first woman to travel to England alone. We should hear later on in the day, or perhaps tomorrow morning. They take a long time to sort out the mail.”
One or two passengers came ashore. I wondered if they had come for the day and would go back with the ferry. I imagined the salesmen rubbing their hands and placating the spirits in the hope of good business.
I heard the sound of wheels coming up to the house and went out to see what was happening. A woman was sitting in the cart, surrounded by several pieces of luggage. She was incongruously dressed in a blue silk gown which appeared to be in high fashion, and on her head was perched a straw hat dominated by what must be a mythical bird at least, I did not recognize it as belonging to any species I knew.
When she saw me she smiled warmly.
“I’ll guess you’re Frederica. I’m Sibyl Fraser. It’s nice to meet you. We’re going to be travelling companions, so we’d better get to know each other.”
She started to descend from the cart.
“It was simpler just to come,” she said.
“We can get the next ferry.
It comes in three or four days. That’ll give you time for last-minute preparations. I like enough time. Can’t bear to be rushed. “
“Come in,” I said.
“My father will be so pleased to see you.”
Karia came out, and I said: “This is Mrs. Sibyl Fraser, who has come to take me back to England with her.”
“Rather unexpected, I fear,” said Mrs. Fraser.
“I thought it easier to come than write. I’ve booked our passage on the Star of the Seas. She sails at the beginning of next month, so there’s not a lot of time to lose.”
I was grateful for the presence of Sibyl Fraser. She was a light-hearted companion-the best I could have had at that time. She was, as she said, determined to look after me, because her dearest friend Ronald Hammond had asked her to.
“I would do anything for Ronnie,” she declared.
“Just anything. Not that this is an onerous task, dear. Far from it. I love to be with you, and it is nice to have an excuse for going to see my Bertie.”
I had learned her history in a very short time, for she talked continuously, mainly about herself, which suited my mood.
She had been a great success during her London season. Debutante of the Year, they had called her.
“Of course, dear, I was much, much younger then. They had expected me to marry a duke, an earl perhaps, a baronet at least. But it was my Bertram Fraser I fell in love with-a rough diamond, but a 24-carat one. My dear, he was very indeed. It was due to gold-mining in Australia. He owned several mines and I was happy to go out there with him. A disappointment for them at home who had hoped for a coronet, but the money made up for a good deal.”
“It sounds very satisfactory,” I said.
“Oh my dear, it was. But then life’s what you make it, I always said. I had my Bertram and very soon young Bertie put in an appearance. What more could a woman ask for? It was wonderful for me after what I had had in the past. We were of a good family but it was always scrape, scrape, scrape to keep up appearances and then, there I was! I only had to want something and it was mine.”
“A great compensation for the loss of your coronet,” I said.
“Exactly! Particularly as one of them they had in mind for me was a disagreeable old man of fifty. We were happy, Bertram and I, and then he got himself killed. It was in one of his mines. He’d gone down to see something and the thing collapsed on him. He left his fortune to Bertie and me. I was heartbroken, but I wasn’t the sort to go about moping. I’d lost Bertram, but I’d got my little Bertie.”
“And your fortune,” I reminded her.
“That’s so, dear. We had lived in Melbourne to be near the mines, but we had a place in Sydney and I moved there. It suited me better. I travelled a bit. It was on a trip to Egypt when I met your father.
That was about six years after Bertram’s death. We became friends . very good friends, and we’ve kept it up ever since. It was always a pleasure when we met and we did meet through the years . here and there. A good friend is always a good friend. Then I got this letter.
I knew he’d gone blind and that Karia was looking after him. He’d met her in Egypt. She’s a good sort. Does everything for him, doesn’t she?
Even writes his letters for him. Well, he’ll always find someone who wants to look after him. I would have done it myself. “
“He is very fortunate to have such good friends.”
“He’s that sort. I knew he had a daughter. I used to talk to him about Bertie. Bertie went to school in England and made a lot of friends there, went round visiting, met his wife and stayed there. All very natural. He didn’t want to go in for gold-mining. And I didn’t want him to, after what happened to his father. So he’s settled there with his wife and family. Yes, I’m a grandmother, only don’t tell anybody, will you? I go and see them when I can. This is a good excuse. When I’ve taken you to your home I shall go and stay with Bertie and his family.”