talked about the places we should visit. We were right at the start now and had yet to go through the Bay of Biscay.
It had a reputation for being perverse, he told me, and we had to look out for squalls. There were currents and winds to be watched.
Sometimes the elements were benign and sometimes the reverse. Then we should go through the Mediterranean and call at Naples and Suez.
“We shall pass through the Canal. That will be very interesting for you, Carmel. A little while ago you would have had to go round the Cape, but now we have this convenient Canal. You’ll like Naples. Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, in my opinion Egypt one of the most mysterious. You are going to see a great deal of the world, Carmel. Do you miss your lessons? Perhaps that is not good.
But a journey like this . well, you will learn more from it than you will find in your school books . perhaps. In any case, we will tell ourselves so. It salves the conscience and that is usually a good thing to do. “
He used to talk about the ancient explorers, Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake. How brave they had been, going off in their ships not in the least like the Lady of the Seas before the seas were charted not knowing what hazards they would face.
“Imagine the storms … the lack of equipment! What men! Doesn’t it make you proud? Voyages of discovery! What days they were! What adventurers!”
I loved to hear him talk like that. I caught his enthusiasm.
In my eyes, he was as great as Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake.
He mentioned remote countries and I was transported back to the schoolroom in Commonwood House, and in my mind’s eye I saw Miss Carson pointing out places on the revolving globe.
A feeling of depression came to me then with a sense of guilt. I had forgotten them all so quickly, and I had a sudden qualm that all might not be well. I recalled the sly looks and the smirks I had seen so often on Nanny’s face, and the poor, sad, lost look on Miss Carson’s.
They had been such a part of my life, and now they seemed like shadows puppets belonging to another world-a world of nightmares and secrets from which I had been miraculously saved by Uncle Toby.
There were times when I awoke and thought I was in my bedroom at Commonwood House and that something terrible which I did not understand was happening. I would be filled with foreboding, then I would be aware of the movement of the ship and in the early morning light I would see above me the bulkhead and know that I had been dreaming and I was actually in my bunk with Gertie sleeping below me in this wonderful world to which Uncle Toby had brought me.
Then Gertie would call out: “You awake?” and I would joyfully answer:
“Yes.”
“What shall we do today?”
What an ideal way for a day to begin for a girl who was not yet eleven years old-though she would be in March, which was not very far away.
The Forman family had more or less adopted me because Gertie and I were such close companions. I would join them for tea or sit with them on deck and I seemed part of the family. Jimmy Forman was not often with us. Gertie and I were younger than he was and he considered us too immature for his company. In any case, we were girls and
as such he had not much respect for us. He spent a lot of time with the sailors, seeking information about the ship.
Mr. and Mrs. Forman were delighted that Gertie had found a companion, and it really was amazing how quickly people became close friends on a ship. I suppose it was because we saw so much of each other.
We had passed through the Bay without much discomfort and we were sailing along the Mediterranean. Uncle Toby told me that there was a party going to Pompeii and Herculaneum, and it would be good for me to join it.
“Alas,” he said, “I shall be completely tied up with business, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t go with the Formans.”
Gertie and I had already discussed
It had a reputation for being perverse, he told me, and we had to look out for squalls. There were currents and winds to be watched.
Sometimes the elements were benign and sometimes the reverse. Then we should go through the Mediterranean and call at Naples and Suez.
“We shall pass through the Canal. That will be very interesting for you, Carmel. A little while ago you would have had to go round the Cape, but now we have this convenient Canal. You’ll like Naples. Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, in my opinion Egypt one of the most mysterious. You are going to see a great deal of the world, Carmel. Do you miss your lessons? Perhaps that is not good.
But a journey like this . well, you will learn more from it than you will find in your school books . perhaps. In any case, we will tell ourselves so. It salves the conscience and that is usually a good thing to do. “
He used to talk about the ancient explorers, Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake. How brave they had been, going off in their ships not in the least like the Lady of the Seas before the seas were charted not knowing what hazards they would face.
“Imagine the storms … the lack of equipment! What men! Doesn’t it make you proud? Voyages of discovery! What days they were! What adventurers!”
I loved to hear him talk like that. I caught his enthusiasm.
In my eyes, he was as great as Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake.
He mentioned remote countries and I was transported back to the schoolroom in Commonwood House, and in my mind’s eye I saw Miss Carson pointing out places on the revolving globe.
A feeling of depression came to me then with a sense of guilt. I had forgotten them all so quickly, and I had a sudden qualm that all might not be well. I recalled the sly looks and the smirks I had seen so often on Nanny’s face, and the poor, sad, lost look on Miss Carson’s.
They had been such a part of my life, and now they seemed like shadows puppets belonging to another world-a world of nightmares and secrets from which I had been miraculously saved by Uncle Toby.
There were times when I awoke and thought I was in my bedroom at Commonwood House and that something terrible which I did not understand was happening. I would be filled with foreboding, then I would be aware of the movement of the ship and in the early morning light I would see above me the bulkhead and know that I had been dreaming and I was actually in my bunk with Gertie sleeping below me in this wonderful world to which Uncle Toby had brought me.
Then Gertie would call out: “You awake?” and I would joyfully answer:
“Yes.”
“What shall we do today?”
What an ideal way for a day to begin for a girl who was not yet eleven years old-though she would be in March, which was not very far away.
The Forman family had more or less adopted me because Gertie and I were such close companions. I would join them for tea or sit with them on deck and I seemed part of the family. Jimmy Forman was not often with us. Gertie and I were younger than he was and he considered us too immature for his company. In any case, we were girls and
as such he had not much respect for us. He spent a lot of time with the sailors, seeking information about the ship.
Mr. and Mrs. Forman were delighted that Gertie had found a companion, and it really was amazing how quickly people became close friends on a ship. I suppose it was because we saw so much of each other.
We had passed through the Bay without much discomfort and we were sailing along the Mediterranean. Uncle Toby told me that there was a party going to Pompeii and Herculaneum, and it would be good for me to join it.
“Alas,” he said, “I shall be completely tied up with business, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t go with the Formans.”
Gertie and I had already discussed
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