"One is always wary of giving an opinion of another person. One could be quite wrong."

"Why did you say then ... ?"

"My dear Miss Annalice, I said nothing."

"No, you didn't. But you implied. You know him, but you seem to be holding something back ... something that you did not talk about."

"I don't know the man very well personally. I have only heard gossip... comment. People talk about each other in small communities and not always charitably."

"Will you stop beating about the bush and tell me frankly what these rumours are?"

"Nothing much. He is a good deal older than Miss Derring."

"She knows that. Sometimes marriages are quite successful when there is a disparity in ages. It is more than that, isn't it?"

"You are so persistent. I'll tell you that I heard he takes too much drink. People do, you know, in these lonely places."

"I see. And that was what made you act as you did?"

"I was not aware of any acting."

"It was your silence which said so much."

"I'm sorry if I caused Miss Derring anxiety."

"She didn't notice. But she does seem to be a little uncertain. I wish she would confide in me. I might be able to help."

"She knew him in England."

"Yes, when he came over looking for a wife."

"Well, she agreed to marry him. She was not forced into it."

"I feel quite anxious about her."

He put his hand over mine.

"You're very nice," he said.

I withdrew it at once.

"What else do you know about him?"

He shrugged his shoulders but he would say no more. Yet he gave me the impression that he knew something and was holding it back.

I rose and he was beside me. "Would you like to take a turn round the deck or join me in an aperitif?"

"No, thank you. I am going back to my cabin."

He had done nothing to diminish my uneasiness. Rather had he increased it.

After we left Madeira we ran into bad weather again. Felicity seemed to be much better able to cope with conditions than she had before. But Miss Cartwright was very ill. She was confined to bed for two days and after that, when the sea was calm, she was very weak and continued to be ill.

We were now in warm waters, along the west coast of Africa and it was very pleasant to sit on deck. Miss Cartwright came up and sat in a deck chair, but she looked very wan and Felicity confided in me that she was very worried about her.

"I am sure nothing would have induced her to come—not even her duty towards me—if she had known how rough seas would affect her," she said. "If we have another bout of bad weather I shall really fear for her."

She did not stay long on deck and wished to retire to her cabin. Felicity and I took her down and would have stayed with her, but she wanted to sleep if possible.

When we went back on deck Milton Harrington came and sat down beside us.

"Miss Cartwright looks very poorly," he said, and Felicity admitted that she was anxious about her. She thought she might be really ill, she said.

"We could run into bad weather round the Cape," he said. "It's called the Cape of Storms, you know."

"Oh dear," said Felicity.

"There are some who can't take the sea and Miss Cartwright is, I am afraid, one of them. And when she gets to Australia... she will have the prospect of the journey back."

"I wish she could go home," said Felicity.

"That would be easy enough."

"How?"

"She could go back from Cape Town."

"Alone!" said Felicity.

"Unless we went back with her," I added. I looked at Felicity. "We could hardly do that."

"Seeing how ill she was, made me think," said Milton Harrington. "I know Cape Town well. I have friends there."

"You seem to have friends everywhere," I commented.

"I travel a great deal. I call in at these places. One collects people."

"Like souvenirs?" I suggested.

"Well, you could call it like that. I could arrange something ..."

Felicity was staring out to sea. Was she wishing that she could go back from Cape Town?

"I'll talk to Miss Cartwright," said Milton Harrington.

"You?" I cried.

"Yes, why not? I am sure she would listen to me."

"I am sure she would think a man's opinion so much more valuable than that of someone of her own sex."

"Yes. I always thought she was a wise woman." He was looking at me and laughing. "I wish, Miss Annalice, that you shared her opinion."

"Could we be serious?"

"Indeed we can. She should go back. I have no doubt of that. I could arrange it quite easily. I could get her a passage on another ship. I might even know someone who is going back who could keep an eye on her. It is better for people in her state of health to be in their own homes."

I looked at Felicity. She nodded.

She said: "She would never agree to leave us to travel alone."

"I will tell her that I will keep an eye on you."

"You!" I cried. "She would think that most unconventional. Why we didn't even know you until we came on board."

"Friendship matures quickly when people live in close proximity. She would have to face the passage back, of course; but all the time she would be getting nearer home. You have no idea how helpful that can be."

"At home," I told him, "they only agreed that we could come because Miss Cartwright was with us. They would have thought it most improper to allow young women to go to the other side of the world alone."

"It only shows how mistaken people can be. Here are you two, taking care of Miss Cartwright. Leave it to me. The next time I see her I will gently hint at the suggestion."

He did.

The next day the weather was fine and Miss Cartwright came on deck again. Felicity sat on one side of her, I on the other. She certainly looked ill and the bright sunlight made her skin look yellow.

It was not long before Milton Harrington strolled past and came to speak to us.

"Miss Cartwright, what a pleasure to see you!" He drew up a chair. "May I join you?"

"If you wish," said Miss Cartwright well pleased.

"I was so sorry to hear that you were ill," he said. "The sea can do that to people. There are some who should never go to sea."

"And I am one of them," said Miss Cartwright. "I can tell you, Mr. Harrington, that when I have finished with this I shall never never make a sea voyage again."

"Nor should you. What a pity there is more to come, and then you will have the long journey home."

"Don't speak of it, I beg you. I dread it."

"You could, of course, cut the journey short."

"Cut it short? How?"

"By returning home from Cape Town."

I saw the gleam in her eyes; then it faded. "But, Mr. Harrington, I have to deliver my niece to her future husband. I am in charge of her and Miss Mallory."

"And you have carried out those duties with excellence. But, Miss Cartwright, if you become ill, how can you continue to do so?"

"I must overcome this weakness."

"Even a lady as dedicated and determined as yourself cannot overcome the sea."

"Well, I have to do my best."

"If you decide to return home from Cape Town, I can arrange it easily."

"What? Do you mean that?"

"I could fix a passage on a ship going home. I have friends who constantly make these trips. I could give you an introduction to one of them so that you did not make the journey alone."

"Mr. Harrington, you are so kind, but I have come out here to look after my niece."

"Her future husband will be waiting for her at Sydney. He will look after her from then on."

She was silent. She looked a little better already. There was a touch of colour in her cheeks. It was the pleasure of the prospect of soon being on English soil.

She gave a little laugh. "So good of you... but, of course, impossible."

"It would need a little arranging, certainly. But impossible, no. It could be done and without a great deal of trouble. Quite easily in fact."

"But these two..."

"They are both very capable young ladies. I would be there to make sure no harm could come to them. You could safely leave them in my hands."

I was amazed at the man's audacity. He was really urging her to go. Why? I wondered a great deal about him. His pursuit of me for one thing was intriguing. There was a certain intensity about him. He was very different from Raymond. He was the sort of man who would be capable of everything. I was realizing more and more how predictable, how reliable Raymond was.

"Oh, but Mr. Harrington ..." murmured Miss Cartwright.

"I know you are thinking of our brief friendship. But we have seen each other daily in this short time as often as one sees friends of years' standing. The span is unimportant. It is the time we have spent together. Just think about it, Miss Cartwright. The long expanse of ocean has to be traversed. True, you have to make the journey back from Cape Town, but you would be home by the time we reach Australia. And then your health would recover rapidly."

"You make it all sound so simple, Mr. Harrington."

"Well, remember that it is not impossible."

He then began to talk of other matters such as the places he had visited on his journeys. Always, he said, he wanted to return to England. One day he would settle there.

He said no more about Cape Town; but he had sown the seed.

I could see that Miss Cartwright thought of his suggestion continually, wrestling with herself. Could she come to terms with her conscience if she left us to make the journey alone? I imagined conscience had played a big part in Miss Cartwright's life. The prospect was so inviting. I knew from what she said that she sadly missed her home and garden. She found the heat almost as trying as the buffeting winds. She was not intended to travel the world.

A few days passed. Every now and then Milton Harrington—our constant companion now—would drop a little more of his honied suggestions into her ears. I was amazed at the skill he used. He never persuaded; but almost everything he said pointed to the advisability of her returning. Nothing could be done until we reached Cape Town, but he would have to know her decision by then. We were staying there for three days and we would need all of that time to make the arrangements.

I was thinking a great deal about him. He was a man who would have a motive for what he did and his pursuit of me could mean only one thing. I was not so simple as not to understand that. He had not mentioned a wife, and I did not know whether he was married. He gave an impression of virility and I gathered he was a man who would not consider it necessary to deny himself anything he desired; I was sure he must have known many women. There was an air of worldliness about him. I was very intrigued by him and wondered how far our friendship would have gone if I had responded to his advances.

He was returning to his plantation from England and he had mentioned that people went home to look for wives. Did he mean that that was what he had done? And if he had. he appeared to have failed to find one; and I could not imagine his failing in anything— least of all in the pursuit of a wife.

There was a great deal I had to learn about him.

At the moment I believed I should keep him at arm's length, which was not easy for he was constantly there. I knew that the passengers were beginning to speculate about us, and as it was known that Felicity was going out to be married, they would assume that I was the target for Milton Harringtons attentions.

I have to admit that I was rather pleased to be at the centre of such a romantic intrigue. It certainly gave a spice to the day.

As he had predicted we were in rough seas again approaching the Cape and this time Miss Cartwright made her decision. She was, she confessed, a little anxious about me. for while Felicity would be in her husband's care. I should have to make the journey back to England alone.

Milton Harrington assured her that he would arrange for my passage home when the time came and would make sure that I should travel in the company of friends of his, who would surely be returning to England. Indeed she had nothing to fear; and his assurances, combined with the weather, helped her to make up her mind.

If it could be arranged, she would go home for in her present state she could be no guardian at all—only an encumbrance.