They had changed. They had been so eager to reach Sydney and begin to take up their hew life, but now that they were almost there, I sensed a certain apprehension. They had been full of hope; land was cheap in Sydney, they had said, and if people worked hard, they could not fail to succeed. It all seemed so simple to talk of, but when it was near at hand, the doubts began to appear. It must be a wrench to leave one’s native land, even though ‘they’ were planning to make a road through your property and destroy its prosperity.

Gertie was a little withdrawn, and it was not the same as our first shore excursion. I remembered Naples with nostalgia. But, of course, I did not then know who my father was. I was in good spirits, but that did not prevent my feeling for the Formans.

We explored the city stretched out on either side of the River Brisbane. We visited Moreton Bay and the slopes of the Taylor Range on which the buildings which comprised the city had been erected. We listened to our guide’s account of how, in the early part of the century, it had been a penal colony; but we were all a little absentminded.

Gertie and I talked in our berths that night. Neither of us was tired -or if we were, we were disinclined for sleep.

“It will be different there,” Gertie was saying.

“I suppose I’ll have to go to school. It’s such a bore being young.”

I agreed.

“It’s funny,” went on Gertie.

“All these weeks, we’ve been seeing each other every day, and when we get to Sydney, we’ll say goodbye and perhaps never see each other again.”

“We might. I might come out to Sydney.”

Gertie was silent for a while.

“Before we go, you ought to give me your address. I can’t give you mine because I won’t have one. I can give you the place we’ll be staying at, though. It’s a boarding-house run by a friend of someone we knew at home. She’s fixed us up there and we’ll be staying till we find a property.”

“I’m glad you thought of it,” I replied.

“We’ll write to each other.

That’ll be good. “

We both fell silent, a little comforted at the thought of not losing this link with a part of our lives which we should always remember with pleasure.

In two days we should be in Sydney. Toby had said that the ship would be in port for a whole week, and we could leave it and stay with Elsie. He often did this in such circumstances, he told me. All the passengers would leave then and, before we sailed on, we should embark others and in due course begin the journey back to England. It was necessary to stay that time as the ship was having an overhaul and needed some repairs.

“You’ll enjoy getting to know Elsie,” he said.

“Elsie’s a good sport.”

I was eager to see Sydney. In his graphic manner, Toby had told me a great deal about the place. He loved to talk of the old days. We sat on deck in the evening after dinner, and he explained how the First Fleet had come out in 1788 with its shipload of prisoners.

“Imagine those men and women, cramped up in the hold … very different from a nice cosy berth in a cabin shared with Gertie Forman on the Lady of the Seas, I can tell you. Sailing out from a home which most of them would never see again … to a new country and they knew not what.”

I shivered as I listened. I saw those men and women, taken from their homes . some of them little more than children . my age perhaps wondering what would become of them.

“Captain Arthur Phillip … he was the one who brought them out, and you’ll see his name here and there about the city. Sydney itself is the name of one of our politicians. And that of another, Macquarie, that’s a name you’ll see. He was a governor of New South Wales. He was a clever man. He did a lot of good to the colony.

He wanted them to feel they were not so much convicts expelled from their own land as colonists making a new one good to live in. He was the one who encouraged them to explore the land around them. It was in his time that they found a way across the Blue Mountains. Before that there was a feeling among the aborigines that the mountains could never be crossed because they were full of evil spirits who would destroy those who attempted to get to the other side. But they got across . and what was on the other side? Some of the best grazing land in the world. “

Tell me more about the Blue Mountains,” I begged.

“Magnificent. We’ll go there one day. We won’t be afraid of spirits, eh?”

That was how he talked, and I was all eagerness to see this land, but at the same time my pleasure must be tinged with sadness, because I hated to say goodbye to Gertie.

We had arrived. The ship had become oddly unfamiliar. I said goodbye to Gertie and her family. Mrs. Forman embraced me warmly and said: “We won’t lose each other, dear. We’ll be in touch.”

Mr. Forman had shaken my hand, and Jimmy had said a somewhat embarrassed goodbye. He had been rather shamefaced since our Suez adventure when Toby had reprimanded him so sternly. Gertie had given me a brusque goodbye, which I knew meant she was deeply moved by our parting. And now all the passengers had gone.

I was waiting for the summons to Toby’s cabin, and then he and I would leave the ship but only temporarily, of course.

He had said: “This happens now and then. We have a longer stay in port than usual and I’ll have a night or two at Elsie’s. It makes a change. Of course, I’m back and forth to the ship all the time, but it’s good to be on land for a spell.”

So, I was going to Elsie’s. I had not thought a great deal about her until now. His wife! They couldn’t get on as married people, but they liked each other otherwise. Surely it was very unusual for husbands who had left their wives to go back and stay with them for a friendly visit? But then, most things were unusual with Toby.

I walked round the ship, into those deserted public rooms. How different people make places! I went on deck. I leaned over the rail, looking at that magnificent view. I imagined coming in with the First Fleet and that I was a poor prisoner who had been sent away from home.

And I thought how fortunate I was. I might have been sent away to an orphanage. But my beloved father would never have allowed any harm to come to me. And that was how it would always be.

Elsie’s house was set in grounds of about three acres. It was built in the old Colonial style with a platform round the front and six steps leading up to a porch before the main door.

We were about to mount these when a little dark man came running from some outbuildings which were obviously stables.

“Captain! Captain!” he cried.

“Why!” said Toby.

“If it isn’t Agio! How are you. Agio? It’s good to see you.”

The little man stood before Toby, grinning. They shook hands.

“Missus waiting. Miss Mabel, work hard. All clean. All waiting for Captain.”

“I’m glad of that,” said Toby.

“Polishing for me, is that it?” He winked at Agio to show he was joking as he went on: “I should have been heart-broken if they hadn’t put on a bit of polish to greet me.”

He turned to me and, at that moment, a door opened and a woman came on to the porch.

“Captain!” she cried, and flung herself at him.

“Mabel, Mabel … wonderful to see you. This is Carmel.”

He was smiling at me and, before Mabel had time to speak, another woman came out of the house.

“Well, here you are at last, Toby,” she said.

“What’s been keeping you? I saw the ship come in early this morning.”

“Duty, Elsie. What else could keep me?”

She kissed him on both cheeks and he said: “This is Carmel.”

She turned to me. She was tall, with reddish-brown hair a good deal of it coiled about her head. Her eyes were decidedly green. They sparkled and her teeth were very white against her suntanned skin.

There was an openness about her. I knew at once that she was the sort who would say exactly what she meant. There would be no subterfuge about her. I liked her immediately. She was a person one could trust.

“Carmel,” she was saying.

“Well now. I’ve heard about you and now here you are. Come to Sydney, eh? Had a good trip, have you?”

She took my hands and looked intently into my face. I wondered fleetingly what a wife would think of a daughter her husband had had, who was not hers. But not for long. Elsie would have said what she thought of it and she did not appear at this stage to think it was so very odd.

“A pity you’re only staying a week,” she said to me.

“Can’t see a lot of the place in that time. And there’s something to see, I can tell you. Well, we’ll make the most of what we have. And what are we doing standing about here? Come on in, you two. Now, I reckon you’re hungry.

Don’t suppose they fed you very well on board that old thing, did they?”

She threw a glance at Toby which showed she was teasing, and he said immediately: “Our food was excellent, wasn’t it, Carmel?”

“Oh yes,” I said.

“It was very good.”

“You wait until you see what we can give you, love. Why, at the end of the week, you’ll be wanting to stay here. I’ll take a bet on that.”

She took my arm as we went in, and I could see that Toby was very pleased by this reception.

“You know where to go, To be,” said Elsie. It sounded strange to hear his name pronounced thus, but I had to learn that Elsie had a habit of shortening people’s names. She turned to me.

“Always the same room when he stays here, which isn’t as often as I’d like. But we have to make the best of what we can get, don’t we? And you, love. I’ll show you where you are. You’ve got a lovely view of the harbour. We’re proud of our harbour. Show it off when we’ve got the chance. You’ll find a bit of mail in your room, To be. Letters from home. I’ve been storing them up, but don’t start on them yet, because you’ve got a meal waiting for you.”

Toby stretched himself and looked up at the sky and at the house.

“Good to be here,” he said.

“Good to have you,” said Elsie.

“Isn’t that so, Mabe?”

“I’d say,” said Mabel.

“And Agio agrees with us,” said Elsie.

The aborigine grinned.

“He’s a good boy. Agio. He wouldn’t go walkabout when the Captain’s coming.”

Agio shook his head and grinned.

When I asked later what was meant by this, Toby told me that the aborigines were good workers when they worked, but it had to be remembered that they were unused to living in houses or being confined in any way, and now and then the urge came to them to ‘go walkabout’ which meant going off. Sometimes they came back, sometimes not; but one could never be sure; and even the most devoted ones could take it into their heads to go walkabout.

“Now come on in,” Elsie was saying.

It was undoubtedly a warm welcome. I thought of Mrs. Marline greeting Lady Crompton on the rare occasions when she had come to Commonwood House. How different that had been!

My room was large and, as Elsie had said, had a good view of the harbour. There was a bed, wardrobe and washbasin, a dressing-table and a few chairs. The floor was wooden blocks with a few mats on it. The room had been furnished with the essentials and again Commonwood was brought to my mind by its very difference.

I had been told to come to the dining-room as soon as I was ready, and when I opened my door Toby was just coming out of his room.

“All right?” he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his voice.

“Yes. It’s fun.”

“I knew you’d get along with Elsie. Most people do.”

“Except you,” I said.

“Oh, that’s different. We get along well in most things, but not in marriage.” He took my arm and pressed it.

“Pity,” he went on, ‘but that’s how it is. You’ll like it here. There’s lots to see. Elsie couldn’t wait to meet you. Come and look at my room. “

It was very like mine-wooden floor, rugs and essential furniture.

“Not much like Commonwood,” said Toby.

“No … I was thinking that.”

“Different atmosphere. No formality here. It’s all open and honest.”

“Yes,” I agreed.

“I feel that.”

He ruffled my hair and kissed me.

“I’ve just combed it!” I said.

“Never mind. Elsie won’t scold.”

I looked round his room.

“There are a lot of letters waiting for you,” I said.

“Yes, I didn’t want to delve into them yet. They can wait. Nothing important, I guess. Come on. Let’s go down. Otherwise there’ll be trouble.”