“Of course I shall look after you.”

“I dare say you will spoil me. I shall want to be spoiled. So please do that, Carmel.”

“I am not sure. Everything I do will be for your own good.”

“Oh dear, I am always afraid when people act for one’s own good. It usually means something unpleasant. I want six grandchildren, by the way.”

“That’s rather a lot.”

“I can be very greedy. You see, we’re not young any more. Even you are no longer a little girl. One looks to the future. I suppose one day you will marry.”

I immediately thought of James’s suggestion.

I said: “Well, oddly enough, it was recently suggested to me.”

He was alert at once.

“You mean someone asked you? Who?”

“James Forman.”

He sat back and smiled.

“Well,” he said, “I’m not altogether surprised. Elsie was saying she thought there was something brewing there.”

“Really? I was taken completely by surprise.”

That is because you are unaware of your seductive charms. “

“I think it just occurred to him on the spur of the moment. It seemed to fit in with his plans.”

“Well, he is determined to find opals. He’s quite obsessive about it.”

“I think he wanted someone to go off with him.”

“I can understand that. Half the men in Australia are dreaming of making a fortune from something dug out of the ground. It’s a quick way of making a fortune … if it works, and it does sometimes. And how do you feel about James?”

“I find it difficult to take the idea of marriage seriously.”

“I see. Poor James is going to be a disappointed lover. This party of Elsie’s set me thinking. At home they would be considering your ” coming out”. We should be doing something like that.”

“But there isn’t anywhere to come out to here,” I said.

“There can’t be balls and that sort of thing … except Elsie’s parties.”

“Well, we shall have to see. You ought to meet people. I want you to have the best, Carmel.”

“I know. You have always done so much for me, you and Elsie.”

“I like to think that I wasn’t such a bad father.”

“And I have told you often that you are the best anyone could ever have.”

“First of all, I want you to be happy.”

“I’d like always to be as happy as I am now.”

We were silent for a while. Then he said: “We’ll do some thing. You and I must always be together.”

“That is just what I want,” I told him.

Then he started to plan in the way I knew so well. When ever it was possible, I must sail with him. Now I had left school there would be opportunities. When he returned, we would live together. Sydney was a beautiful place. Did I not think so? Elsie would like to have us close, so that she could keep an eye on us. We could get a place of our own.

He was frowning. Then he said suddenly: “What do you think about going home? You were dragged away rather suddenly.”

My mind went back in time. I was seeing Commonwood House again.

Adeline, looking through the window at the station fly, looking for Miss Carson; Estella, with that air of “I am not afraid’, which betrayed so clearly that she was. It was all hazy, part of a vague, unreal period. Everything would be very different now.

He did not wait for me to answer, but went on: “No, perhaps it would not be a good idea to go back now. We could get a place in Sydney.

Right on the harbour, where we could watch the ships come in. That would be best. “

“It sounds wonderful.”

“As for home-well, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?”

“It would be strange to go back to Commonwood.”

“Oh, not Commonwood! It would be quite different there.” He was frowning.

“No, no. It will be that place on the harbour. Or, if we did go home because home always has a certain pull, you know I fancy a little place in Devon. On the coast … the home of the great Drake.

Somewhere near the Hoe. Or perhaps Cornwall. Well, the choice will be ours. From Land’s End to John o’Groats. “

“It will be wonderful to plan.”

“Carmel, I’m sorry. It could have been different. In the beginning, I mean. A nice home … with parents.”

“I have my parent.”

“I was thinking of your mother. She would have liked to have you with her. Well, it happened the way it did. She thought it was the best for you.”

“That was what Miss Carson said.”

“Miss … ? Oh, you mean …”

“She said that, soon after she came to the house. I wonder what happened to her? She was a lovely person.”

“How can we know?” he said.

“Anyway, it was all a long time ago.”

He was silent for a few seconds, frowning and staring ahead.

Then he said: “I saw your mother not very long ago. She wanted to hear all about you.”

“You saw her in England?”

“Yes. It would be good if you could see each other. Perhaps you will one day. I don’t see why not.”

“I remember her so well in Rosie Perrin’s caravan.”

“Yes. She told me about the meeting. She was most taken with you.”

“It must be strange to meet one’s own daughter for the first time when she is quite old.”

“Strange things happen in the world. We’ve got the whole world before us now, Carmel.”

I nodded dreamily.

No, I shall never forget the perfection of that night. I have often since felt that it is perhaps dangerous to be as happy as I was then, and it may be such perfect happiness is doomed not to last.

It was two days later. We lay off the island of Mahoo. I had awakened early and looked through my porthole window, and there it was-the perfect desert island, lush and green in that pellucid sea, palm trees swaying in the breeze, native huts scattered around the shore, and little boats rather like canoes coming out to the ship.

Toby had said that we should be too big to get close in to the island and it would mean anchoring just about half a mile offshore, and going in on the launches. First the cargo which was being taken to the island would be unloaded and taken ashore, and then we ourselves could follow.

While I was on deck watching the unloading of the cargo, he joined me for a moment.

“You and I will go ashore together. There’ll be something of a ceremony. I shall rub noses with the Chief and I shall introduce you to him. You will be amused.”

“How interesting!” I cried.

“I often think how lucky I am to have a sea captain for a father. How many people can travel the world and in such a way?”

He kissed the tip of my nose.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said.

“Now, I must leave you. I just thought I’d have a quick word.”

Yes, I was indeed perfectly happy.

Toby and I were taken ashore with the Chief Officer and two of his men. As the launch scraped on the sand, we disembarked in about a foot of water and were immediately surrounded by naked children, all shrieking at the top of their voices.

They were welcoming us to their island.

Two formidable-looking men stepped forward and threw flowers, made into necklaces, about our necks. Toby saluted in acknowledgement, which made the children rock about with mirth.

Then the two men who had presented us with the flowers walked on either side of us. They were naked from the waist up, and the garments they wore were made of animal skins and feathers. The feathers had been dyed red and blue. The men had frizzy hair which stood out round their heads and in it they wore bone ornaments. They carried spears: and, but for the flowers and the giggling children, I should have felt like a captive.

Toby glanced at me and gave me a reassuring wink.

“The usual welcome,” he said.

“I’ve done it all before. They know me for a friend. The next step in the proceedings is presentation to the Great Chief.”

We walked up the gentle incline, the children surrounding us, laughing and shouting to one another: and there, in the clearing, the ceremonial greeting took place.

I saw the Chief at once. He was seated on what might be called a throne. It was indeed ornate. It looked most imposing, decorated with flowers and the skins of animals. Above it had been fixed a very fierce-looking mask. The mouth was a snarl and the expression menacing. It was bigger than the Chief’s face and he was a very big man. He wore about his shoulders a cloak of feathers blues, greens and red in colour. On either side of him stood two very large men with spears.

Toby stepped up to the Chief and bowed. The Chief inclined his head but did not rise.

Toby said something and the man who had taken him up to the Chief spoke too. The Chief listened. Then he stood up. The feather cloak fell from his shoulders, exposing bare flesh like shining ebony. Toby went close to the Chief, who seized him by the shoulders and brought their faces close together. This was what Toby called rubbing noses.

Some words were spoken. Then Toby turned to me and held out his hand.

I found myself looking into the large black eyes of the Chief. He had to stoop low to be on a level with me as his hands pressed on my shoulders and, for a moment, I felt as though I were being drawn away from all that was familiar into a different world as I stared into those pools of darkness. It was an uncanny sensation. Then I felt his nose touch mine. For a few seconds it moved gently. Then I was released.

I said to myself: So they really do touch noses. And then I felt normal again.

We were seated beside the Chief and Toby summoned the other sailors to come forward. They carried boxes which they had brought ashore. These were opened and revealed certain gifts for the Chief. The children crept closer and there were gasps of pleasure and excitement. There were trinkets of all kinds, and all the spectators, including the