Page 117 of The Seaside Homecoming

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“Do you want to wait for your papa to return?” Claire said.

“No need. Only God needs to hear.” The girl clasped her hands and closed her eyes. “God bless Papa and Miss Claire and Sonali. And Mr. Filonov andMamuand Chips the dog. Please tellAmmawe miss her. Amen.”

“Amen,” Claire murmured in reply, touched to be included in the girl’s prayer.

When Mira had climbed into bed, Claire asked, “Now shall I read to you?”

“Will you sing to me instead?”

“Oh. I ... What would you want me to sing?”

Mira shrugged. “Anything you like.”

“Very well.” Aware of Sonali sleeping in the next room, Claire sang quietly,

“I see the moon, the moon sees me,

God bless the moon and God bless me:

There’s grace in the cottage and grace in the hall;

And the grace of God is over us all.”

When she had finished, Mira begged for another.

“You’re too old for ‘Rock-a-bye Baby,’ and I’m afraid I don’t know any other lullabies.”

“Something else, then. What is your favorite song?”

“I like ‘Amazing Grace.’”

“Sing that, please.”

“Very well. Though that must be the last one, understand?”

Mira nodded.

Softly and slowly, Claire began to sing,

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I’m found,

was blind but now I see.”

She glanced up, chagrined to see Mr. Hammond in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. She stopped singing.

“Don’t stop,” he said. “That was beautiful.”

He joined her in singing the second verse, their voices blending beautifully, and Claire very much feared she was falling in love.

27

Soon after our arrival in Constantinople, the plague, that periodic scourge of the Levant, made its appearance in the city.

—William Turner,Journal of a Tour in the Levant

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