Page 161 of The Pearl Sister
Due to the excellent capabilities of her half-brother, Kitty was sailing back to Australia for the final time. Unbeknown to Ralph, she would be handing over the business in its entirety to him on her return, knowing that the company’s future was in safe hands.
She had returned to Leith six months ago for her father’s memorial service. He had died of old age, nothing more; she and Ralph had greeted the news with an uneasy mixture of sadness and guilty relief. During her time staying with her mother, Kitty had not mentioned a word about Ralph Mackenzie Junior to her family. She’d also travelled to Italy with her sister Miriam, to take a short cultural tour of its ancient cities, and had fallen head over heels in love with Florence. There she had purchased a small but elegant apartment, from which she could see the roof of the great Duomo. Her intention was to winter there and spend the summers with her family in Scotland.
The fact she had just reached her sixtieth birthday had provided a spur; there was little left for her in Australia other than painful memories. And, having tried for years of her life to move on from the Mercer family and the silken threads it seemed to have trapped her in for most of her adult life, she was now determined to finally do it.
Kitty walked to the wardrobe to choose what she would wear to the captain’s table this evening. When she arrived in Adelaide, she would spend the next few weeks putting her affairs in order. This included seeing a solicitor to legally register her ‘husband’ as deceased. The idea of revisiting the deceit that had been wrought by Drummond sent a chill up her spine, but it had to be done so she could at last walk away and begin again.
As she held up an evening gown to her still slim body, she pondered on whether Drummond actuallywasdead. Often during long, lonely nights when she had yearned for his touch, she’d imagined every creak of a door, or an animal rustling through foliage in the garden, to be the sound of his return. Yet how could she have ever expected him to come back? It had been she who had sent him away.
Perhaps, she thought, returning to her homeland would allow the steel box in which she’d placed her heart to finally be wedged back open.
* * *
As the voyage got underway, Kitty slipped easily into her usual on-board routine. Uninterested in socialising with her fellow first-class guests, she took bracing walks along the deck, and as they sailed south, enjoyed the warm prickle of sunshine on her skin. Sometimes at night, she’d hear the sound of music and laughter coming from the third-class deck below her, an impromptu singalong to a penny whistle or an accordion. She remembered how she had once danced jigs on the lower deck, the air thick with cigarette smoke. The camaraderie had been infectious; her friends may not have had wealth, but they had the true riches of their hopes and dreams.
Kitty had realised a long time ago that privilege had isolated her. Even though part of her longed to run downstairs and join in, she realised that now, she could never be accepted amongst them.
‘And there they all are, dreaming that one day they might be up here where I am,’ she sighed as James arrived to draw her bath.
* * *
‘Are you going out today when we dock at Port Said?’ asked James as he poured out her cup of English Breakfast tea.
‘I haven’t really thought about it,’ she said. ‘Are you?’
‘I am indeed! I can hardly believe we’re nearing Egypt – the land of the pharaohs. To be honest, Mrs Mercer, I’m eager to get my feet back on dry land. I’m feeling cooped up on board and my friend Stella says there’s things to see, though we must be careful not to stray too far. I’m taking some of the orphans off with me to cheer them up a bit.’
‘Orphans?’
‘Yes, I’d reckon going on a hundred of them are down in third class. They’ve been shipped out from England to find new families in Australia.’
‘I see.’ Kitty took a sip of her tea. ‘Then perhaps I will join you all.’
‘Really?’ James eyed her incredulously. ‘Some of them stink, Mrs Mercer, there’s no proper facilities for washing in their quarters.’
‘I am sure I will cope,’ she replied briskly. ‘So, I shall meet you by the bottom of the gangplank when the ship docks at ten tomorrow.’
‘All right,’ he said, ‘but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
The following day, Kitty walked down the gangplank into Port Said. The smell of rotting fruit and unwashed bodies accosted her nose as she heard shouts ringing out along the busy port. A steady stream of crates, animals and human beings were moving to and from the steamships.
James was waiting for her, along with a tall red-headed girl and a rag-tag collection of children.
‘This is Stella.’ James introduced the red-headed girl, her sun bonnet pulled low to protect her white skin. ‘She’s been doing her best to take care of some of the younger ones downstairs,’ he said, turning to her with what Kitty recognised as utter adoration in his eyes.
‘A pleasure to meet you, Stella. And what are all your names?’ Kitty bent down to speak to the youngest, who could be no more than five.
‘Eddie,’ another boy with a strong Cockney accent answered for him. ‘’E don’t speak much.’
‘And that’s Johnny, Davy and Jimmy, then there’s Mabel and Edna and Susie . . . and I’m Sarah,’ said a bright-eyed, painfully thin young girl with sallow skin and lank brown hair, whom Kitty hazarded a guess was around fourteen or fifteen. ‘We’ve all adopted each other, ’aven’t we?’
‘Yes!’ chorused the grimy set of faces.
‘Well now, I am Mrs Mercer, and I know somewhere nearby that sells all sorts of different kinds of sweetmeats,’ Kitty announced. ‘Shall we go and take a look?’
‘Yes!’ the children cheered.
‘Come along then,’ Kitty ordered as, on instinct, she swept little Eddie up in her arms.
