In the Bible the prodigal got a hearty welcome from his father when he returned. I did not really expect the same treatment from father. The formal invitation I received did have, written on it by mother, the words ‘Oh Peter, please accept,’ and so I knew that father had not absolutely forbidden me the door. I suppose I really did not know what to expect. Nor, I suppose, did he. I think the rather hard-looking stranger who turned up, in appearance far older than his middle twenties, threw him. He was stiff at first and very formal. But over the week I stayed, we did achieve a better measure of forbearance and understanding than we had ever previously had.

Mother and Elaine were overwhelming in their welcome. The photographs had not lied. Elaine had grown into a beautiful, spirited young woman, so lovely and with such a sunny disposition it was a joy to be with her.

I was not nearly so enthusiastic about the man she was engaged to. Ronald Milne-Thompson seemed pleasant and friendly enough. His parents had both died when he was a boy and he had been brought up by his grandfather. He made his fiancée’s brother welcome but there was something essentially weak in his make-up that made me uneasy. Yet Elaine was so obviously happy with him and so obviously wanted both her men to like each other that I pushed my reservations aside.

I stayed on after the ceremony for a few days then left for Africa. Apart from various interests I had there that required my attention I found that although father and I had learned to appreciate the other’s point of view, we had so little in common that it would have been pointless to remain. So I booked my passage on the first available P. and O. boat and by August 1 was once more in Cape Town. Almost immediately I had to go up-country and it was almost a year before I returned.

The first thing that awaited me was a letter from Elaine. It was seven months old and told me that both mother and father had been carried off within a week of each other by some wretched disease. I wrote back immediately but my letter was unanswered before I had to leave Cape Town again on business.