‘Because she’s a loyal friend.’ Marlow stepped forward from his discreet vantage point some way beyond where the two ladies were saying their farewells. He had seen how Nelly’s unfortunate outburst had affected Emma, and at once he was greatly concerned that even now, at this late moment in time, Emma might refuse to make the long journey to the other side of the world. As it was, he’d had the devil of a job convincing her to undertake this trip in the first place. It was both the doctor’s sound warning with regard to her health and his own desperate pleas to Emma that had finally persuaded her of the need to get right away from all that reminded her of their son, and of what might have been. Since Bill’s tragic accident, Emma had withdrawn deeper and deeper into a dangerous, twilight world, until Marlow lived in fear of losing her also. His own heart was empty and heavy with grief at the loss of the son he’d idolized. But, unlike Emma, he had made himself come to terms with that dreadful loss, if only to help Emma out of her own, crippling grief.

In these last few weeks since the boy’s funeral, he had privately shed many a tear and, strangely enough, the shedding of those tears had somehow eased his heartache. But Emma’s grief had turned inward. She had not spoken one word about their son: she would not be drawn into any conversation regarding him, nor had she cried a single tear on his behalf. It was as though she had locked his memory and his precious image into that secret part of her where he would be kept safe, intact and still alive. But in doing so, Emma had created for herself another place, another time, where she and the boy remained aloof from the world, where he lived out his life in her mind, and that mind was beginning to lose the boundaries between what was real, and what was not.

‘Must we go, Marlow?’ Emma pleaded now. ‘You know I would much rather stay at home.’

Nelly was horrified! Filled with mortification at having betrayed her emotions in front of Emma, she resolved to make amends. ‘Don’t you talk such stuff and nonsense, Emma, my girl!’ she chided in her most authoritative voice. ‘What!… And spoil my chance at being the “lady of the house”? You wouldn’t do that to yer old friend, would you? No, you get off to Australia… say hello to that Silas Trent for me… and make sure the buggers take proper care o’ the business you built up with your own sweat and blood!’ She laughed and winked, casting a cheeky glance to where Marlow was silently thanking Nelly for her splendid efforts, when he knew it was tearing her apart to see Emma leave. ‘You and Marlow… well, you know what I mean, Emma, gal… it’s so romantic, ain’t it, eh? Gazing over the ship’s rail into the horizon, and watching the moon play on the water. Oh, and when you get there… to Australia, there’ll be long, sultry nights… all that sun and gently strolling along the beach.’ Of a sudden she laughed out loud, and clutching her cap tightly about her, she began shivering and chattering her teeth. ‘While us poor mortals are left to suffer an English October!’