A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh [68]
lay out at some distance but from where they stood after dinner, leaning over the rail, they could just hear in the intervals when the winch was not working, the chatter and singing in the streets. Th�se put her arm through Tony's, but the decks were full of passengers and agents and swarthy little men with lists of cargo. There was no dancing that night. They went above on to the boat deck and Tony kissed her. Dr. Messinger came on board by the last launch. He had met an acquaintance in the town. He had observed the growing friendship between Tony and Th�se with the strongest disapproval and told him of a friend of his who had been knifed in a back street of Smyrna, as a warning of what happened if one got mixed up with women. In the islands the life of the ship disintegrated. There were changes of passengers; the black archdeacon left after shaking hands with everyone on board; on their last morning his wife took round a collecting box in aid of an organ that needed repairs. The captain never appeared at meals in the dining saloon. Even Tony's first friend no longer changed for dinner; the cabins were stuffy from being kept locked all day. Tony and Th�se bathed again at Barbados and drove round the island visiting castellated churches. They dined at an hotel high up out of town and ate flying fish "You must come to my home and see what real creole cooking is like," said Th�se. "We have a lot of old recipes that the planters used to use. You must meet my father and mother." They could see the lights of the ship from the terrace where they were dining; the bright decks with figures moving about and the double line of portholes. "Trinidad the day after tomorrow," said Tony. They talked of the expedition and she said it was sure to be dangerous. "I don't like Doctor Messinger at all," she said. "Not anything about him." "And you will have to choose your husband." "Yes. There are seven of them. There was one called Honor� liked but of course I haven't seen him for two years. He was studying to be an engineer. There's one called Mendoza who's very rich but he isn't really a Trinidadian. His grandfather came from Dominica and they say he has coloured blood. I expect it will be Honor�Mother always brought in his name when she wrote to me and he sent me things at Christmas and on my f�. Rather silly things because the shops aren't good in Port of Spain." Later she said, "You'll be coming back by Trinidad, won't you? So I shall see you then. Will you be a long time in the bush?" "I expect you'll be married by then." "Tony, why haven't you ever got married?" "But I am." "Married?" "Yes." "You're teasing me." "No, honestly I am. At least I was." "Oh." "Are you surprised?" "I don't know. Somehow I didn't think you were. Where is she?" "In England. We had a row." "Oh... What's the time?" "Quite early." "Let's go back." "D'you want to?" "Yes, please. It's been a delightful day." "You said that as if you were saying goodbye." "Did I? I don't know." The Negro chauffeur drove them at great speed into the town. Then they sat in a rowing boat and bobbed slowly out to the ship. Earlier in the day in good spirts they had bought a stuffed fish. Th�se found she had left it behind at the hotel. "It doesn't matter," she said. Blue water came to an end after Barbados. Round Trinidad the sea was opaque and colourless, full of the mud which the Orinoco brought down from the mainland. Th�se spent all that day in her cabin, doing her packing. Next day she said goodbye to Tony in a hurry. Her father had come out to meet her in the tender. He was a wiry bronzed man with a long grey moustache. He wore a panama hat and smart silk clothes, and smoked a cheroot; the complete slave-owner of the last century. Th�se did not introduce him to Tony. "He was someone on the ship," she explained, obviously. Tony saw her once next day in the town, driving with a lady who was obviously her mother. She waved but did not stop. "Reserved lot, these real old creoles," remarked the passenger who had first made friends with Tony and had now attached himself again. "Poor as