I had never been on the sea, so I fancied that all the boats were like this and that it was no good complaining. After six days of rough sea we landed at Alicante. Oh, that landing, how well I remember it! I had to jump from boat to boat, from plank to plank, with the risk of falling into the water a hundred times over, for I am naturally inclined to dizziness and the little bridges without any rails, rope, or anything, thrown across from one boat to another and bending under my light weight, seemed to me like mere ropes stretched across space. Exhausted with fatigue and hunger I went to the first hotel recommended to us at Alicante. Oh, what a hotel it was! The house itself was built of stone with low arcades. Rooms on the first floor were given to me, and certainly the owners of it had never had two ladies in their house before. The bedroom was large, but with a low ceiling. By way of decoration there were enormous real fish bones arranged in garlands caught up by the heads of fish. By half shutting one’s eyes this decoration might be taken for delicate sculpture of ancient times. I had a bed put up for Caroline in this sinister-looking room. We pulled the furniture across against the doors, and I did not undress, for I could not venture on those sheets. I was accustomed to fine sheets perfumed with iris, for my pretty little mother, like all Dutch women, had a mania for linen and cleanliness and she had inculcated me with this harmless mania. It was about five in the morning when I opened my eyes, no doubt instinctively, as there had been no sound to rouse me. A door, leading I did not know where, opened, and a man looked in. I gave a shrill cry, seized my little Virgin Mary, and waved her about, wild with terror. Caroline roused up with a start and courageously rushed to the window. She threw it up screaming: “Fire! Thieves! Help.”