The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia ScarlettMacKenzie, Compton
General
The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett
MacKenzie, Compton
Fiction
"We must go on," she told Mrs. Gainsborough. "You must have more
opportunities for practising what Linthicum has been preaching to you."
"What you'd like is for me to make a poppy-show of myself all over the
world and drag me round the Continent like a performing bear."
"We'll go to Morocco," Sylvia cried.
"Don't shout like that. You'll set me off on the sneeze again. You're
here, there, and everywhere like a demon king, I do declare. Morocco?
That's where the leather comes from, isn't it? Do they have
mosquito-nets there too?"
Sylvia nodded.
"Well, the first thing I shall do to-morrow is to ask Mr. Linthicum
what's the best way of fastening up a mosquito-net in Morocco. And now I
suppose I shall wake up in the morning with a nose like a tomato. Ah,
well, such is life."
Mrs. Gainsborough went back to bed, and Sylvia lay awake thinking of
Morocco.
Mr. Linthicum came to see them off on their second attempt to leave
Granada. He cleared his throat rather more loudly than usual to compete
with the noise of the railway, invited them to look him up if they ever
came to Schenectady, pressed a book called _Five Hundred Facts for the
Waistcoat Pocket_ into Mrs. Gainsborough's hands, and waved them out of
sight with a large bandana handkerchief.
"Well, I shall miss that man," said Mrs. Gainsborough, settling down to
the journey. "He must have been a regular education for his customers,
and I shall never forget his recipe for avoiding bunions when
mountaineering."
"How's that done?"
"Oh, I don't remember the details. I didn't pay any attention to them,
because it's not to be supposed that I'm going to career up Mont Blong
at my time of life. No, I was making a reference to the tone of his
voice. They may be descended from Indians, but I dare say Adam wasn't
much better than a red Indian, if it comes to that."
They traveled to Cadiz for the boat to Tangier. Mrs. Gainsborough got
very worried on the long spit of land over which the train passed, and
insisted on piling up all the luggage at one end of the compartment in
case they fell into the sea, though she was unable to explain her motive
for doing this. The result was that, when they stopped at a station
before Cadiz and the door of the compartment was opened suddenly, all
the luggage fell out on top of three priests that were preparing to
climb in, one of whom was knocked flat. Apart from the argument that
ensued the journey was uneventful.
The boat from Tangier left in the dark. At dawn Cadiz glimmered like a
rosy pearl upon the horizon.
"We're in Trafalgar Bay now," said Sylvia.
But Mrs. Gainsborough, who was feeling the effects of getting up so
early, said she wished it was Trafalgar Square and begged to be left in
peace. After an hour's doze in the sunlight she roused herself slightly:
"Where's this Trafalgar Bay you were making such a fuss about?"
"We've passed it now," Sylvia said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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