“She taught us quite a lot,” Ivor commented. “We can easily use her language to tell people just how common we are!” Weena laughed.
“I hope we would never be considered common! And anyway you, my lovely sister, could never in a million years look anything but very pretty.”
“While you are tall, handsome and actually look far more English than Russian,” Weena told him.
“That is the sort of remark that you would not have dared to say in front of Papa, but I know it’s true because the English friends I made said I looked very much like them.”
“From what I remember they were rather smart and came from good families, so you could hardly impersonate one of them.”
“Of course not,” Ivor agreed. “That is why I have been buying items in Russia to sell in England. We want a good name to impress them that we are ordinary English tradespeople. What name do you suggest?”
“Brown?”
“No!”
“Potter?”
“No!”
“Cook?”
“No!”
“Wilkins?”
“Oh, no!” Weena exclaimed. “They sound terrible. I absolutely refuse to have a name like that.”
“Then what do you propose?” Ivor asked.
Weena thought for a moment.
Then she said,
“Do you remember Mama saying that she once had a Governess called Dawson? I would say that name is very English and at the same time quite a respectable name.”
“You are a genius!” he exclaimed. “Dawson it will be. Ivor Dawson really sounds rather grand. It’s a name you could trust not to defraud you.”
Weena laughed.
“I am sure that is something you would never do.”
“I hope not,” he replied. “We are only telling a very small lie in saying that I am a salesman because that is exactly what I am. But the people on this ship must not know how valuable our cargo is.”
“I will remember, when we reach Athens, that I am Weena Dawson,” his sister said slowly. “I think it’s a good idea for us to travel Second Class or at least not in the grand cabins which I believe in the modern ships are very lavish.”
“We will have two ordinary cabins,” Ivor replied. “If we are not as comfortable as we might be, at least we will be saving our money for England.”
Weena wanted to say how much she hoped that he would obtain good prices for his pictures and all the other items they had brought from their home.
But she thought it would be a mistake to make him in any way nervous that what they did possess might not reach the high prices he was hoping for.
Because Ivor was constantly talking to the Captain, Weena found herself wandering on her own about the ship and thinking of the strange new life that lay ahead of them.
She could only pray that things would be as easy as Ivor expected them to be.
Then they would both be accepted in London by the people they wanted to know.
She had heard so much about English Society and how they clustered round the Prince of Wales and his wife and, of course, his glorious mother, Queen Victoria.
Her mother had often talked of the parties and balls she had attended in London when she had been a girl.
Weena had listened attentively, but never thought that she would be able to enjoy the same sort of life.
The Social world in the Caucasus was very small and, when she met the people who were their neighbours, she found them rather dull and they knew very little about anything outside the Caucasus.
Fortunately her beloved father had always been a great reader, thus the extensive library in the house, which had been a sheer delight to Weena from the moment she grew older.
Now when she thought of it burnt to dust and ashes, she wished she had brought with her a number of books even though it would have made the amount of luggage they were travelling with bigger than it was already.
Anyway she was quite certain that Russian books in England were not saleable.
She appreciated the fact that Ivor had been clever enough to take away a great number of objects before the house had burnt down, which were not only valuable but saleable.
*
When they reached Greece, Weena was so excited because she had read so much about the many Greek Gods and Goddesses of Classical times.
She was thrilled at the thought of having a chance to see some of the ancient Temples that had been described in the books she had read.
And she was, in fact, delighted when Ivor told her when they went ashore that there were no English ships in Port at the moment, but several were expected in during the next day or so.
They said their farewells to the friendly Captain, who wished them the best of luck and he told Ivor that he was a very brave man.
“There are not many of you leaving Russia at the moment,” he confided. “If you ask me, they will soon be finding things are uncomfortable and will then want to live somewhere else.”
“You are quite right,” Ivor said. “I can only thank you for all the advice you have given me and I hope that we will meet again.
“I hope that we will too,” the Captain replied. “Do make sure you look after that pretty sister of yours and see that she does not get into trouble. The English are famous for running after a pretty woman, but not quite as much as the French!”
The two men laughed at this and Weena, because they were talking about her, felt rather shy.
Their luggage was taken ashore and placed in the safe-keeping of one of the men whose job it was to see that nothing was stolen from where they deposited it.
“Now what I am going to do,” Ivor said, “is to walk round the Port to find out all I can about the ships heading for England.”
He smiled at his sister.
“The Captain said that they expected two or three in the next day or so, but I want to find out about them and if they are the sort of ship we should travel in to Dover.”
“I do want to go while we are in Athens and see some of the Temples and statues I have read about in my books,” Weena told him.
Her brother hesitated for a moment.
Then he said,
“Well, if you are sure you can take care of yourself and do not talk to strangers, you should be all right. But don’t go too far or be away too long.”
“I just want to see what I can of Greece while I am here,” Weena persisted. “I have read so much about the beauty of its Temples that still exist that I would feel very ashamed if I did not see them while I am actually standing on Greek soil.”
“All right, off you go,” Ivor said. “We will meet back here in a couple of hours.”
In case he changed his mind, Weena set off at once.
She saw that the houses round the Port were small and rather dilapidated.
But, as she passed them and entered the town, she had her first glimpse of what seemed to her a magnificent Temple.
She realised that there was a lot of broken statues on either side of the road and she so wished that she had someone with her who could tell her about them.
But it was almost enough just to see the beauty of the statues even though many of them needed repairing and were suffering from old age and neglect.
She walked until she saw on one side of her, what she was sure must be the Parthenon.
It was built on high ground so that she had to climb over some very rough rocks to enter it.
It was just as exciting as she expected it to be and she felt that there was a very special atmosphere about the Parthenon.
She had felt the same when she read the books on Greece and she had known that in some strange way they meant a great deal to her, although she could not exactly put it into words.
The tall statues inside the Temple were even more beautiful than those she had seen along the roadside.
She went from one to the other thinking that only ancient Greece had been able to depict a woman in stone and make her as stunningly beautiful as if she was
living and breathing.
She was so intent on what she was seeing that it was with a start she realised that time had passed and that she should be returning to the Port where Ivor would be waiting for her.
It was then she noticed that she had walked right through the Parthenon.
When she came out at the other end, there was then a long drop down onto the bare ground beneath it.
She had a feeling that it would take her a long time to find her way back.
The quickest way would be for her to climb down from where she was now and then make for the road that led back to the Port.
The only problem seemed to be the long drop from the building to the ground and there did not appear to be a path unless she went back the way she had come in.
‘I am sure I can manage it,’ she decided.
Equally it was a long way to fall and she might hurt easily herself.
She sat down at the edge of the Temple and thought perhaps if she let herself down gently, holding tightly onto the stone wall above her, she would then only have to drop down a few feet.
She could then reach what appeared to be much less rocky ground than there had been in front of the building.
But it was definitely a long drop and she felt rather frightened.
It was then unexpectedly from beneath her a voice asked,
“Can I help you?”
She looked down and saw a man gazing up at her.
She realised that he had spoken to her in English.
“I would be very very grateful if you could do so,” she answered. “I am frightened of falling and it’s such a long way back to the front of the Temple.”
He smiled.
“This is definitely the quickest way if you want to return to civilisation. But you will have to trust me not to let you fall.”
She then glanced down and thought once again that it was dangerous and that she might hurt herself.
Admittedly there was plenty of grass on the ground below, but there were a number of sharp looking stones as well.
“Just trust me,” the man said. “I promise you that you will not hurt yourself.”
He stood below her and held out his arms.
She lowered herself as carefully as she could until he was able to clasp her first round the legs and then round her waist.
She reached the ground with the man holding onto her tightly for the last yard.
Then breathlessly she stammered,
“Thank you – very much – it was so kind of you.”
“You have to be careful in these ruins,” he replied. “The stones round them are very sharp and I have heard that several people have injured themselves considerably by falling on them.”
“I can only thank you for saving me,” Weena said. “Now, as I am already late, I must hurry back to the ship.”
“Why are you leaving Greece in such a hurry?” he asked.
“I only wish we could stay longer,” Weena replied, “but my brother and I are travelling to England.”
“Then I will not keep you,” the stranger said. “But I hope you will have happy memories of Greece rather than injured ones.”
“I will indeed – thanks to you,” Weena answered.
She smiled at him.
Then, because she knew that Ivor would be angry if she kept him waiting, she started to run towards the road.
When she reached it, she turned back and saw that the stranger who had helped her was standing where she had left him.
She waved her hand and he waved back.
Then she started to run along the road, on which there was very little traffic, towards the Port.
When she arrived there breathlessly, she found, as she expected, that Ivor was waiting impatiently for her.
“You are late,” he scolded her. “I began to worry that you might have been captured by brigands or far more likely joined the Gods at Olympus.”
“I would love to do that,” Weena replied. “Have you found a ship for us, Ivor?”
“There is one coming in later this afternoon from Constantinople and they have assured me that we will have no difficulty in getting aboard it.”
“That sounds excellent news,” Weena said. “All the same I would like to have stayed longer in Greece.”
“We must not waste our money unnecessarily!” he replied sharply. “England is where our future comfort lies and the sooner we get down to business the better.”
Weena drew in her breath.
She knew exactly what he was saying.
But she had no wish to be married especially to a man who she would have to marry not for love but because he was rich and influential.
Yet it was no use saying so to Ivor. He had planned everything and for the moment at any rate she must agree with him.
They had something to eat and drink in the nearest café to the Port.
All the time Ivor was watching out to catch sight of the English ship that he had been told about sailing in from Constantinople.
“I am thankful to say,” he said, “that they told me it is not one of the largest or most expensive ships which the English now have on the seas. However it is a comfortable one. That will give us a chance to relax and plan what we will do when we reach London.”
“It still frightens me to think that we know no one,” Weena answered, “and I am still hoping that the people on your list will invite us to their parties.”
“They will invite us if they think we are important enough. So you must never forget for a moment that you are a Princess and I am a Prince.”
“Are we using these new identities on the ship?” Weena asked.
Ivor shook his head.
“No, of course no! They would expect us to pay far more than I intend to pay for the trip. We only become distinguished when we are actually on British soil. If by any chance they realise that we have been calling ourselves Dawson, it was merely because we had no wish for anyone to treat us as if we were Royalty and so we are travelling incognito.”
Weena laughed.
“You have certainly thought out every little detail. I do think it’s very intelligent of you. At the same time I admit that I am rather frightened.”
“Just leave everything to me, Weena, I have been planning this now for a long time. As I have told you, there will be many people who will, I am certain, be only too pleased to welcome us to their houses because we were such good friends of Prince Feodor.”
Weena thought that there was a certain amount of risk in his plan.
But she did not say so.
She merely waited as her brother was doing until the English ship sailed into Port.
They saw that a fair number of those travelling on it were disembarking and they obviously intended to stay in Athens because their luggage was taken off with them.
Ivor waited until the ship seemed empty of those who had been travelling on it before he went on board to visit the Purser.
“My name is Dawson,” he then introduced himself. “My sister and I want two cabins that are comfortable, but not too expensive.”
The Purser smiled.
“Welcome aboard, sir. I am sure we will be able to accommodate you.”
“I hope so,” Ivor replied. “I have quite a number of goods from Russia that I am taking back to England to be sold and they are valuable to me. I hope that you will be able to arrange a safe place for them where they will not be damaged or stolen.”
“I assure you, sir, nothing is stolen from this ship,” the Purser said. “As to your luggage being valuable, we can deposit it in a locked storage room where it will be perfectly safe until we arrive in London.”
“That is exactly what I want and thank you for your assistance. Would it be possible for us to see our cabins now?”
The Purser looked down at the list he had in front of him.
“There are two cabins near each other that were not used on the outward journey,” he said. “They are therefore available immediately if you would care to see t
hem.”
“Thank you, I would like to do so,” Ivor replied.
They were then taken below to what Weena felt sure was the Second Class and shown their cabins.
They were indeed small but the bunks looked fairly comfortable and there was room for one trunk, but nothing else.
“These will suit my sister and me nicely,” Ivor told the Purser. “Now will you please show me your secure storage room?”
They were taken to a lower deck and shown into a large dark hold where all the luggage he had brought with him could be locked up and he would be given the key.
It all took time as Ivor arranged the cases himself so that however rough the sea might become they would not be damaged in any way.
Then they went up on deck.
They had learnt from the Purser that they were not staying long in Greece.
The people who had gone ashore had already seen the notice on the way out and they were now in a hurry to go back on board ship rather than spend their time looking at Temples and the other famous sights of Athens.
Watching them now walk up the gangway, Weena thought that they looked rather dull and what her mother would have called ‘middle class English’.
There were also a good few men who she was quite certain were salesmen. They sat down at once at one of the bridge tables and started to gamble amongst themselves.
There was no one, she thought, of any particular interest. They were mostly men who were very obviously travelling on business and a few elderly couples who were on holiday.
When the last passenger had come aboard, the ship began to move slowly out of Port.
“We are not full,” Weena said to her brother.
“I am thankful for that,” he replied. “It means that we will receive more attention and then not have to bother ourselves with talking to people who we have never seen before and will hopefully never see again.”
Weena grinned.
“It’s not quite as bad as that.”
“They are a very dull lot as far as I can ascertain,” Ivor replied. “But then we are not on one of the smart ships that are not only very expensive but have a dramatic appearance, which is what I have planned for us when we reach London!”
“You are so sure that we will be welcome,” Weena remarked, “that I am just beginning to believe it myself.”
Rescued by Love Page 5
