CHAPTER VI


It was the doctor who saw Marcella on to the _Oriana_ at Tilbury. Aunt
Janet had not suggested coming with her: it had not occurred to her as
the sort of thing that was necessary, nor had Marcella given it a
thought. Left to herself, she would have taken train blithely from
Carlossie to Edinburgh and thence to London--imagining London not very
much more formidable than a larger Carlossie. But the doctor made them
see that it was quite necessary for someone to see her off safely, and
naturally the job fell to him.

The booking of the passage had caused considerable discussion. Aunt
Janet had written to the shipping company asking them to reserve a
saloon berth by the first mail-boat after a certain date. That it took
nearly all the money she had or was likely to have, as far as she could
see, for the rest of her days, did not trouble her in the least. She
could live on nothing, she told herself--and it was absolutely necessary
that Andrew's child should go away, even though she was going to seek
the once-refused charity of a relative, with the maximum of dignity and
with flags flying. But the doctor had a talk with her about it. He had
had three trips as ship's doctor to Australia on P. and O. steamers, and
his imagination reeled at the prospect of Marcella in the average saloon
on a long-distance liner.

"You see," he said, trying hard to be tactful, "if Marcella travels
first class she'll need many clothes. There are no laundries on most of
these ships, and it's a six weeks' trip. In the tropics you need to be
changing all day if you care a brass farthing for your appearance." He
did not tell her that Marcella's frankness and her lack of conventional