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stupidity – and warn me how I must guard against diluted milk, falsified accounts and tailors who cut garments too small in order to steal the extra cloth. They have not a good word to say about anyone. One of them complains that her khansamah, ordered to serve jugged hare for a dinner party, served it with its fur still on, having singed only its ears! Another tells of how her ‘boy’ informed them, in front of their dinner guests, that the pudding had been burnt, but in trying to dodge her husband’s attempts to box his ears for his impertinence he dislodged his turban, and the pudding, which he had concealed there, fell to the floor. When I laughed they looked quite shocked, but it seems to me that such antics must provide some diversion in what otherwise seems a very dull life.
    I almost feel sorry for the poor natives, and wonder if they feel themselves to be as fortunate to be ruled by us as we consider them to be. If I were a native I should much rather be at the mercy of an oriental despot than Mrs. Weston! At lunch today she told us how she once suspected her children’s ayah of stealing their sweetmeats, so she poisoned the sweets with emetic of tartar and turned the woman off when she became ill. In future I shall take the precaution of arriving at the table before she does!
    Please tell Cook I have her lucky stone safe. I wear it around my neck under my dress, but at dinner yesterday it slipped out when I leant forward and Mrs. Weston saw it and asked me what it was. I explained that it is believed toward off witches, and that it also serves as a talisman against drowning. She gave me her poached pike stare, muttered something about superstition and has not spoken to me since. So please tell Cook it is fulfilling both its purposes!
    But really, Mina, despite my complaints I know I am fortunate, for if I were not travelling with James and Louisa I should be confined to the lower deck with the other unaccompanied ladies. For the sins of being unmarried and travelling alone, they are segregated from the rest of the passengers and must even eat separately. As many of them are going to friends in India in the hope of catching a husband there, they are nicknamed ‘the Fishing Fleet’, and those who return unwed are called ‘Returned Empties’. How very humiliating that must be!
    I must stop now as I must write to Arthur and to Mama and Papa. We shall be at Gibraltar tomorrow and I can post my letters there. I shall write again from Malta. How I wish you were with me, but you must come and visit as soon as we’re settled!
    Your loving sister, Cecily
Malta, 23rd September 1855
    My precious Mina,
    Your letters were waiting when we got here and it was so good to have news of everyone at home. I received a letter from Peter too. He says his heart is broken and he will never care for anyone again. I am sorry to have disappointed his hopes, but I never led him to think I cared for him. I could never do so, knowing him as we have since we were babies. I know you will be kind to him, Mina.
    Since we entered the Mediterranean, the sea has been much calmer and Louisa has been able to get up and move around. She says she is so thankful to me for caring for the children, but I need no thanks, for I have not enjoyed myself so much since I put my hair up and was no longer permitted to climb trees.
    There is a Mrs. Burton at our table who is returning to India after leaving her children in England. She eats hardly anything, drinks only water and seems always on the verge of tears. The other ladies hardly address a word to her. Her husband, who is a magistrate, seems very solicitous. He told James the Indian climate did not suit her and she came Home a year ago with the children to recuperate. She is now returning to India with him, and the children have been left with relatives.
    Louisa says she dreads the thought of parting with hers when it is time for them to go to school, as neither she nor James has any family living and