Free Fragrant Flower by Barbara Cartland Page A

suddenly.
    Azalea had started to sing and her voice sounded gay. He was sure it was a folk song but – she was singing in Russian!
    It had been entirely Azalea’s idea that she should keep the children occupied.
    She had expected, once the ship had started to roll, that she would be constantly in attendance upon her aunt, but the P. & O. Doctor was used to voyages which invariably started with a rough and tumble in the Bay of Biscay.
    As soon as Lady Osmund began to complain querulously and incessantly about how ill she felt, he provided her with what he called his ‘Soothing Syrup’, two teaspoonfuls of which kept her asleep for most of the day.
    The twins, after being extremely seasick, were quite prepared to lie in their bunks talking to each other and make no effort to get up.
    They did not want Azalea, and apart from the fact that she washed and ironed their nightgowns, there was very little she need do for them.
    When she learnt therefore from the stewardesses of the enormous amount of work caused by the other seasick passengers, she offered to help.
    “We can’t allow you to do that, Miss,” the stewardesses said. “You’re First Class and the Purser would have a fit if he thought we were putting on you.”
    “You would not be doing that,” Azalea assured them. “I work very hard when I am at home.”
    “You don’t have to pay for it,” the stewardess retorted, “and being First Class on the Orissa entitles you to every comfort.”
    “There must be something I can do,” Azalea insisted.
    The stewardess had hesitated.
    “You have thought of something?”
    “I don’t think as I ought to mention it, Miss. I’ll get into trouble – I know I will!”
    “I promise you that will not happen,” Azalea said, “but do let me help you.”
    “Well, it’s just that there’s a Chinese lady in the Second Class. She’s ever so nice, Miss, much nicer than I ever thought the Chinese would be, but she’s really sick and she’s got a little boy.”
    “I will help you look after him,” Azalea said, before the stewardess could say any more.
    “If she could just get a quiet sleep in the afternoons she’d be all right,” the stewardess said. “But you know what a child of a year old is like! Crawling about the cabin, wanting a drink when I’ve just settled her down, asking for this and asking for that.”
    “Is she travelling alone?” Azalea asked.
    “No, she’s got her husband with her, but he’s very grand! Chinese men! They don’t wait on their wives, they expect to be waited upon!”
    “So I have always heard,” Azalea said with a smile. “Let me come and see this lady.”
    “I don’t know that you should,” the stewardess protested. But finally Azalea overruled all the difficulties and found herself meeting Mrs. Chang who, to her surprise, was younger than she was herself.
    Although she was ill, Mrs. Chang was to Azalea’s eyes one of the loveliest people she had ever seen.
    With her hair so black it was almost blue, drawn back from her perfect oval forehead, crows-feather eyebrows, slanting eyes and cupid’s bow mouth, she had an exotic odalisque beauty.
    Jam Kin was the most adorable child imaginable.
    In his long trousers and little satin coat that buttoned at the neck he seemed to Azalea like a toy, and even when he sat on her knee she could hardly believe he was real.
    Mrs. Chang spoke quite good English, and when Azalea sat on the floor of her cabin and played with Jam Kin she soon learnt that Mr. Chang was much older than his wife and a very important merchant in Hong Kong.
    She also guessed from the contents of Mrs. Chang’s cabin and her jewellery that her husband was extremely rich, but it was accepted that the Chinese should not presume to travel First Class but should be accommodated on a lower deck. Mr. Chang had, however, engaged three cabins. One was the Sitting Room where, while his wife was ill, he sat alone, and there were two bedroom cabins.
    When Azalea suggested