The Lioness of Morocco(70)

Emily was just as unnerved. Her decision to elope weighed heavily on her. Sabri had certainly already paid for his passage on the Queen Charlotte. But now she felt like she was betraying her mother. Not for the first time, she opened her mouth but was unable to utter a single word. Charlotte was pushing against her knees and pointed to the drawing on her lap. “Ooh, what a big house!”

“This house is called Qasr el Bahia,” Emily replied, “and it’s in the mountains. Can you see those mountaintops? They’re white because there’s snow up there.”

“What’s snow?” Selwyn wanted to know.

Victoria smiled as she looked up from her embroidering. “In the winter, there was snow in London, and sometimes even ice on the Thames. But you don’t remember that, do you?”

Selwyn’s eyes grew large and he shook his head.

“Mother,” Emily started, and once again she stopped short.

Her mother looked so tired, so worried. Emily thought about how devastated she would be to learn that her only daughter had deluded her, that her journey was only a subterfuge. Finally, in desperation, she blurted it out all at once. “I’ve been thinking, Mother, and I believe you’re right. I will travel to London and start my art studies. I’ll leave on the Queen Charlotte whenever she sets sail.”

“But that’s tomorrow!” Sibylla cried out. “How on earth are we to get everything ready?”

“We shall just have to be quick,” Emily replied, her heart pounding. How she longed to tell her mother the truth!

Grateful for the diversion, Sibylla began pacing back and forth and pondering all that had to be organized in such a short time. “Nadira, fetch Firyal! She’s going to accompany Emily to Europe. And she must help me pack.”

“At once, my lady. I’ll get the trunks out of the storage room and clean them.” Nadira hurried away.

Victoria listened with mixed feelings. She was struck by a perfect yet unreasonable idea that she could not shake off.

“Who is going to accompany Emily?” Victoria cautiously inquired. “You, Mother?”

Sibylla smiled as she looked up from the list she was making. “Actually, I was going to ask if you might be so kind. You would be doing me a great service.”

Victoria’s eyes were brimming with tears. “No, you would be doing me one,” she finally managed to say.

Then she remembered Charlotte and Selwyn. “I can’t leave,” she said sadly. “What about the children?”

Footsteps could be heard on the wooden stairs and, a short time later, John appeared. He had just come from Qaid Samir to inquire whether the thief or thieves had been apprehended.

“What was that about the children?” he asked and mussed Selwyn’s hair. Then he spotted the tea table. “Isn’t that my favorite type of cake? Surely you three weren’t going to eat these all by yourselves?”

While Emily poured tea for him, Sibylla grabbed a plate and heaped numerous small cakes on it. “Here you are, my son. Enjoy!”

“You wouldn’t be trying to bribe me by any chance, would you?” he asked, only half joking. “Out with it: What are you two plotting?”

Sibylla laughed sheepishly. “Emily has decided to travel to London tomorrow, and I have asked Victoria to go with her.”

“Excuse me?” John froze, cake suspended halfway to his mouth. “What can you be thinking? Who’s going to care for the children? Victoria cannot take them with her. The winter in England is bad for Selwyn’s lungs.”

“Victoria is not going forever. Emily’s studies will take only a year. Charlotte and Selwyn are well cared for right here, and it’s simply impossible for Emily to travel alone.”

John resolutely shook his head. “No, I won’t allow it.”

“But, John,” Sibylla tried.

“I’m going!”

Everyone’s head spun around. Charlotte and Selwyn abruptly stopped their game of catch. Victoria had jumped up from her chair, her embroidering fallen to the floor.

“I am going to London with Emily. Tomorrow morning!” she announced. “Your mother is absolutely right, John. The children are well cared for. I’ll miss them terribly, that’s true.” Her voice trembled and she furtively wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “But I’m not leaving them forever. I’m coming back.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying!” John was shattered. His wife had never before opposed him so resolutely.

“Oh yes, John Hopkins, I know exactly what I’m saying!” Victoria’s cheeks were burning. “For the past two years, not a day has gone by that I have not been homesick. Now I have the chance to see England again, and I will go whether you like it or not!”

John could only stare at her, speechless. Sibylla bit her lips to hide a smile, but Emily clapped her hands and shouted, “Bravo, Victoria!”

“You women always stick together!” John snapped at her angrily.

Victoria went to him and put her hand on his arm. “I believe that I will find life in Mogador easier if I can spend a little time at home,” she explained quietly.

“Your home is here,” he grumbled and then, when she did not say anything, added uneasily, “Who knows, if you go, maybe you won’t want to return.”

“But of course I’ll come back. Surely you don’t think that I’ll leave you and the children!”

John struggled for several moments before forcing out the words, “All right then, go, for God’s sake.”

After another long silence, Sibylla asked, “John, what did Qaid Samir say? Does he have any information on the thieves?”

“He’s posted guards at all the city gates as well as at the harbor, but there’s no trace so far. I still have work to do, so if you’ll excuse me.” A few moments later, the front door was loudly pulled shut.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t—” Victoria started awkwardly.

“Of course you should!” Sibylla said. “My son will have to get used to the fact that, every now and then, his wife makes her own decisions.”



Late that night, there was a soft knock on Sibylla’s bedroom door. Emily’s voice whispered timidly, “Are you still awake, Mummy?”

“Come in!” Sibylla hastily stuffed her tattered edition of the One Thousand and One Nights into the drawer of her nightstand and sat up on her pillows.

Emily slipped inside the room. She was barefoot and, despite being almost twenty-one, her wide nightgown and long curls made Sibylla think wistfully of the little girl she had been. She felt a rush of sadness at the thought that her youngest was about to leave for faraway England.

The day had ended in a mad rush. The news that she would accompany Emily and Victoria had caused Firyal to panic. “Please don’t do this to me, my lady, I beg you!” she had implored. “The ocean’s evil spirits will devour our ship and we will all drown!”

She had only given herself over to fate after much cajoling, many tears, and the promise of extra pay.

Then they’d realized that neither Emily nor the servant had clothes suitable for the English winter. Victoria offered some of her own, and Nadira altered them as best she could. Still, Emily’s dress was too short and Firyal’s too tight. But they would have to do until a new wardrobe could be acquired in London.

And then the messenger Sibylla had sent to the Queen Charlotte to reserve two cabins had returned with bad news. Because she was a cargo vessel, the Queen Charlotte had few passenger cabins and all but one were occupied. Emily, Victoria, and Firyal would have to share one cabin. Knowing how cramped conditions on a ship were, Sibylla could only hope that the two very different sisters-in-law would not have a complete falling-out before they had berthed in London.

“You’re excited, aren’t you?” she asked her daughter.

Emily nodded.

“I feel the same.” Sibylla pulled back her bedspread and patted the mattress. “Come here, little one.”

Emily happily slipped in next to her mother. Sibylla tucked the covers in around them and put her arm around her daughter. The dimly flickering light of the oil lamp danced on the dark walls and furniture.

Emily snuggled up to her mother. “Almost like the old days, isn’t it, Mummy?”

Sibylla smiled. “You mean when Firyal told you stories about the djinn that skulked around our house at night and you wanted to sleep with me because you were afraid?”

“She used to do that to punish me whenever I snuck sweets. But now she’s afraid that Satan’s son, Zalamur, is going to drag our ship down to hell.” Emily giggled.

“And what about you?” Sibylla stroked her daughter’s hair. “Are you afraid of your trip to England?”

Emily was silent, and Sibylla was surprised to see tears in her eyes. She had thought that Emily’s curiosity and love of adventure would overpower any fear of the unknown.

“You’re going to have a wonderful time in England, my sweet girl. I’m going to give you a letter for your uncle Oscar to explain the reasons for your unannounced visit, and I’m quite sure that the family will be delighted to meet you. And I will inform your father of your departure as well.”

Emily began to cry. “Oh, Mummy, I shall miss you and Father so much!”