The Island of Love (Camfield Series No. 15) by Barbara Cartland

Jewellers.”
    “Crowns or no crowns,” Heloise said, “I want everybody to look at me! The moment we arrive in Honolulu you must press all my gowns, and make quite certain that my hats have not been crushed by all this tedious travelling.”
    “Do not worry,” Lydia said. “You will look lovely! I am sure everybody will be overwhelmed by you.” She thought as Heloise was ready to leave the train that nobody could have looked lovelier.
    Because it was quite warm in San Francisco she was wearing a silk gown in her favourite shade of blue with a small velvet coatee over it and an elegant hat trimmed with flowers of the same colour which seemed to accentuate the gold of her hair and the translucence of her skin.
    There were officers of the ship’s company to meet them on the station, and Lydia quickly realised that from now on the Earl was being treated as the Queen’s Representative and would be accorded every possible honour by the British.
    They drove in an open carriage down to the dock and she had her first glimpse of San Francisco’s fantastic roads which went straight up and down the hills on which the town was built so that the horses had great difficulty in not slipping, and on some slopes had to zig-zag to reach the top.
    All too soon they reached the harbour and amongst the hundreds of ships which made up the fishing fleet with their high masts and their white sails was waiting for them, the British Battleship, HMS Victorious.
    It was, although Lydia was not aware of it, a very old ship which had been sent to the Pacific for the last years of her life before she was taken to the scrapyard.
    However she looked extremely smart with her crew all wearing white covers on their caps, and their white summer uniforms with bell-bottom trousers.
    The Earl and his party were piped aboard and were welcomed by the Captain who was wearing a large number of medals.
    He made a brief speech of welcome to the Earl who replied and then they were taken below to their cabins.
    These were very different from those they had enjoyed on the Etruria.
    The Earl was given the Captain’s cabin, which was the largest and had a Sitting-Room attached to it, while the rest of the party were accommodated in the cabins of the officers.
    These Lydia learnt, had been moved down in order of seniority, and she was sorry for the midshipmen who had obviously been pushed out into any hole or corner they could find to accommodate them.
    Her cabin was exactly the same as Heloise’s, small but well fitted and quite comfortable.
    Heloise complained volubly.
    “It is far too tiny,” she said scornfully. “I shall feel as if I am in my coffin!”
    “Oh, Heloise, do not say such things!” Lydia begged. “It is unlucky!”
    “At least there are Englishmen aboard,” Heloise went on, “and I have every intention of looking pretty tonight, so start unpacking my things!”
    It was impossible for Heloise’s enormous amount of luggage to fit into her cabin, so some of her trunks had to be left outside in the passage.
    Lydia had to find the one which contained the gown she wished to wear and all the accessories that went with it.
    It took her so long to get Heloise ready in time for dinner that she only had a few minutes to change her own clothes. She realised as she did so, that the ship had already put to sea.
    There was, she thought, hardly any swell as they left harbour and moved a little way along the coast before setting out into the Pacific Ocean.
    At dinner when she was sitting next to a young and enthusiastic officer who was obviously delighted to talk to her he told her that it would take five days to reach Honolulu.
    “We are all looking forward to the Coronation,” he said, “and if it is anything like the usual Hawaiian Festivities it will go on for days!”
    He sounded so delighted at what lay ahead that Lydia was certain he was visualising how pretty the dancers would be and that he would make the very most of his time ashore.
    She had