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One Sunday in early January, Mary Helston offered to take Evie, with Jasmine and her school friend Penny, to swim in the Jungle Pools at Taiping on the mainland. It was Evie’s first trip across on the ferry since arriving in Penang. Mary had borrowed her father’s motor-car and Evie was glad to escape from George Town and to do so without the company of Benny. Evie felt constantly under a microscope worried that the servants compared her with Felicity and found her wanting. And while the Malayan was always courteous and correct, Evie had never managed to accustom herself to being driven about in a large car by a servant. She felt out of place and uncomfortable, remembering her own years as a paid companion. Today would be a relaxing change, and she approached the trip with excitement an
