"Most journeys begin less abruptly than they end, and to fix the true beginning of this one in either time or space is a task which I do not care to undertake."
-Goodbye. Goodbye and good luck.
-Au revoir, mes amis.
The train track turns and runs through low hills, the locomotive disappears, all that can be seen are puffs of steam; aboard it are Peter Fleming, Special Correspondent to The Times, and Ella Maillart, Swiss adventuress, they are at the beginning of a secretive--to the Chinese authorities, anyway--travel adventure. Their goal is British India.
The door opens and Santiago enters the compartment, he is carrying a large parcel. "Here you go; something to last until we reach the peanuts." He sits down and opens the parcel, "Hmm, Nuts, rice things, dumplings, more rice and, aha, sesame buns. And some strange brown stuff." He sniffs it and shakes his head. "Sorry Posie, I don't know what this is." To Elizabeth he says, "I'll leave it with you but don't eat all of it; it may have to last us a while. Is everything okay?" He looks into her eyes.
"Yes, everything's swell, honey," says Elisabeth, grinning wide and getting lost for a moment in Santiago's eyes. She puts her arms around him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, we're famished. Posie, dear, you have first choice. What would you like to eat?"
Caroline gives Santiago a welcoming smile, disregarding the scene of tenderness between him and Elisabeth.
"Ah, Senor Aguila! You come to us at the height of our need. Our young Lady Posie, brave though she is, was nearly overcome by hunger. Indeed, I feared she was going to eat me whole!"
Despite the gaiety of her remark, there is a sultry emphasis on the last part of that sentence that seems to electrify the air.
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
Santiago shifts uncomfortably and gives Caroline a strange look. Once everyone has had something from the bag he takes some food himself; he takes four buns, some rice and the brown stuff, and then stands up. "I'll take this out to Henry, see you in a bit." He says gruffly and then leaves the compartment, frowning.
"Yes, I think the chaps are a bit intimidated by you, Caroline," says Elisabeth, grinning, "but that's one of the things I like about you. I can be outspoken sometimes too, but I can only take it so far. That's what comes of my diplomatic ambitions. It's funny, but in diplomacy one cannot say what one truly thinks. Otherwise there'd be constant war. Still, there are ways to get the point across without actually saying it."
"You're quite welcome," says Elisabeth, eating her rice. "This trip is the most action I've seen. I never thought I was cut out for that sort of life, really. I'm not all that strong physically, though I've made up for it by developing my mind."