Francis

This story is for persons of eighteen years or over. All comments, good or bad, are welcome and all will be answered.

Part Eight

Two days later, it was my birthday. I'd almost forgotten it and I hadn't told Diane or Ralph about it.

`You should have told me! I haven't got a present for you,' Diane said.

`Well I don't know when yours is either, so what's the difference.' We'd had our morning shower and I'd just finished doing my make-up when I had told her this and I got dressed while she sat down before the mirror.

Then both of us looking like two beauty queens, went down for breakfast. Ralph was already there, and Diane told him. He mumbled his congrats from around the toast he was eating while I began to tackle my enormous plate of food.

`What are your plans for today then?' Diane asked.

`To do as little as possible and enjoy myself,' I answered.

`I think we should do a little rehearsal. Our third and seventh numbers for tonight are a bit squiffy,' Ralph put in.

`I think I can manage that. Oh shit! I've got a party to do this afternoon. Only a small one though, so we'll have to do the rehearsing this morning.'

So we worked out the kinks in those numbers, and then had a couple of drinks at the bar to toast my birthday. The other birthday, was a party for a sweet little girl that went off very well. When I whispered that it was my birthday too, she let me help her blow out the candles on the cake, and I got the first slice. Now they were the kind of kid's parties that I like. Just being there and acting pleasant and not having to try and stop them running around and trying to kill each other. Also, when it's over, walk away and let somebody else clean up the mess.

The barman had obviously overheard us earlier, because he wished me many happy returns and gave me a large gin and tonic on the house as soon as I sat on a stool. Then George bought me one as Diane and Ralph showed up, so more drinks came. I managed to switch two of my large ones for singles, as I still had a show to do.

We were quite merry when we started the show, and it went rather well with a bit of ad libbing. Then Ralph went and embarrassed me at the end by playing Happy Birthday and got all the audience singing while I stood there feeling rather foolish, but it was a good laugh really.

George brought in a huge tray of drinks to the dressing room, saying that they were all from some of the passengers who'd insisted that we had them. It was well past one o'clock when we'd finished them and went down below to our cabin. Diane bounced off a few bulkheads on the way, and I don't think Ralph or I could walk a straight line. Diane insisted that we have another drink and poured them out, being rather heavy with the gin. Then she toasted me again and gave me a kiss, and Ralph did to.

What am I doing?' he laughed. I shouldn't really kiss you, only shake your hand.'

Get used to it Ralph,' I said. You should kiss me more often. Think of how silly it would look, if on the stage one night you kissed Diane and only shook my hand. Both of us would look like bloody fools.'

She's right,' Diane slurred. Give her another kiss, it's her birthday. A proper one this time, on the lips.' Ralph blushed a little, but got up from the chair, a bit wobbly, but came and planted a smacker on my lips.

`There!' and sat down again.

Could do with a little practice,' I said, but thanks all the same.'

`S'good,' Diane slurred, and I looked at her just as her eyes went cross eyed before closing and she fell sideways on the bunk. I somehow caught the glass just before it hit the deck, but losing what little gin there was left in it.

`One down, two to go,' and Ralph was slurring his words now. He made to get up, but I pushed him back down.

`You haven't finished your drink. House rules,' and I think I was speaking the same way now as he was. It took a few minutes, but he managed to drink up without spilling any. He got up and swayed. I went and put my hands on his waist to steady him and he put his hands on my shoulders. I think we were both swaying as we looked into each other's eyes.

`I think I could francy you Fancis,' he said.

`Well give me a proper kiss and find out.' His head wavered a bit and as he leaned in closer, his eyes closed and our lips met. It was a nice kiss, soft and gentle.

`There. Was that better or not?' his eyes open again but looking distinctly glassy. As he had pulled me close as we kissed, I felt that he did fancy me because he'd got a hard on.

As it's my birthday, I'm going to give you a present,' I said as I pushed him back down on the chair and undid the front of his trousers. He started to protest, but I pushed his hands away. This is my present to you,' and pulled his erection out of his trousers. I'd never seen a circumcised man before and looked at it with fascination. The head was a purple red colour from the blood inside, and it looked very angry. It had a thin ridge of scar tissue round the base of the head, but the rest was the same as the others, silky skin covering solid muscle in that state.

`What a big boy,' I said, taking him in and starting to suck on him. Why do all men groan when a hot mouth covers their own hot cock? A drunk normally takes some time before he can come, but Ralph didn't. A minute at the most of me sucking and working my hand up and down his shaft brought about the desired result. His hands had moved to hold my head as he came in short sharp bursts, giving little bucks with his hips. I sucked and swallowed as he did so, feeling the tenseness leaving his body. I kept my mouth on him to suck out the final drops before releasing him.

I put him back into his trousers and with a little difficulty, managed to button him up. His eyes opened, and when focused, looked down at me and smiled.

Thank you Francis. That was very nice. Let's have more birthdays, eh?' I stood up with a smile and helped him to stand, and then he weaved the short distance to the door. Can find own way home,' and reeled out of the cabin. I looked out to watch him stagger off to his cabin and hoped that the other occupant was asleep and not take advantage of Ralph being in that condition. I closed the door after he had turned the corner and went and sat down on the edge of Diane's bunk. She looked so peaceful sleeping there and I thought of how nice it would be to sleep too, but my bed was up top, but this was closer, so I lay down next to her and promptly fell asleep.

Three bleary eyed entertainers sat down to a late breakfast. I was sitting opposite them as we drank coffee and waited to be served.

`Enjoy yourself last night?' I asked, looking at Ralph.

`Yes thanks,' he replied, not looking at me but at the plate of food that had just been placed there. I could see the flush of red at his collar. Diane could see it too.

`What happened?' she asked.

`Nothing,' he mumbled.

`Yes there was! What was it?' she demanded of me. I could see that she wasn't going to let it go.

`Nothing really. He was drunk and so was I. I just gave him a blow job,' trying to make it sound off hand.

`How could you?' she said, looking at Ralph, slamming her knife and fork down on the table.

`I couldn't help it. I didn't do anything,' he stammered.

`And you Francis? Why did you do it?'

`Oh for Christ's sake Diane. It was only a blow job. Nothing else. Just wait until you two get together, you'll probably have more fun than we did. Then we can all be one big happy family.' They both gave a quick glance at each other and I saw that their eye's had met before looking away again.

Oh so it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black. You've already gone and done it, haven't you?' No answer and both had looked down at their plates. So what's good for the goose isn't good enough for the gander. When did you?' I demanded.

`That afternoon you were up in that suite,' Diane mumbled.

`And you weren't going to tell me?'

`I would have, at the right time,' she answered.

`I didn't think we had any secrets Diane, you could have told me.'

`I thought it would upset you. You did say you fancied him, and well, I thought you might hate me for doing it.'

Hate you? Christ woman, I like my cock as much as you do, so you get it where you can. I don't hate you, but I wish you'd told me before, then I wouldn't have blown him.' Poor Ralph was sitting there, red faced and unable to eat at this show down, him being the piggy in the middle as it were. I'm glad that you did. It takes the guilt off me that I've had since I got up this morning. I only wish that he would fuck me too, and then we'd all be happy.' There were tears in Diane's eyes and I put my hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. Come on,' I said softly now. I still love you. I love you both, now let's eat this now cold breakfast.' She gave me a smile and picked up her knife and fork and started to eat. I put a big forkful of scrambled egg in my mouth and spoke round it. `Ralph tasted good, but not as good as these eggs.' That made her laugh and drew a smile from Ralph.

That breakfast confrontation made a difference in our relationship, but not in the way of our feelings towards each other, but of us as an act, a trio of performers. Though I was the youngest, I took over as leader of the group. Not in an authoritative way, it was more subtle than that. If a decision had to be made on something, they would both look to me to give the final answer, and it was accepted. Other than that, we all still tossed ideas for a show into a pot and waited to see what bubbled to the top.

With the air cleared, we had a good rehearsal and worked up quite a sweat with some dance routines, ridding our bodies of the previous night's gin. Which we promptly put back in the dressing room when we'd finished before going below for a shower.

Ralph went off to his cabin while we went to ours where we undressed and went for a shower. That's one good thing about being on board ship, and that there is always hot water. Water that doesn't suddenly go cold when somebody else in the house turns on the wrong tap. All pink and warm, I hurried along after Diane back to the cabin. Diane asked if she could brush my hair, which was now getting rather long. For rehearsing, I always made a pony tail of it, so it was a bit tangled. I poured us both a drink and sat down facing the mirror.

My aunts used to do this for me every night and sometimes during the day. I loved the feel of the brush as it ran across my scalp and felt the gentle tugs as a small knot was encountered. It was soothing and sensuous and I could easily get an erection having my hair done. What with getting glimpses of a breast in the mirror as Diane brushed away. Her gown had come open and these odd flashes, coupled with the vision of her on her bunk with Ralph brought my lower part up to attention.

As she used the brush, she tried to apologise again, and I, without the intention of punning, brushed it aside. I told her it was done and I hoped that they would do so again in the future.

`You're not mad at me, are you, really I mean?' she asked when she'd finished and I got up.

`Of course not Diane,' I said, taking her into my arms and kissing her. I could feel her breast against my bare chest, the nipple soft at that moment. Then my erection touched her flesh through a fold of her robe, and I felt her nipple harden instantly.

`Oh Francis, though I like Ralph, I do love you. Truly I do,' she said, pressing herself closer to me.

`I love you too Diane,' I said before kissing her eyes, nose and mouth and slipping the robe off her shoulders so that I could kiss them too as well as her neck and throat. I felt her tremble as she released me for a moment so that her robe could fall down around her feet.

`Make love to me Francis,' she whispered in my ear, pulling me back towards her bunk. She pushed off my robe so that our naked bodies could touch each other's as we lay down on her mattress. With my knee tight up at her groin and my erection lying on her stomach, we kissed and whispered sweet little things to each other.

Her legs started to seesaw against my knee as her passion mounted and I didn't need to try to part her legs. For as soon as I shifted my position, they opened for me to get in between them. My erection followed my body down, trailing across her stomach and through her pubic hairs until it dropped down to her wet open lips and moved inside. She orgasmed almost immediately, holding on tight as she writhed beneath me in her coming throes. I didn't last long either, coming in jerky bursts.

I stayed inside her till our bodies had come to a full stop, and then she smiled up at me and let me kiss her very deeply. We came apart and I picked up our robes and drew them over us as covers as we both drifted off to sleep holding each other.

Diane had a similar alarm clock to mine, and I saw that it was close to five o'clock when I woke up. I kissed her awake and then after another shower, got made up and dressed and went for our early dinner. I generally had a small soup followed by a little cold meat and salad, that being enough to keep me going till breakfast and not too heavy so that I couldn't dance. Ralph had joined us and neither Diane or I mentioned about our afternoon in bed together.

We three then took a stroll around the decks and only had one quick drink at the bar before starting the show. The next day was Bombay. Diane and Ralph went ashore because he wanted to see the place, but I declined and stayed aboard to finish my letter to Donald, which was posted that evening to catch the last collection. For some reason, I dragged out my suitcase, though I cannot remember now what I was originally looking for, but found the list of shares etc, that Mr Truell had left for me. I'd put it in my case when packing and had forgotten about it.

I sat down on Diane's bunk and looked through the two and a half pages, trying to understand what they all meant. The companies were all listed by name alphabetically and a line or two about what they traded in, then the number of shares that I had with that company. Most of them were in six figures, some in five and a few in four. That was two of the pages as the third was a list of my holdings and of what percentage I owned, but overall, I couldn't grasp the value because I didn't have that information. But then I thought there might be one person, a person by the name of Patrick Delafonte who would know. I folded the pages and put them in my handbag to wait for my invitation back to the lair.

It was two days before we met again. It was Diane's turn at a party and Ralph went to watch and I stayed at the bar.

`Hello Francis,' Patrick said, sitting down beside me.

`Hello Patrick, nice to see you again. Have you been avoiding me by any chance?'

Not in the slightest. I just don't like crowds.' Neither did Carlo and he had used exactly the same words. Did it run in the family I wondered? I've always kept to myself,' he continued, `but occasionally I like to talk to someone instead of reading a book.'

`So I'm the alternative to a book?'

`Francis, I apologise for the way I phrased that, so please let's not go in for more verbal jousting. I've already conceded defeat in that particular game.'

`Do you have another game in mind then?' I asked with a twinkle in my eye.

`You know damn well I do,' he chuckled, and ordered two drinks from the barman.

`Is it a game for two, or more?'

`With two, it's a game. With more, it's an orgy,' he laughed.

`I don't think I could handle an orgy, so let's keep the game for two shall we?'

`Most definitely Francis. Shall we go an indulge in a little game for two?'

`You may indulge, but I shall enjoy. Shall we go then?' I asked with a smile.

`Certainly.' So we finished our drinks and, taking his arm, we left the lounge.

At least we didn't dive straight into it this time. He poured us out a drink each, and these we took into the bedroom. Just a few sips and then we sat on the bed and slowly lay back and kissed. I then let him undress me completely so that I could curl up on the bed to watch him take his clothes off.

His erection swayed from side to side as he kneeled his way on the bed towards me. This was an invitation to raise myself up on an elbow and catch it with my mouth. But this was not exactly what he had in mind, for after only a few sucks, he pulled me off him and he laid down flat on his back and held his tool in a perpendicular position.

That was the way for today I thought, and got off the bed for the cream. After planting a kiss and a tongue in the eye of his cock, I put a blob of cream to the top of him. Then straddling him on my knees, a position that really widens the legs, lowered myself down onto him. It was lovely to feel the hard shaft of a man slide back into me as I sank down till I came to rest on his thighs with him tight inside me. I worked myself up and down, giving him more pleasure than I was getting from that position. I kept this up to the point of him coming before I shifted my position, bring each leg round in turn so that he was fully supporting me on his legs, but also gave me an extra half inch or so of his cock inside. He came with many grunts and at his own physical expense, as he had to buck with my weight on him.

I think he was actually relieved when I dismounted. I got a flannel and washed him before washing myself and then getting back onto the bed with him. We kissed and played with each other, even having a wrestling match, which he won easily. With empty glasses on the side, I got up and went and fixed another two drinks. Then I spotted my bag and remembered the list that I wanted Patrick to look at. I took it out of the bag and carried it along with the drinks into the bedroom. He sat up and took the glass I handed him and sat down next to him.

`Patrick. You said last time that you were a financial adviser. Who to?'

`Before the war, banks. After, the Leopardi family. Why?'

`Did you save or make money for them?'

`Both, again why?' Sipping at his drink.

`I'd like you to look at these lists and tell me what you think,' I said, passing over the pages. He took them from me and spread them out, smoothing them flat on the bed. He read them in turn, sipping from his drink, and then read them again, slowly.

`That's a handsome portfolio. Set up before the war it appears. Whose is it?'

`Is that important?'

`No, but it would help to be able to give the right advice. Is it yours?'

`Yes.' There was no point in trying to hide that fact.

`Well I would say that you are a very rich young lady Francis, and I've only got one question to ask. Why then are you in the navy doing this?' I took a big gulp of my drink before answering him.

`I wore trousers for two and half months to get into this navy. The rest of my sixteen years, I've worn dresses, and I enjoy wearing them. I like what I do, and that is singing and dancing, apart from what we do in here. Now given the choice of doing what I like for a minimum of seven years or spending two years in army uniform being ridiculed and abused, that being called National Service, what would you choose?'

`I see your point.'

`And to answer what was really a statement, I am not a wealthy person, yet. All I receive is an allowance. That list you hold does not become mine until I become of age. Why I showed it to you was for your advice to pass on to my guardian who controls it, and who I don't think knows what to do about them.'

I'll get a pen,' he said, getting off the bed. Could you fix us another drink darling.' I got off the bed and both of us walked naked into the sitting room and while he found a pen, I got the drinks. He sat down on the settee and I sat in the chair opposite him as he studied the lists, making notes on the side.

It was strange to see him sitting there with one leg crossed over the other, the ankle being on top of the knee. His balls and cock were bunched up and could be clearly seen between his legs, and I had a strong urge to go over there and fondle them. But I resisted while he was working on the list, because I knew I would still be able to do it later.

Well Francis,' he finally said, his leg coming down and his parts covered by the papers, come and sit over here.' So I did, and sat next to him, our naked thighs touching, but he didn't seem to notice. `These I've marked with a tick are strong and likely to be so for quite some time. The two with a question mark are, in my opinion, likely to drop in value. Not immediately, but within a year or two.' One of these was in the six figure number of shares.

`Are you sure about this one? I asked of this particular company.

`No, but their main product is about to be superseded by another from a rival company, so it's an educated guess that the price of these shares will either decline slowly, or crash. Nothing is certain in the stock market. This is just an educated guess, which is what most of these so called gurus do anyway.'

`And these marked with a cross?'

`Dump them as soon as possible before they reach the point where nobody will take them off your hands. Those with the double cross have already been given the death knell and will drop to almost nothing by this time next year.'

`What about the last page, the holdings?'

`Can't help you there my dear. I recognise some of the names, those with the least percentage of shares. These are not on the Stock Exchange, so I cannot give you a value on them, because I don't know what they represent. You would need somebody in England to go through them one at a time at Companies House, to see the depth of what they are involved in.'

Well I do know one of them. This one, I pointed to one that was holding one hundred percent. `This was set up by my Grandfather who, aided later by my father, bought up and I now own the village I live in.'

Well, well, well,' Patrick said, leaning back, First you're Queen of the Seas and now you are the Lady of the Manor!'

You're the second person to put those two titles together,' I said, smiling at him as I put my hand on his knee. Now what would be the fee for this consultation of my affairs?'

Well,' he drawled, his legs opening wide, if you were to get between these, we'll just have to see what comes up. You might be able to extract and pay the fee in one fell blow,' he smiled. I smiled too, and slipped down onto my knees and went in between his legs.

`But without hands!' He added. With just my movement to position myself, his cock had risen up and become stiff and hard. I grinned up at him as I placed my hands on his thighs before bending my head down to catch the cock with my mouth as he made it twitch all over the place in jerky movements. With my expertise, I soon brought forth my fee and enjoyed doing it. I was becoming an expert on cock-sucking and though its frowned upon, that period of time in my life was most rewarding in learning how to manipulate men.

A beautiful teenager in alluring female clothes was like a candle to male moths of all ages. I wasn't a whore in the true meaning of the word. I didn't sell sex for money. I gave pleasure and got pleasure by return, but I was not averse to benefiting by it in one way or another, though anal intercourse was my ultimate favourite.

The arguments have raged on this subject since well before the birth of Christ. From our first written scripts of the Greeks until the present day, sodomy has been around as long, if not longer than female prostitution. A sodomite was a favoured position well into the Middle Ages. But I'm not going into this field of argument here, because I'm not trying to make a case for, or produce the arguments against.

I'm just trying to make it clear that I believed I was a female trapped in a male body, and reacted, or maybe in my case, overreacted to the male penis. In a nutshell, I liked to see, feel, touch, taste and have an erect penis, in my hand, mouth or backside. That was it. That was me.

So after satisfying not only Patrick and myself, it was time for me to go. So with a final lick and kiss of that wilting organ, I got dressed. I thanked him for having me in his suite, (take that whichever way you like), but also for his comments and judgements given on my portfolio, gave him a swift kiss on the lips and left. I didn't have time to go over what he had told me, in fact it was several days before I had the chance to do just that. Diane had already showered and was making up her face when I got to our cabin.

`Late again, aren't I?' I asked, quickly stripping off my soiled clothes.

`You been up top again?' she asked, looking at me through the mirror.

Of course. And under,' I answered, getting my robe and toilet things, which I'll tell you about after I've had my shower.' I was quick getting washed, and was soon back in the cabin. The chair was vacant for me to do my make-up as Diane had just started to get dressed. I think she got a vicarious thrill from the revelations of my sexual exploits, and I loved her for the fact that she never once gave any sign of disapproval of my actions outside of the cabin. The only one being when I blew Ralph, and that was in this cabin anyway.

So after a sanitised version of the afternoon's events, which were still more exciting than her children's party, we went for our early dinner before going up to the lounge bar for a drink before the show. Of which, the shows I mean, not the drinking, I'm getting tired of repeating myself, was as good as ever. My voice had never been better, neither had that of Diane. Ralph was as good as he started, and his jokes were getting better. The dance routines were almost step perfect and any new ones we devised only made us seem even better. So we'll take the shows of the voyages, to be of an adequate performance and need not be constantly repeated of how good they were. Otherwise you might think that I was blowing my own trumpet rather too loud and too often, but, with tongue in cheek, would be justified.

The next day, we crossed the equator. Ralph had been rehearsed in the spiel that he had to give at the presentation of King Neptune, and me, the Queen of the Seas. The morning session for the children was a huge success, with much jollity for all concerned. But the highlight was in the afternoon. With all the passengers going through the ceremony and had duly been allowed passage by King Neptune, Ralph was grabbed and forced to go through what he had laughed at others being subjected to. Unlike those passengers going through it, suitably dressed, he went through fully clothed. But he took it in good part and was well applauded as he climbed out of the pool, dripping wet but with a grand smile.

This time, Diane and I were well covered in the sun blocking agent so that we didn't get as sunburnt as I had on the last trip. This brought an idea to mind, and seeing as Clement was there to witness the fun, I took the advantage of the situation to ask if there was somewhere that Diane and I could sunbathe without being pestered either by the crew or passengers. He understood perfectly as to why I wanted the privacy of this. To which we later, under the auspices of the Chief Officer, were allowed to use the flying bridge as our own private sun deck.

The flying bridge is a structure above the normal enclosed bridge and open to the elements. Apart from the mast, it is the highest structure on the ship and we found that we could, if we were so disposed to, strip off completely and not be seen from anywhere below us.

Up there, I could take off my bra to get an even sun tan on my chest, and Diane had adapted a pair of swimming trunks for me to wear. She added a frill to the front which effectively concealed the bumps that showed. She too wore a pair of men's trunks and a strapless bra, which came off up there so that she finished up with a lovely brown pair of orbs.

Being blonde myself, I tended to go very red at first, but when my skin became used to the sun, I turned a delicious golden brown. It did look funny when we were undressed in the cabin, both of us a lovely brown colour with our pure white bums.

Fremantle came and went, and we were soon in the Australian Bight. I don't know what it is about that stretch of sea, but I always seem to get laid while we're crossing it. I had Clement up in the B deck cabin, and the next night it was Patrick in his suite, but there I was able to stay the whole night. About a third of the passengers got off at Melbourne, so we still had a good audience for our last outward bound show before our arrival in Sydney. That evening, I blew George whom I had neglected for the whole trip so far, and he was most grateful for that.

Ralph was as excited as a schoolboy when we entered Sydney harbour and he saw the bridge for the first time. Even I still could be roused at that sight of that huge construction, straddling the bay, and watching breathlessly to see if the top of the mast would hit the bridge as we passed underneath it, it seemed so close that everybody would gasp as we safely sailed beneath it without losing the top. Again we tied up at Pyrmont though I wished we could have berthed at Woolamaloo, where the Australian Navy were based, as it was much closer to the city centre than Pyrmont.

As the passengers disembarked, we were again acting as hostesses at our station near the Purser's office. Unlike when they come aboard, we were merely decoration as we were only asked a few questions. Some people stopped and told us of how much they had enjoyed our shows, which was pleasing to hear. Patrick saw me, and gave instructions to the steward that was seeing to his luggage, and came over to me. He took my arm and walked me over to the other side of the ship and round a corner to find a secluded spot. He then took me into his arms and kissed me deep and long, telling me that I had made the trip a most memorable one.

`I shall never forget you Francis. If ever you need help, financial or otherwise, here's a telephone number here in Sydney, where you can leave a message.' He gave me a slip of paper, and then after one more kiss, we walked back to the entry port, and we said a formal goodbye there, and he left the ship. Much to my regret, we never did meet again.

It was quiet once all the passengers had gone, and Ralph was eager to go ashore to explore. He finally talked Diane into going with him, but I stayed aboard as I wanted to finish a letter to Donald. I didn't really like the city between the hours of five and seven of an evening, because that was known as the "Five o'clock Swill". Men would leave their workplaces and fill the hotel bars to drink as much as they could in the one hour before closing time. They didn't have pubs in Australia as we know in England. All drinking establishments were inside hotels, and the bars were for men only. Little rooms were set aside for women, but you rarely saw women drinking in these places.

These hotel bars are thick with thirsty men and stand many deep at the bar, trying to get a drink. The hotels had adapted to this need to serve as many beers as they can in this one hour because the licensing laws stated that all bars close at six p.m.

What they devised was a long hose from the beer tap. One person would go down the length of the bar, which in some places could be up to thirty odd feet long, putting down empty glasses. The next person would follow behind with his hose of flowing beer, just filling all these glasses in a steady stream. Another one would follow behind taking the money, and yet a fourth one to collect the empties as they were slammed back down on the marble top. Then they would start again from the beginning.

With the outside temperature being well above ninety degrees, and themselves, hot and thirsty, several large glasses of ice cold beer inside them, made them drunk very quickly. Then at six o' clock, they would be herded out onto the street to go home.

Fights would break out as soon as they hit the fresh air and hot sun. Some would spew up and some would fall down and not get up. Drunks would litter the city as they lurched their way to the train station or ferry to go home, and this would happen every working day. So it really wasn't a place for a female to be at that time of an evening. After seven and it was okay, as the police would have dragged away those who hadn't got up and arrested those who wouldn't give up fighting.

Stephen, the Engineer had ignored Diane the whole trip, so as far as we were concerned, he was now still life. So it was Ralph and Diane, Clement and myself that went ashore for a bit of fun, but I was making sure that we stayed away from that Italian restaurant that we'd dined in before.

It didn't quite work out the way I planned. It was just our luck to pick a taxi driver who recognised my brooch. He was very voluble in completely incomprehensive Italian for the whole journey into the city and had also disregarded our own requests in regard to our destination. We pulled up outside some seedy run down looking restaurant and the driver waved over a man who had been standing outside. He spoke to him in rapid Italian, and the guy opened the car door and beckoned us out.

The others were very apprehensive about leaving the vehicle, but I boldly got out and told them that we were perfectly safe and that we couldn't really be safer anywhere in the world than where we were right then. The outside belittled the interior, for it was like walking into a garden. There were arbours of two to three tables within a pergola type structure, of which there were five, festooned with vines and a bougainvillaea type of flower that I was not familiar with. Each table had a chequered cloth and a Chianti bottle, heavily encrusted with wax as a candle holder.

Some of the tables were occupied and they looked up in surprise, as it seemed as if the whole family, from father and mother down to the little bambinos were inviting us in.

`Welcome, welcome to our little home,' was the greeting, followed by a burst of Italian which none of us understood. We just smiled our thanks at the welcome and allowed ourselves to be guided to a table and seated. Dishes of olives and other things were placed on the table and wine was suddenly being poured into our glasses.

What the hell is going on in this town?' Clement exclaimed. The last time we dined out, it was an Italian restaurant and this is almost the same.'

`I think it's great,' Ralph chirped up, almost downing his glass in one go.

`It's like we're some kind of celebrities,' piped up Diane.

`I'm afraid it's because of me,' I said, putting my hand onto that of Clement's.

`How's that?' he asked.

This brooch,' which I touched, is like a password to certain people.'

`Password? In what way?' he demanded.

`In a way you wouldn't understand. It means I am the friend of, it seems, a very powerful family and am to be given every courtesy that can be provided.'

`But I don't understand?' said Clement.

`Neither do I,' echoed Diane. Ralph just looked bewildered at the talk.

`Look. Just accept the fact that we are guests of this family and let's enjoy ourselves. But leave a very big tip for the waiters because we won't be given the bill.' So we had an excellent meal and the service was impeccable, and went back to the ship quite happy.

There was a certain coolness between Clement and I back in his cabin. We kissed and undressed each other, and it was nice to have his erection back inside as he fucked me. But it seemed so mechanical of him that night, shafting me as he might have done to some knot hole in a piece of wood.

I kissed and nibbled at his penis later that night as well as stroke him wherever I could reach, but couldn't break down that wall that seemed to be growing between us. I thought that it was something to do with the restaurant where we'd been, and about what he didn't understand about my relationship with the Leopardi family, but then he told me.

`I'm getting married when we get back to England,' he said abruptly. It sent a sharp bolt of pain through my stomach and heart. I'd never given any thought that he might one day marry and no longer want me.

`She's the daughter of one of the senior directors of the company, and it will help me in my career.'

`Do you love her?' I asked, my voice quiet as I had an idea of which way he was going with this.

I suppose so. I've been going out with her on my leaves, but I've always looked forward to rejoining the ship and being with you. But it's come to the point now where we are going to have to stop seeing each other.' Tears had started to run down my cheeks, but I made no attempt to stop them or wipe them away. If we should be found out, it would ruin me, wipe away all that I've achieved so far. You do understand this I hope?' he asked, turning to me. He then saw my tears and could see them start to water. I'm sorry my darling. I've hurt you and that was the last thing I wanted do,' he said, wiping at my cheek with his fingers. I thought you'd see my position and understand.'

I do understand,' I choked out, I understand perfectly,' starting to sob now. I knew that our relationship would come to an end one day. Either him leaving the ship and joining another, or me going, but for it to come so sudden, hurt me inside. He took me in his arms and held me tight while I cried, stroking my hair and bare shoulder till I was all cried out. I couldn't speak, but at the same time realised that there was nothing I could say or do, as he was perfectly right in what he'd said. It would ruin him if it came out that he was fucking a boy member of the crew. So I got up from the bed and slowly dressed as he lay there and watched me. When ready, I went back to the bed and gave him a kiss on the lips.

`Goodbye Clement, and for what it's worth, I still love you.' Then I turned and left, the sight of the tears running down his cheeks was making my eyes start to run again. I didn't even get undressed, but simply swung myself up into my bunk and cried myself to sleep.

I looked a mess in the morning and didn't need Diane telling me what I could already see in the mirror. Make-up smeared on my face and dried tear marks down my cheeks, the dress crumpled and creased. I quickly undressed and scrubbed my face, in case someone saw me out in the alleyway when I went for a shower. The hot water soothed as well as cleaned me as I stayed there for quite some time. I dried myself and went back to the cabin where Diane, knowing something had happened, had waited for me to return.

`Sit down and let me do your hair and you can tell me what's happened.' The brushing of my hair soothed me as it always did, and I told her about the last night with Clement, managing to keep myself from crying again. She put her arms round my shoulders when I'd finished, putting her face next to mine so that we looked at our reflections in the mirror.

`Men can be such callous bastards, but remember this Francis. I will still be here for you. You'll always have me to come home to.' I put my hand up and covered hers and gave her a wan smile.

`Thank you Diane,' I said, and she gave me a hug.

`Now make yourself up nice and pretty and let's go ashore and have some fun.'

We took a taxi and went to Bondi Beach, and walked the whole length of it, looking at the gorgeous hunks of men as they played with their surfboards or kicked a ball about on that large expanse of sand. People were having outdoor meals, cooking at barbecues on the beach. The smell of the roasting meats on the grills made us ravenous, and so we had a huge meal at a café, sitting out in the sun and enjoyed the flirting remarks we kept getting from these bronzed men.

We could have been picked up a dozen times over, but turned them all down with many a laugh. One pair even asked us if we were lesbians after we'd said no to their overtures. This brought tears to our eyes with our laughter, them not being able to see the joke. There were also many young men that I could pick out as being homosexual, their walk and hand mannerisms spoke a lot. I toyed with the idea, but being with Diane, and we were having such a nice day, I didn't want to spoil it. It made her laugh later when I told her.

We stayed there the whole day, not feeling like moving about after that big lunch. We sat and drank some beers with a number of boys till the sun went down, then we said our goodbyes to them. They were reluctant to let us go, some obviously thinking that could they have split us up, so that we would then be vulnerable to their charms once we were alone. The taxi took two tired and happy girls back to the ship.

We undressed with only a bunk light giving us illumination to see what we were doing. So tanned were we, that our bodies seemed to melt into the shadows of the cabin, except for the parts the sun hadn't touched. That was the middle section on both of us, strikingly white in contrast to the rest of our bodies and it made us giggle as we did look like some kind of freaks.

Francis,' Diane said in a low voice as we stood facing each other. Let's have a perfect ending to a perfect day, can we? Let's make love and forget about everybody outside of this cabin.' I understood what she meant and was only too glad to move to her and have our bodies touch and our mouths meet in a kiss.

`Will you be my Sheila for the night?' I asked in a very good imitation of the Australian accent. Sheila being the name that all Australians call a girl. Diane laughed and hugged me.

`Fair dinkum Bruce,' she replied in an atrocious attempt to copy me, Bruce being the name of a male in their slang. We both laughed again and fell onto the bunk, kissing each other with love and affection. It was a slow and languorous loving, starting from the sixty nine position till the final copulation with me on top of her. I stayed the whole night in her bunk.

We were like two little girls for the rest of the stay in Sydney, going out and enjoying ourselves, and even enjoying the times we were on board preparing for our forth coming shows on the Christmas cruise. We would be entertaining a predominately Australian crowd whose humour is more on the cruder side than that of the English. Ralph had scoured round some of the clubs of Sydney and culled quite a number of jokes and ideas for skits that we could do. We had fun rehearsing them and as a package, we went down really well with our Antipodean cousins.

It must have looked a wonderful sight from the quayside as we left our berth. We had flags strung out from the forepeak up to the mast, then across the ship and down to the stern. These were all fluttering in the light breeze and then there were all the streamers between the ship's rail and the shore. A band was playing but could hardly be heard above the cheering and shouting that was going on between those on board and the people being left behind. We saw pictures that were printed in the next day's papers of our departure, people had saved them for us to look at on our return. They were very good and I saved the one of the ship passing beneath the bridge it was so good.

Every night was party night for them, the passengers, and the whole crew got caught up in the spirit and it made for a wonderful cruise. The lounge was packed to see our show and we got wildly cheered and applauded as each show finished. We even had a good crowd sitting round the bar, some never seeming to leave it, as we arrived for our rehearsals during the day and them staying right through to the final bows at the end of the evening.

We anchored in Singapore, not in the Roads, but quite close to the shore, the water not being deep enough for us to go alongside a quay. It was only about a hundred yards and had to have little boats to ferry people ashore for their visit. Though we were staying for two days, we only had one afternoon off for us to look around the city. Ralph, Diane and myself got onto solid ground and hired one of the horse drawn open carriages that were abundant on the quay. It took us round the city and it was wonderful. The busy streets full of colour, people darting backwards and forwards, appearing and disappearing into the narrow alleyways that were full of shop signs and the upper balconies almost touching each other. The constant noise of the different dialects of Chinese and Malay filled our ears. The various aromas assaulted our nostrils; sewage from the open storm drains and the spices from the brightly coloured stalls, mingling together to make one feel quite heady from the smell.

Then we went along a wide boulevard that was lined with lawns and palm trees and turned into a circular drive and stopped at the Raffles Hotel. The big airy hotel was named after the founder of Singapore and was the favourite watering hole for most Europeans. They also served a wonderful afternoon tea, after which, we had some delicious cocktails. Too soon, we had to return to the ship because unlike a normal voyage, we had a show to do, even though we were in port.

Next morning, we upped anchor to leave. There was much fun as we, and most of the passengers, watched a small boat come racing out to catch us before we reached the open sea. In it were four men who'd missed the sailing, and subsequently had to hire this boat. We never actually stopped, but the gangway was lowered and the men clambered aboard to much hooting and jeering from their fellow travellers.

Our next port was Hong Kong, another British Crown Colony, but in the China Sea this time. Hong Kong itself is an island without port facilities, but just over a short narrow stretch of water is Kowloon, a peninsular of Southern China and is known as mainland Hong Kong. It's not very large in ground area but is very densely populated and that's where we berthed, right by the Red Star ferry terminal that sent boats back and forth to the island.

The ferries were running across this water every few minutes as well as lots of other boats scurrying about, making it a very busy waterway. We docked at breakfast time, and soon the ship was empty of passengers. I wanted to explore on my own, so at the bottom of the gangway, Diane and Ralph went off one way, and I, the other. Within two minutes I was in the middle of stalls displaying everything you could think of, and lots more besides.

Poultry next to flowers, next to pots and pans, birds next to fish and so on. No rhyme or reason to the layout of these tightly packed together stalls. All the time there was this constant chatter of the high lilting sing song cadence of the Chinese being spoken.

The smells were almost the same as Singapore and so wonderful to just close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose. Then you turn a corner and are in another alleyway of stalls, selling the same as the last, the cobbled stones wet and slippery to walk on from the water from the fish stalls and odd leaves off vegetables and flowers underfoot.

Leaving the alleyways, I came across a covered passage that had a glass counter with all kinds of savoury looking things that I liked the look of. Beyond the counter were a few tables and chairs that reached to another exit at the other end, leaving a passage alongside a decorated wall. I was standing by the corner of the counter where the tables were, and had just opened my bag to get some money out that I had changed into Hong Kong dollars before leaving the ship.

I was about to take out my purse when there was some shouting outside and then a loud bang of a gun being fired. A small man wearing European style clothing, staggered in and slid along the side of the counter and cannoned into me. I fell down between the counter and the nearest table as he too fell, landing half on top of me. He was a Chinaman or whatever, and his face was covered in sweat and his eyes showed pain as they flashed about wildly in his head. Then they were suddenly fixed on my brooch and he gave a tight grin.

Ah...Leopardi...Lee Chen,' he gasped. Leopardi...Lee Chen,' then he pulled out a package slightly larger than an envelope but about four inches thick and rammed it into my open bag. `Leopardi...Lee Chen,' he gasped out again and got up off of me. This interchange took less than ten seconds.

He got up and started to stagger past the tables, one hand fending himself off the wall, when another shot rang out and knocked him sideways to the wall and spun him round. There was fear in his eyes and spasms of pain made him close them just as another two shots slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet to fall on his back with his arms flung out wide.

Three men rushed past me as I got to my knees, and one man kept facing me and a couple of other customers, waving a gun about as the other two knelt above the fallen man. They tore at his coat and ripped open his blood sodden shirt and feeling all over his legs. Whistles could be heard from outside and then the sound of a siren. The three men were shouting at each other, the man waving the gun doing most of the screaming. The whistles sounded much closer, and the three men suddenly took off and disappeared out of the passage at the other end, leaving the shot man, obviously dead on the floor.

I got up very shakily and my knees were knocking at witnessing this callous murder. I held onto the counter as I started making my way back to the entrance when two European men in khaki uniforms came rushing in, with guns drawn and whistles swinging from lanyards at their shoulders. Two other men, Chinese, also in the same uniform followed the first two. I reached the corner of the counter at the same time as they got to the fallen man. I saw them bend down to examine him before I turned and fled, shaking with fear for myself now.

Did the three men see me on the floor with the man they killed? Did they see me with the package that they had obviously searched his body for? Would they have circled round and now be looking for me? Panic was running through me like wildfire as I ran down this narrow street, my high heels making it a little difficult to say the least.

I broke out of the network of alleyways onto a wide thoroughfare that was full of people and vehicles. The taxi that I had jumped out in front of almost knocked me down. It was empty of passengers and I fell into the back seat.

`The ship! To the ship!' I almost screamed at him, I could hear the panic in my voice.

`Sheep missee,' he asked, making an undulating wave of his hand as he looked over the back of his seat at me, almost cowering on the floor of the cab.

`Yes, sheep, sheep,' I cried out, and then I remembered hearing one man on the quay say to another, two words, waving his hand to make him go faster. I used those two words on the driver and saw that he understood.

`To the sheep chop, chop missee,' he laughed. I didn't see much of the ride, but it wasn't long before he pulled up at the bottom of the gangway. I got out and thrust some notes into his hand, not caring how much I was paying for the ride, I was just grateful that I was there.

I got up that gangway as fast as I could and when safely inside, went down to my cabin and locked the door behind me. My hands were shaking as I poured out a very large gin and didn't bother with the tonic water as I gulped half of it straight down. I sat down, nearly choking on the raw spirit, my heart and blood pounding as the adrenaline raced around my body. I found that I was covered in sweat and I still couldn't stop my hands from shaking as I finished the drink and poured myself another, but with tonic water this time.

I was now beginning to calm down and think. Would the police also be after me now as a witness? Oh I wailed to myself, what do I do? I got my bag and took out the package and looked at it, judging it to be about two pound in weight. The covering was thick brown paper and taped down, so I could not see what was inside without tearing the wrapper. Was this what those killers were looking for I wondered? What did it contain if it was worth killing another man for? My mind was in a whirl trying to fathom the contents, the most obvious being drugs, money, gems or government secrets to name just a few.

I took off my sweat stained clothes and stood there naked, wondering where I could hide the package. But there was not much choice in a cabin of our size, so I just put it under my mattress and went for a shower, making sure the door was locked before I went.

Under the hot spray, I ran through the whole time ashore until I returned back on board. The words of the man repeated several times over stuck in my mind, and then it dawned on me what he had wanted me to do. I quickly finished my washing and was soon back in my cabin. I got dressed in completely clean clothes and then went up the decks to the Purser's office. It was here that the landline of the telephone came to. There were two little booths just past the office where people could go to have their phone conversation in private.

I asked the assistant on duty if I could make an overseas call. As long as I paid for the call, it wouldn't be a problem, he said. I gave him the number to ring and then sat and waited in a booth till a connection was made. It was about fifteen minutes before the phone buzzed and I picked it up. I listened to various voices as the connections were being made through different International operators, and then a voice said I was through. I heard the burr of it ringing for a second or two before a man's voice answered.

`Si?' The Italian was the query of yes. I took a deep breath.

`Francis for Carlo,' I said, my hand was sweating and it made the handset all slippery.

`Yes Francis. How can I help you?' the man asked, switching to English.

`I seem to have got myself into some kind of trouble and I don't know what to do.'

`Where are you speaking from?'

`My ship the Indus. We are tied up in Hong Kong.'

`What is the telephone number there?'

`Oh, I don't know,' I started to wail.

Steady Francis, steady.' His voice was that of a strong man and he spoke in a very calming way. Just get the number and I'll hang on, okay?'

Yes,' I whispered, it's just next door here. I'll get it.' I put the receiver down to one side and quickly went and asked for the number for someone to be able to ring back to the ship. He wrote it down for me and I went back to the phone and picked up the receiver again and read out the number.

`Now Francis, slowly and clearly, tell me what the problem is.' So I related all that had happened, thinking that the man had spoken French to me. Saying Le Chen, this was the only thing I got wrong in my telling of the event.

Right Francis,' the voice over the wire said, I want you to be by this phone in exactly two hours from now. I think we can get this sorted out by then, okay In two hours I will speak to you again.' I agreed and the connection was broken and I went to the office next door.

`They will be ringing me back in two hours time. I'll come back up then and pay for the call at the same time, is that all right?' It was, so I went back down to my cabin and had another drink and waited for the time to pass.

I couldn't sit still that length of time, so I went and walked about the decks, constantly looking at my watch, seeing the time pass by so slowly. I went down to the office well before the time due and paid for call that I had made and sat outside to wait.

Miss Francis?' The voice of the assistant startling me out of my thoughts. Your caller is on the line.'

`Thanks,' I said, going into the booth.

`Francis?' the male voice asked.

`Yes, I'm here.'

`Okay. This is what we've set up. Now don't be afraid. You will be perfectly safe if you follow these simple instructions. Do you understand?'

`Yes,' I whispered back.

In thirty minutes time, a black sedan will stop at the bottom of the ship's gangway. The registration will be,' he reeled off the number. There will be three men in the car. Do not be afraid. One will be in the front seat and one in the back. The driver, the third man, will get out and open the back door for you and address you as Miss Francis. Have the package in your bag and get straight into the car from the gangway. You will be taken down to the waterfront and two of the men will escort you onto a waiting launch. This will take you over to Hong Kong where a Daimler car will be waiting with a driver. The two men will also get into the car with you to take you to a house in the hills.

You'll be taken to this house and escorted inside. There, a man will meet you and will call you by your middle name as a sign. To this man, and this man only, will you pass over the package. From then, you will be clear and free from any danger in respect of this package. Now have you fully understood what I have just told you?'

`Yes,' I said, my voice wavering.

Don't worry Francis, you'll be perfectly safe,' he chuckled, and I have a message that I was asked to pass on. It reads, Well done Francis. A kiss I send to you, love Carlo. I also say well done Francis,' and the connection was broken.

I left the booth and thanked the Assistant Purser, thankfully it wasn't the one that Diane and I had our brush with at the start of the voyage. I went back down to the cabin and checked over my dress and make-up to see that all was well in that department. I then took out the package and put it firmly in my bag before going up top to wait for the car.

I loitered in the entry port, fretting that there might be a man out there with a rifle just waiting for me to walk into view. My knees were starting to shake again and I was beginning to work myself into a state of nerves. Then it was suddenly there, a black sedan glided to a silent halt, angled so that I could see the number plate. The driver got out of his seat and stood by the rear door.

Taking a deep breath, and being careful as to where I put my feet, walked down the gangway, waiting for the body slamming impact of a bullet hitting me without hearing the rifle shot, and approached the waiting car.

`Good afternoon Miss Francis,' the driver said, opening the door for me, and I could see the man in the back on the far side as well as the one in the front. I got in and the door closed behind me. My breath came out in a gush and my face must have been red, because I'd been holding it in since the top of the gangway.

Nobody said anything as the driver got back in and drove the car off and away from the quay. The windows were tinted so that we could see out, but people couldn't see in to see a terrified girl quaking in the back seat. Butterflies raced around the inside of my stomach as we drove around for a few minutes before turning back to the waterside and stopped by a fast and sleek looking launch.

The driver got out and waited till the other two men were out and ready by the door before he opened it for me to get out. In a trice, we were in the launch and speeding out into the harbour and within a few minutes were nosing into a jetty where a Daimler sat waiting. I didn't have time to take stock of my surroundings before I was in the car and we made a short trip through the streets of the town before we were soon on the road that was winding up into the hills.

We passed some lovely looking houses on the hillside as went higher up the road and then turned into a short drive between two imposing stone pillars with wrought iron gates that had dragons in their design. The drive led to a two storied house that didn't look much at first sight, being partly hidden by trees, but what caught the eye was the panoramic view out over the bays far below, the sea sparkling in the sunlight, shining with a myriad of colours that were all of different shades of blue. It really was breathtaking.

The door of the house opened, and a young woman dressed in traditional Chinese clothes stood there and waited for us. The door of the car was opened again by the driver and flanked by the two other men, I was soon up to the door of the house where the woman bowed to me as I entered. The two men had stopped at the threshold and turned to look outwards until the door was closed on them. They hadn't uttered a word the whole time, not even to each other.

With a hand gesture, the little woman beckoned me to follow her. I walked slowly because the house had so much to show me. The walls to my left were hung with tapestries and I managed to brush one with my fingers and knew instantly that they were made of silk. There were lots of them so they must have cost a small fortune, as well as many of the object d'art that was scattered about. Scattered about was really my first impression, but stopping and looking back more carefully, I could see that they had been very carefully placed to give just the effect that I had assumed.

The ceilings had been very delicately painted in soft pastel colours of the sky with birds on the wing, the lower parts just showing the tops of trees. The thick oriental carpets beneath my feet had been chosen to blend in with the ceiling. Delicate furniture adorned the three rooms we passed through and the large windows that were all to my right, looked out over the sea.

There was one more room before the end of the house, but the woman, a girl really and at a guess, about six years older than myself, stopped. She turned to a door on our left and opened it, and with a bow, beckoned me to enter, and the door closed quietly behind me. This room was different from those I had just walked through. The carpet here was a deep red wine colour and the furniture was of red cherry wood, and the walls much lighter in colour, but still red and got paler as they reached the ceiling, which was of a light blush.

An elderly man sat on a small settee three quarters into the room and before him was a small lacquered coffee table. Standing by his side were two young Chinese men, and all were dressed in Western clothes and each looked as they had been tailored to fit, as they were so immaculate. One of the young men came forward as I approached them.

`Welcome Miss Francis. I believe you have a package for us?' he said, giving me a bow.

`Sir, in that, you are mistaken,' I answered, staying upright and refusing to bow back. There came a faint chuckle from the older man behind him and I heard the click of his fingers, and the man in front me smiled and gave me another bow and returned to stand alongside the settee. This man now got up from his seat and came round it and waited for me to get closer to him.

`My name is Lee Chen. Welcome to my humble home Gervaise,' he said as he bowed to me. Humble? If this was humble, then my house must be at the lower end of Poverty Street I thought. I bowed low too in return to his greeting.

`Thank you for inviting me into your home, I am honoured.'

It is you who honour me Gervaise,' he said with a smile, his pale brown eyes twinkled. Please forgive the little trick my unworthy son tried to play on you. I said it wouldn't work, not with a member of the Leopardi family. May I present my two sons, Kim, the unworthy one, and Wang, who has yet to prove one way or the other.' The two young men bowed, Kim with a wink, and I bowed back to them.

`Gentlemen,' I murmured.

`Please be seated here, beside me,' Lee Chen invited, his hand gesturing to the settee. I went forward around the coffee table and sat down. When I was seated, he then moved round and sat down beside me. There was, what I've always wanted to be able to say that I have actually felt it, a pregnant pause.

I smiled and took the package out of my bag and passed it over to him. He smiled as he took it and passed it over to Kim who turned it several times in his hand before leaving the room by a side door that I hadn't noticed before. Then Lee Chen spoke Chinese to Wang who gave him a short answer, and with a bow to him and then to me, turned and left the room by the same door.

Miss Francis,' he said, turning slightly towards me, my family and I owe you a great debt of gratitude. What you did today will be written into our family history. You showed a great strength of character and level headedness of a person so young.

`If you please sir, I was terrified.'

`I can understand that, but you still showed such great presence of mind to leave the scene as quickly as you did, and then to call the right person to help you. Yes, I recognised the Leopardi brooch, as did my man, may his soul now be with his forefathers.'

He broke off as the door at the far end opened, and a girl brought in a tray, which was obviously tea. She set the tray down on the coffee table and knelt down before it. At a slight nod from Lee Chen, she lifted the teapot and poured out a cup and handed it to me, then poured the second for him. I waited till he had received his tea so that we could take our first sip at the same time. It was without milk and sugar, but it tasted lovely. The saucer I held in my hand was as light as a feather and made of a fine china and almost translucent it was so thin. There was a small design on it that I didn't recognise and the cup, when I'd drunk its contents, found it was as light and fine as the saucer.

`This is a magnificent tea service. I've never seen one so delicately made and it frightens me to handle it.'

`You like it?'

`Yes, it's beautiful.' The girl took my empty cup and refilled it and passed it across to me.

`As I was saying, you contacted the right person, for which we will be eternally grateful. The Leopardi family and ours, have for many years, done business together. The ties are close and as you will have perceived, both are quick to react to any problem that could affect either one of us. Now I would guess that you have not eaten since breakfast with what you have been through since then, so I would be honoured to have you as my guest for dinner this evening.'

I thank you for your offer,' I said as I looked at my watch, but I have a show to do and I would be missed and cause lots of people problems if I didn't show up.'

`That could be sorted out in a matter of minutes. Your ship's Captain will be told that you are being interviewed as a witness to a murder and will not be able to perform tonight.'

`I believe you, so I most humbly accept.' He handed his cup to the girl and she put it on the tray with mine, and left the room with the tray. As she went out, Wang came in the other door and Lee Chen reeled out a string of Chinese, to which, number two son, bowed as it finished and went back out.

`That is done and as it is nearly time for dinner to be served, I'm sure you would like a pre dinner drink. A gin and tonic I believe.' As he finished speaking, the door opened again and a drink was placed in front of me.

`How do you know what it is that I drink?' I asked.

My dear Francis, I know everything about you. Everything. Please forgive an old man to er, the English expression is I believe, to show off. You were born on the 5th November 1931 to Linda Lyon, wife to Peter, both now deceased. As a boy,' This jolted me and I nearly spilt my drink. He smiled at me and continued, you were raised by your aunts, also deceased, as a girl. To which you have stayed except for the few weeks at a training school and for half a voyage of your first ship.

You were born and raised in a small village in Wiltshire and are the lover of a Mr Donald Sinclair who is the churchman of your village.' I felt my face go bright red at this. `Forgive me Miss Francis, but for one man to love enough to give him his body in one so young and in faith, is truly love. I do not seek to chastise you for this. You have had other lovers, one being Carlo Leopardi. He was so smitten by your youth and beauty and your desire to please him, he made you an honoury member of the family. I have not named your other lovers, but I can if you would like me to.' I shook my head and took a long pull at my drink. 'Also, you are a moderately wealthy young woman, or will be when you come of age. Do you wish to know more?'

`No. You are quite correct in all you have said, and I thought that I had fooled you too, dressed the way I am.'

`You would have done if I had not been aware of the facts before you arrived.'

`Bad news travels fast. What size shoes do I wear?'

`Six!' I had to laugh and he gave a small laugh with me.

`I felt very unsure of things when I first entered your house. Then, sitting here drinking tea, I became sure of myself. Now you have unsettled me again because I do not have any secrets left to hide behind.'

`Your secret is safely locked in my heart Miss Francis. You note that I still call you Miss Francis and will continue to do so until you tell me otherwise. Now let us go and have some dinner.'

He rose up and I put down my empty glass and followed him to the door. This was opened just as we reached it and we went out and turned left and went into that last room on the ground floor on that side of the house.

It was as opulent as the others and had windows on three sides giving an even better view of the sea and coastline of Hong Kong. There was a long highly polished table that could have sat twenty people easily, and a magnificent set of side tables along the wall. There was a door at the far end, which obviously led to the kitchens. The table was laid for two at that end and a young girl stood behind each chair. Both were wearing Chinese costumes, and I assumed that all the staff wore these clothes while the men dressed European style.

We were seated down and bowls of warm water with a few petals floating on the top, were placed before us and a napkin placed by the side. I assumed rightly that this was for us to clean our hands before we ate. Lee Chen held up his wet hands and the girl beside him, wiped them dry for him. I dried my own before the girl by my side had a chance to.

Have you ever eaten Chinese before my dear?' he asked of me. I squashed the joke of replying that medium rare was better than well done. Instead I played it straight. Well I've had rice before, but not in the true sense as you mean sir,' I answered him.

`Well I hope that you will enjoy the experience. In your honour and not wishing to embarrass you, I have forgone the use of chopsticks, they being our usual means of conveying food to the mouth. Use any item of cutlery to sample the dishes that will be set before you. Let me warn you first though. There will be many dishes brought to the table, but you are not bound to clear every bowl, as you would never get through them. Just pick at whatever takes your fancy, but again beware, because some of them are very hot to the tongue and palate. The wine being poured is rice wine, but if you would prefer some other drink, please say so.'

With that, the meal started. He was so right. Dish after dish after dish appeared, and each tasting better than the last. The wine was very good too and did soothe the tongue after something hot. It was a wonderful experience.

He ate very little himself, but seemed to be amused at my little exclamations that I kept making in respect of the high quality of taste to the food. He had a dry sense of humour I found as we talked, and as usual, I talked too much. Eventually I had to call a halt as I felt as if I was nearly bursting. The dishes were cleared away and another pot of tea arrived, and the same two girls served us as throughout the meal.

It was uncanny to sit there without a word being spoken to the servants and yet get everything in the right order, or being there with what was wanted as if by telepathy, like the little box that suddenly appeared on the table next to his left hand as if by magic.

This is for you Francis,' we had finally got rid of the formal title of Miss by now, to wear the same as with the leopard, and is given to you with my most grateful thanks,' he said as he pushed the box along to me. I opened it to find a flat gold brooch of a Chinese written character and it gleamed as the light reflected off it.'

`It's lovely, and this is a Chinese word is it not? I'm afraid I cannot translate it.'

He gave a laugh as he explained. `It is in fact three words into one symbol, and it says House of Chen. It has the same meaning and power as that of the House of Leopardi.'

Oh my word,' I breathed. A phrase that I had heard quite often in Australia and seemed to have picked up. The implication began to sink in. I seem to be collecting houses as if I was playing Monopoly.'

`Pardon? Monopoly?' Lee Chen asked.

`Oh I'm sorry. Monopoly is a board game in England, and not the right thing to have said. I should say thank you very much for the honour you are giving me. I'm not sure that I really deserve it.'

My dear Francis. It is well and truly deserved and there is also more that I can do for you.' He lifted a finger and a man suddenly appeared in the room and laid a folder in front of Lee Chen and, just as suddenly, disappeared. He opened the folder and I could see that it had several compartments which from one, he extracted a card. He turned it over and wrote briefly on the back of it and pushed the card towards me. I picked it up and looked at what he had written. Bethune Corporation, January 2nd 1948.' I gave him a puzzled look.

`That is just over a week from now. That company has already issued its prospectus, which is mundane in its plans and so forth. It is being launched on the London Stock Exchange at the opening of business on January 2nd. The shares in this company will open up at one shilling and sixpence. A modest start and it will attract some people. Within three months, those shares will have reached at least two pounds if not more, after certain news leaks out towards the end of February.

Now I know what Mr Delafonte told you in regard to the shares that you presently hold. Sell those that he advised and have your broker stand by the moment that trading starts in January and buy as many of them as the proceeds from the other sold shares realise.' He held up his hand to stop me from interrupting him. `I know that all these shares are being held in trust for you. Now it is for you to convince your Mr Donald to pressure your solicitor to do as you ask. That is the way we do business. You have saved me a considerable fortune by what you did today and this is the best way that I can repay my debt to you on this matter. Now, time is getting on and I am starting to feel tired.'

`Oh I'm sorry sir. I should be getting back to my ship.'

`Nonsense! A police officer has called upon the ship and told them that you are helping them with their enquiries. You have been ensconced, I think that's the right word, ensconced in an hotel for the night, and should be able to return to the ship well before departure time. So that matter has been settled. You are my guest and a chamber has been prepared for you. Your maid, Wen Chi is very good. Do not be embarrassed in the matter of your gender in her presence. She will bathe and massage you and see to your comforts and prepare you for bed.

In the morning, my son Wang will take you on a tour of the island and later see that you are safely delivered to the ship in plenty of time.' He stood up from the table, the maid pulling the chair back for him. He then bowed to me. `May you put the unpleasantness of today behind you, and look only to the future. May your journey home be a safe one, and we would be pleased to see you on your next return to Hong Kong. Goodnight Francis, and may you have pleasant dreams.'

Thank you sir,' I said, bowing in return, after getting up from my chair. May I thank you too, for the kindness and hospitality that I have received in your home.' He gave a half wave as the maid escorted me to the door, where another took over and led me back through the rooms to the entrance hall. We then went up the stairs and along a wide corridor, which was on the opposite side of the house to the one downstairs. These rooms then must look out at the lovely view I'd seen earlier. She stopped and opened a door and beckoned me to enter, and then closed the door behind me.

`Good evening my lady. My name is Wen Chi, and your slightest wish is my command.'

I looked around the room, or chamber, as Lee Chen had called it. It was very large with big picture windows looking out to sea. Shades of the navy! I get to spend a night ashore, and all I can see from the window is sea. The lighting in the room was very soft and Wen Chi went to draw the drapes, but I stopped her. It would be nice to wake up in the morning to see the sun and sky through a window instead of viewed through a ship's porthole.

On the left hand side of the room was a massive four poster bed with drapes of fine muslin hanging from the canopied roof of the bed. The walls here were also hung with finely woven tapestries, again chosen to melt into the thick almond coloured carpet. On the right was a huge circular sunken bath, with a rail running round at the ceiling, from which, like the bed, hung fine muslin drapes that could completely encircle the bath. They were pulled back at the moment and I could see that the taps and fittings were all gold.

`I was told when to expect you my lady, and have just finished filling the bath to bathe you. You please let me help you.' It didn't seem to be a question, because she knelt down and lifted my foot to take off, first one shoe and then the other. Then the dress came off and I did feel embarrassed, in spite of what Lee Chen had said, me standing there in female underwear and sporting a half erect cock as a young female undressed me.

She didn't take any notice as she unclipped my stockings and rolled them down for me to step out of. Then the suspender belt was removed and finally she took off my padded bra. Wen Chi then led me to the bath and invited me to step in. It was that literally. Steps were there, and I gingerly put my toe in first and found it just right. She held my hand as I got down those few steps and I was grateful to then just let my body sink down into the lovely scented hot water.

Then to my surprise, she slipped off her dress, and clad in only the briefest of briefs and a tiny slip of a brassiere, stepped into the bath with me. It was a lovely smile she had as she too sank down into the water. But only for a moment, because she rose up and pointed to a place in the bath, where I could then discern some kind of seat or stool, just below the surface. So up I got and sat down on it while she got this huge bar of soap and lifted up one of my legs and started to wash it.

Her skin was a lovely honey colour, and the skimpy things she was wearing, were now transparent because of the water. The dark aureoles of her nipples on her tight small breasts showed quite clearly through the fabric, as did her lower half, which I saw later, her small patch of hair and the slit of her outer sex lips being very visible.

With both legs washed, she took my hand and pulled back to the steps and bade me stand on the lower one. She giggled, putting her hand to her mouth as she did so, and pointed out the two lines of my sun tan above and below the waist. Then she washed my bum and testicles and paid much attention to my penis. Drawing back the foreskin to make sure I was cleaned properly beneath it. I had an erection now.

`My lady is having nice thoughts no?' she said, giving my erection a final wipe. Then it was back to the seat where she washed the rest of my body before immersing me completely. Then it was my hair she did, using a lovely smelling shampoo and a funny ivory comb to draw the shampoo right through and down to the scalp.

Then she pulled the plug of the bath and as the water drained away, she had this shower type hose, and I was hosed down from my head to my toes till all the soap and dirty water was gone. What a big fluffy towel she wrapped round me. I'd never seen one so big. The ones at home you could barely get round your waist, but this one could go round me twice.

After being rubbed dry, she led me round to the side, and there was a draped table, and I was asked to lie on it, face down. She saw my query and explained that it was for my massage.

`Wen Chi? Is it possible for me to have a drink? A gin and tonic please.' She went and picked up a phone and spoke rapidly into it before coming back to me. She then took off her wet things and quickly rubbed herself down, but didn't bother to put anything back on until there was a knock at the door. She wrapped a towel around herself and put a towel across my bare bum before she called out.

A different maid, one I hadn't seen before, came into the room. How many servants did he have floating about the house, I wondered? On the tray was a bottle of gin, small bottles of tonic, an ice bucket and two little dishes, one of thinly sliced lemon, the other of limes. Wen Chi bowed to the maid as she put down the tray and the bow was returned before she left the room.

Wen Chi then let the towel drop as she poured me out a large one, me waving away the slices. She came over with the drink. `You like, my lady?' she asked as she gave me the glass, from which I took a healthy slug.

`Yes, very much,' I said, lifting up the glass again, not sure whether she was referring to the drink or the vista of her full naked body.

Then she fussed around with some bottles and soon I was having the wonderful experience of having a complete body massage, and I mean the full body. No part was missed, especially when I was laying on my back.

She helped me off the massage table and as I stretched and I could feel where she had been working, and I felt great. Wen Chi then held up a night-gown that had been laying on the bottom end of the bed for me to wear, it was of a filmy silk that I think Diane would have given her eye teeth for.

`I do not wear night clothes,' I said, and she smiled and then turned the covers for me.

`Do you wish to have the drapes closed?' she asked.

`No thank you,' I said, getting into bed, it was now quite dark outside.

`Will you require anything else my lady?'

`No thank you Wen Chi, and thank you for such a wonderful bath and massage. It was most delightful.'

`You're welcome my lady,' she said as she backed out of the room and left me on my own. Oh this is the life, I said to myself as I stretched out between silken sheets and thought of the difference that could happen in the space of a few hours. Frightened to death and in fear of my life one minute, and then being cosseted in the lap of luxury the next. I was just beginning to doze off when I heard the door open and close. I turned on the small bedside light that didn't give out a lot of light but enough to see who had entered the room.

It was a young man, or I should say boy, for he looked about the same age as myself, and was wearing a silk dressing gown.

`My master asked me to find out if you would like some company for this evening, or for the night,' he said in perfect English, and opened his gown to show he was indeed a boy and completely naked. His cock and testicles were about the same size as mine and he was also without body hair, except for the crotch as I was.

`If not, there is Wen Chi who would share your bed if you so wish?' He stood there looking at me, not bothering to re-cover himself, but completely unselfconscious for me to reply. Looking at him, I remembered what I'd heard someone say about the Chinese and of losing face. If I turned him down, he would lose some stature and maybe get into trouble. But also, maybe it would be nice to have sex with a boy of my own age instead of the older men I seemed to finish up with.

I smiled at him and opened the bedcovers for him. He gave out a huge smile and, dropping his gown, got into bed beside me.

`My name is Lik, and some of my people make fun of me when they speak English, because they always add the word, me, after my name. But I don't mind if someone as illustrious as you used it.' I laughed and he gave a good girlish giggle, which I liked, and pulled him close to me. It was nice to feel a body the same as mine pressed tight against me. I looked into those slanted Oriental eyes and could see laughter in them.

`If I was to say lick me Lik, would you?

`Yes my lord.'

`Would they still tease you with the word, me, if your name was spelt f,u,k?' He laughed.

`I would probably use it myself,' he said, still laughing.

`Kiss me Lik, and then you can lick me.'

It was nice to be kissed by a sweet tasting mouth, his tongue was strong as well, much stronger than mine, and his kissing technique was better too. His hands never stopped moving as he kissed his way down until he took me into his mouth. I wish I could have stayed at that house longer, because this boy would have so much to teach me. He knew when to stop and his head came up from under the sheet.

`My lord is ready to enter my Heavenly Gate.' It took me a moment to understand what he had said, but I twigged, and said I was. Where the cream came from, I do not know, but it was suddenly being rubbed into my throbbing erection.

`You shouldn't really be needing this my lord, but just in case,' he said as he went onto his knees, waiting for me. It was indeed a heavenly gate that I entered. I slid smoothly inside him and liked the feel of his arse that must feel like mine. Then I found his gate also had a portcullis, for his insides gripped me with muscles that must have gone right up to his intestines. They held me tight and he could have milked me without my moving at all. Boy it was a glorious fuck, his body as supple and smooth as silk under my hands.

`My lord pleases me,' he said as I rode him,' and welcomes the essence that he is about to give me.' Whether it was the words or just his manipulation of me, but I've never come with such force and strength before, and he drained me completely. I held him tight as I came inside him and then almost collapsed onto his back as I finished. He gently let himself down onto the bed, and still holding me tight inside, rolled us both over so that I was on my back, and he sat up. He still managed to pull some more out of me before he relaxed and lifted himself up, my cock slapping back onto my stomach.

He was off the bed and back with warm flannels and towels and he gently cleaned me before attending to himself. Then he was back in bed for us to cuddle and kiss some more.

`That was pleasing my lord. It had been a long time since anyone entered my Heavenly Gate and I will not be in hunger for a long time to come. Do you wish me to enter your gate my lord? I would count myself a very lucky person if it were your wish.'

`I do wish it Lik. You presented me with yours, and now I would welcome you into mine.' With that, I rolled over and went onto my knee and let him get between my legs. What came next was a shock, because he started off by using his tongue.

Wow! What a sensation it was, that hard tongue of his sent my senses reeling. Quivers went up and down my spine as he lit up every fibre around that small orifice. It tickled, it teased and it taunted and I tingled and itched and had to beg for him to use his weapon, and it was like a blade from the blacksmith's forge as he entered. I was like the water to that red hot sword, seething and bubbling as it plunged into me, being tempered in my cauldron. What a fuck he gave me, and I've never experienced that since. Oh, if only all my lovers could bring me that joy, take me to those heights of ecstasy, I would be their most abject slave for life. How he managed it, I do not know, but as he came, he held me tight and went over onto his back, taking me with him. His pumping organ was rammed even further up into me as he poured out his cream inside. My cries were of bliss, joy and pain as our bodies crashed together on the bed in an orgasmic frenzy.

I cried when he pulled out and was still sobbing when he washed me ever so gently, fearing that my cries were for pain, not loss. With much passion, he held me in his arms and cradled me as he crooned a Chinese lullaby, and then we got round to kissing again, soon to be both fully erect. He manoeuvred himself in the bed so that he presented me with his erection as he took mine into his mouth again. I avidly took his into mine and tried to copy what he was doing to me. As I neared my peak, I nearly choked on my own joke, that here was I, an English seaman about to taste Chinese semen. Then I came and so did he. It was still copious and had a taste not unlike cinnamon. I didn't swallow it all, but held some back in my mouth as he swivelled round for us to kiss again. We both laughed and splattered each other because he had done the very same thing, so we were like two cats licking the cream off each other's face until we were clean. I hugged him to me and then the stress of the whole day took over and I fell asleep in his arms.

I suddenly woke up to see Wen Chi pouring me out a cup of tea. I wildly looked back across the bed, but Lik had gone. Sometime during the night after we'd taken our pleasure of each other, he'd gathered up his gown and departed.

`I hope my lady's dreams were pleasant ones,' Wen Chi said, passing me my tea.

`Wonderful,' I sighed as I leaned back against the now propped up pillows and sipped at the tea. I watched her go over to the bath and start running the water. I then did my ablutions.

`I was told that I must not handle the precious sword this morning, so I must let you bathe that part yourself, if you are ready?' Wen Chi smiled to take any sting out of her words. If there were any sting, I could not perceive any. It was more of quick dip than a luxurious wallow, and then she dried me down and led me to a small dressing table.

Will my lady permit me to attend to her make-up?' she asked as I sat down. I observed when you arrived, that you did your face as all Europeans. May I be so bold as to suggest that with what you will be wearing, I may change your style to befit the dress?' I looked at her askance as she went over to a hidden wardrobe and brought out a dress. It wasn't what we would call a dress, but a cheongsam of a beautiful pale blue colour with embroidery down the sides to where the slits were. Then I espied above the left breast, a gold embroidered pattern of the same as the brooch I had been given, the House of Chen symbol.

What a lovely dress,' I said, but I couldn't wear that. It's not mine.'

`Oh but it is, and this one.' She then pulled another one out and it was of a deep red, the same colour as the carpet in Lee Chen's room where I first met him.

It's gorgeous,' I said, and I notice that it has the same symbol on the left breasts.'

`Of course my lady. They are for you. We took your measurements from the dress you wore yesterday, and had them made up overnight. I'm sure they will fit admirably.'

`But...but...,'I stuttered.

`When my master, Lee Chen orders things to be done, they are done. He ordered them to be made for you and his wish is our command. There is also a dressing gown made of the finest silk.' The garment she held up..., but I am wrong. A garment is any piece of clothing. This could not be called by such an all encompassing name. It was a robe that was fit for a queen. Then I laughed at this magnificent gesture from Lee Chen. A robe fit for a queen, the Queen of the Seas.

`Wen Chi, I humbly accept these gifts from your master, and please convey my thanks to him for these, these treasures.'

`The blue is for the daytime and the red for night. Now befitting such a garment, may I please attend to your make-up so that you can see what can be achieved with a little eye shadow and pencil in the right places?'

`By all means Wen Chi, I am in your hands.'

`Ah so. The face first and then the dress, after which, we do the hair.'

As she set to work, I watched the way my eyes were made larger and with a skilful use of an eyebrow pencil, narrowed the corners and gave them a slight upward tilt. Then, not overdoing it, used eye shadow which brought out the blue of my eyes. She plucked some hairs from my eyebrows to narrow them and bring focus to the lower part of my face. It was a very, very light dusting of the cheeks and a subtle shade of lipstick to narrow my mouth and not give me such full lips. With my sun tanned face now made up in an Oriental style, I could very well be taken for a Eurasian girl. I looked fantastic, and I couldn't wait for Diane to see me, or Ralph either for that matter.

`We also took the liberty of having this made for you. I, we, hope that you are not offended, but it might be just as well to wear this when wearing a cheongsam, because it is a rather tight fitting costume. Also, if you were to have happy thoughts while wearing this dress, well, I think it would show.' Wen Chi was holding up a piece of material that seemed all string with a pouch.

`May we try it on you to see if we were right in our measurements?' I found out later that they had used Lik as the model for the pouch size. She held open two pieces that were obviously meant for my legs to go in, with one piece for the back and the small pouch for the front. Today, we call this a thong. It was pulled up to my waist, the material, not unlike chamois leather, had a little stretch in it, and it was fitted snugly on my hips, the back piece being pulled up between the cheeks of my bum. The front bit cupped my balls and penis and with her helping hand, yes, she was touching that which she was not supposed to do this morning, tucked me inside this tight little pouch.

The cunning touch that they had added, was that there was a little soft double ridge near the base that could easily, if the whole thing had been the colour of my flesh, be mistaken for the outer lips of a woman's labia. What surprised me was that it was so soft and comfortable. I could even put this on underneath a swimming costume and you would see no traces or outlines of a man, but that of a woman.

This is wonderful,' I exclaimed, who came up with this idea?'

`It was designed centuries ago, by whom, we do not know, but many male courtesans wore them. They even had some made for women to wear, but with male attachments if you know what I mean. Does it fit properly, that was what was worrying us?'

`Perfectly,' I said, spinning round so that I could see myself properly in the mirror, the white globes of my bum prominent against the colour of my legs and waist upwards.

`Now the dress,' she said, fetching the blue one for me. The feel of the silk was pure heaven as I slid into this dress.

`Oh, my bra,' I said.

No need,' said Wen Chi. Look,' and she showed me that the front of the dress had two pouches and what was inside them. She pulled out what looked like the very front of a breast, even with a nipple. It seemed to be made of rubber and had a certain amount of give in it just like a human breast. She slipped it back into its pouch and then fitted the dress on my shoulders and buttoned up the side piece that ran up to the high collar. I smoothed it down my hips as she stood back to look. She said something in Chinese, then apologised.

`So sorry my lady, but I was so overcome by your beauty. Now we have only the hair to do.' So I gingerly sat down and found that it was very easy due to the slits down either side of the dress. Very clever these Chinese, I said to myself. I then ran my hands down the front of the dress feeling the breasts and even the nipple, and having had a slight experience of doing this with Diane, found that I couldn't really tell that they were false. I felt my penis start to stir, but it was restrained and this made me smile.

Then came a knock at the door, and a maid wheeled in a trolley with lots of covered dishes upon it, and heaven, a coffee pot. So with a nice cup of coffee and picking at the various dishes, had breakfast while I watched Wen Chi do things to my hair which I would never have thought of doing in a month of Sundays. By the time I had finished eating and had emptied the coffee pot, I was finished.

I know it smacks of narcissism, but I did love that perfect picture of a young Eurasian woman that looked back at me. I loved it! So much so, that I nearly grabbed hold of Wen Chi to kiss her, which I would have done if it had been Diane. But I remembered my place as well as hers.

`Wen Chi, you are a most marvellous woman. I wouldn't have believed it possible to do what you have done.'

`Thank you my lady, but when one has the beauty and majesty that you possess, all I have done is bring it out.'

`Thank you Wen Chi. If there is anything I can do for you...?'

`No no, my lady. That I have served as my master wished, and you are pleased, is my reward.' She bowed low to me at these last words, her hands held together as if in prayer. I couldn't help but bow back in the same fashion.

`Thank you Wen Chi.' She then fetched me a pair of matching shoes for the dress to put on before escorting me to the door where a maid was waiting to take over, and she led me downstairs, and there was Wang, getting to his feet and bowing to me as I reached the ground floor.

`May I be permitted to say you look most beautiful Miss Francis?'

`Thank you Wang,' I said, returning his bow.

`May I show you the garden whilst your things are being put into the car?' I bowed again in acquiescence and let him give me a tour of the well sculpted and laid out grounds of his home. There were beautiful little walks and an abundance of blooms that were almost overpowering in their fragrance. Then there was the view of looking down across green tree tops to the blue sea, with streaks of white from the wakes of small moving boats.

I must apologise on behalf of my father for not being here,' he said, as he led me to the Daimler, but he rises early and has been gone for many hours now. But I was to extend again, his heartfelt thanks, and his wish for a bon voyage. May I be permitted to add that I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Prosperous New Year.'

`Thank you Wang. Please return my compliments to him also, and say that I was disappointed at not being able to say it myself to him personally. And also thank him for the hospitality, the presents and the wonderful memory that he has given me.' He gave me a low bow and handed me into the car.

Then I had a two hour guided tour of the island, during which, we stopped off at the famous Stanley Market. Then I realised that it was only two days to Christmas, and I hadn't got a present for Diane and Ralph yet. That was what I had originally gone ashore for on my own in the first place, only to get caught up in that murder. I explained this to Wang, and he helped me find something suitable for both of them, but then I felt for my bag and found that I didn't know where it was amongst my things and I had no money. He laughed and lightly touched my left breast with his finger.

`You are dressed as a member of the House of Chen. If you wanted the whole shop, it would be given to you gladly. Without having to offer any money. They would take it as an insult if you tried to do so. To refuse a member of the family would be, how would you say it? A stain that couldn't be cleaned no matter how hard you scrubbed at it?'

`Nearly, but I understand what you mean,' I said with a laugh. So armed with this knowledge, but not wishing to take advantage of it, chose what I would have selected anyway, bearing in mind how much it would have cost me if I could have paid for it. I feel that Wang saw through me in this, but it was still a bit heady with me, not realising how much power I really had by wearing that monogrammed cheongsam.

With the Christmas presents bought and stowed with my other things in the boot of the car, we carried on with the tour. The racecourse being the last, down off the hills and just before entering the harbour area.

My father is a very close man,' Wang confided in me as we approached the harbour. I know that you have done something great for the family, but even I, his son, is not privy to all that goes on. In time maybe, when I have attained the wisdom that he possesses. I have never seen him spend so much time with one person away from his business. You must be a remarkable woman Francis.' I demurely made my protestations, but secretly felt very pleased inside.

Apart from the driver, we also had a male servant travelling in the front seat with us. He carried the things from the car to the launch, and then carried them again to the other car waiting for us on the Kowloon side. It was only a short ride and we were soon at the foot of the gangway. Wang politely refused to come aboard, saying that he would stay with the car till the servant returned. So with formal bows, I took my leave of Wang, and went on board followed by the servant laden down with boxes and bags.

I cannot explain why I wasn't stopped as we entered the ship. I think I was recognised as being a member of the crew, or they were too astounded at my appearance to stop me. I went down below and expected the cabin door to be locked, but it wasn't, and it opened at my touch and I went in.

To be continued.