Read Online A Greater World by Clare Flynn - Free Book Online

though they had seen neither polish nor the attention of a cobbler in a long time. He was from another world and yet she liked him and wanted to get to know him better. She willed him to turn around and walk back to re-join her, but he disappeared into the queue waiting to disembark.
     
     

Chapter Four - After Cape Town
     
    The day after they left Cape Town she saw him again. To avoid the other passengers, she had developed the habit of slipping up to the boat deck. It was out of bounds to everyone but the crew, but she discovered a spot behind one of the huge ventilator fans, where she would be out of sight. It was shaded from the sun by the adjacent lifeboats and she could lean back against the fan housing and watch the sea slipping by below.
    The sound of the passengers was distant and muted as they played deck quoits, swam in the pool or promenaded round the deck below her. She was engrossed in a book when a shadow fell across the page. She looked up.
    'Good morning, Miss Morton.'
    'Mr Winterbourne. You've found me out! Trespassing in the crew-only zone.'
    'Well if you're trespassing then so am I.'
    'The crew can see you if they look this way from the Bridge. You need to sit down here out of the sight lines.'
    'You've got it all worked out, Miss Morton.'
    'I suppose that makes me a hardened criminal?'
    'Aye, you could say that. But it makes me an accessory to yer crime.'
    She smiled up at him, blinking in the sunlight and gestured to the deck beside her. Hesitating a moment, he sat down beside her.
    There was an awkward silence until Elizabeth spoke. 'I love it up here. Away from the crowds and noise.'
    Michael looked around them but said nothing. She wished she hadn't asked him to join her. 'Tell me something about yourself, Mr Winterbourne. Why are you going to Australia?'
    'There's not much to tell. There wasn't much of a future for me back home and I heard Australia's a good place to start a new life, so I thought I'd try me luck. The government pays most of the fare as they need labour out there.'
    'You said you have no family?' She hesitated, 'No wife?'
    'No wife.'
    'And parents?'
    'Not any more.' His voice was harsh and the tone of his voice made it clear that he did not want to explain further. She decided not to push him. They lapsed into silence again, then he gestured towards the book that lay open on her lap.
    'What're you reading?'
    'Wuthering Heights .'
    'What do you think to Emily Bronte?'
    She looked at him in surprise.
    'Aye. I've read it.' His voice was cold and Elizabeth realised he must be think her no better than Mrs Briars: a snob who assumed a miner must be uneducated and ill mannered. The words stumbled out of her mouth as she hurried to speak and to cover any unintended offence.
    'I first read it years ago when I was at school. I've just finished re-reading Jane Eyre . But I thought she was a bit of a prig.'
    'Catherine Earnshaw more to yer taste?'
    'No. Stupid girl. I can't imagine what possessed her to marry Edgar Linton when she was so in love with Heathcliff.'
    'You like Heathcliff then?'
    'Gosh no. He's positively evil. Yet when I was a girl I thought him the most romantic character.'
    'A bit too rough and ready for you, eh, Miss Morton?'
    'Not at all. He's a cruel man. Not my idea of a romantic hero at all.'
    'I dare say you're right. But then I doubt I've read as many books as you.'
    He looked away, appearing distracted, bored even. Elizabeth was keen not to end the conversation so abruptly this time.
    'You like books?'
    'Aye. Though I expect yer friend from Cape Town thought I couldn't even read.'
    'Mrs Briars may think she has a superior education, but she's an ignorant old... Sorry. I shouldn't speak that way.' She smiled. 'She caught me reading Sons and Lovers and told me reading it would corrupt me.'
    'And have ye been corrupted?' he smiled.
    She laughed. 'Actually I was moved. I've never read anything like it before. Brutally honest. Painful. What do you like to read?'
    'Anything