Portrait of Jonathan by Margaret Dickinson

blacksmiths and joiners. Jonathan greeted many of them by name and they grinned and touched their caps to him. It seemed he was a regular visitor here and was popular with the shipbuilders.
    â€˜Here we are.’
    Above them rose the enormous skeleton of a ship in the process of being built.
    â€˜We’re keeping to much the same graceful shape of the clipper ships, Vinny.’
    As Jonathan spoke, Lavinia looked up at him. His eyes were afire with enthusiasm, and his gaze roamed over the lines of the unfinished ship caressingly almost. It was obvious to her, in a moment, that all his hopes and dreams were bound up with this ship.
    â€˜But she will be fitted with a compound steam engine, which we hope will mean she should be able to travel from China to England non-stop.’
    As Lavinia seemed puzzled Jonathan continued. ‘You see the steamships are having a hard fight to prove themselves against the clippers. They have to carry huge quantities of coal—which naturally takes up valuable cargo space, or they have to make frequent stops to refuel, and that can cause a lot of difficulties in various ways. But with this more economical engine plus the fact that the Suez Canal will be opening soon—the steamship will begin to prove itself.’
    â€˜I see, and will the clipper ship be useless then?’
    â€˜Oh no—they’ll last for many years and be worthy craft, but gradually they will be superseded by steam, there’s no doubt about it. But all changes of this nature don’t happen overnight. It takes years of gradual development, of trial and error by the inventors and a good deal of risk on the part of the shipping companies like ourselves.’
    â€˜What are you g-going to call her?’ Lavinia asked.
    â€˜We haven’t decided yet—it will be some time before she is launched, they’ve only just well begun. But I had wondered about “Mélanie” after your grandmother.’
    â€˜My grandfather is involved with the s-steamship then?’
    Jonathan nodded.
    â€˜He must be a very—forward-thinking p-person,’ she murmured.
    â€˜He is. He’s a wonderful man, Lavinia. You’ll like him.’
    Lavinia looked away, none too sure. She was afraid of the proposed meeting between herself and her grandfather, and, even more, she feared her return home to her parents, which must be inevitable once she had met her grandfather. But with determined resolve she put such dismal thoughts from her mind and continued to enjoy her precious afternoon spent with Jonathan.
    On their drive back home, Jonathan pointed out various places of interest to Lavinia.
    â€˜But I am forgetting, Vinny, you live here, you must have seen these places a hundred times and here I am showing them to you as if you were a stranger to London.’
    â€˜No—I haven’t seen them before—truly. Mama does not believe in visiting p-places of interest. I’ve heard about them, of course, and occasionally seen such places as the Tower or the Houses of Parliament and even Buckingham Palace. But it’s not the same as really visiting them for that purpose. I try to read as much as I c-can, but it’s not always easy. Papa says it is a waste of time educating a girl and Mama says all the m-money for an education must go for Roderick.’
    â€˜Poor child,’ Jonathan murmured under his breath and hoped that above the rattling wheels of the brougham Lavinia had not heard him. He could not bring himself to answer her. He was so overcome with anger against her thoughtless, selfish parents that he could think of no suitable reply.
    Lavinia fell silent too. But the glow of the afternoon remained with her for a long time and indeed helped her to face the meeting with her grandfather with a little more equanimity.
    The day arrived all too soon for Lavinia for she wished her stay with the Eldons could last for ever, and the meeting with her grandfather, she