He is glad Freddy has come because it has pleased Lois so much.
It seems we are a very happy family.
April 3rd
I have been too busy to think about my journal and it is only now that something really important has happened that I remember it.
This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me.
I have met Magnus Perrensen.
It all came about in a most casual way. Papa announced at dinner a little while ago that a fellow cartographer of Scandinavia had written to him about his son.
"A very enthusiastic young man according to his father. He has just returned from an expedition in the Pacific. It seems he is interested in the practical side of map making."
"I have always thought that must be the most interesting part," I said. "To discover new places and actually work out the distances between this and that point."
"You take the romantic view, my dear," said my father indulgently. He turned to my stepmother. "We shall have to entertain him. I
daresay he will be a little lonely. Masters can find him a decent lodging in Great Stanton for his father would like him to stay for a while to study our methods. I have already spoken to Masters and he said that he has an extra room in his house and he thought Mrs. Masters might be glad of the extra money, in which case he could stay at their house. He may be with us for some little time."
Masters was the manager of the Shop—a very efficient person who always seemed to think there was nothing in the world to compare with the importance of making maps.
"Masters is quite excited at the prospect," went on my father. "Perrensens have quite a reputation. They are specialists in sea charts. He is very eager to meet the young man—particularly as he has just returned from this journey. We want to make sure that we give him every opportunity to study what we are doing here—and no doubt he will put us wise to the progress which is being made in his country."
"That is what is so pleasant about map makers," I said. "They all help each other. There does not seem to be the same rivalry that there is in other professions."
My father laughed at me.
"I wish your brother were here," he said.
I nodded. It was a long time since Charles had gone away. We knew, of course, that on voyages of discovery such as he was undertaking men could be away for years. But it did seem a very long time since he had gone.
"I daresay he will come home unexpectedly," said my stepmother. "I wonder what he will say to find me installed here."
"He'll be delighted I'm sure," my father assured her. "He has plenty of good sense."
"I hope he makes lots of new discoveries," I put in. "Places hitherto unknown ... great tracts of land on which no human foot has ever trod before."
"Ann Alice is very romantic," said my father smiling from me to my stepmother. "Let us hope that Charles will soon be with us."
"I hope so," I said. "Freddy is enormously interested in the maps. I took him into the Shop when we were in Great Stanton yesterday. Masters was quite impressed with him. He kept saying, 'Good lad. Good lad.' I have never seen Freddy so excited."
My father looked blissful.
"He is rather bright," murmured my stepmother with pride.
"He is indeed," I added.
"Ann Alice is very happy because she has a little brother," said my father.
I looked up. My stepmother's eyes were on me. They were very bright. There might have been tears there. And on the other hand one could not be sure.
I felt a little embarrassed and I said quickly: "Well, now we have to concern ourselves with ... what is his name? This er—Magnus."
"Magnus Perrensen. Yes, we must give him a good welcome."
It is because I have seen him that I have to write in my journal. I want to recapture that moment when he bowed formally over my hand and his brilliantly blue eyes met mine and held them. I was immediately aware of a tremendous excitement and it has not left me since.
I cannot believe that I met him for the first time this night. I feel I have known him for a long time. I wish I had learned more about maps so that I could have taken a greater part in the conversation. No matter. I have decided to learn while he is here, for it is clear that he has a great interest in them. He glows when he speaks of them; and he has just returned from this map-making expedition to the Pacific Ocean. He talks knowledgeably about charts and islands and he makes me feel a great desire to see those places.
There is an intensity about him, a vitality; and I am sure that whatever he undertakes he will succeed in accomplishing.
He is very tall—very plainly dressed according to our standards, but then we have become a little dandified under the influence of the Prince of Wales and his cronies who I believe debate for hours on the cut of their coats and the manner in which a cravat should be worn.
Magnus Perrensen was in sober grey, his coat a slightly lighter shade than his knee breeches; his stockings were of the same grey as his coat, and his black shoes were buckled but the buckles were by no means elaborate. He was bewigged as all men are, but his wig was plain and tied at the back with a narrow black ribbon.
But it would not have mattered how he was dressed; it was his vibrant personality which one noticed.
He spoke English fluently but with the faintest of accents which I found most attractive.
My father asked him many questions about the expedition, and Magnus told us that he had been shipwrecked and thought he would never see his homeland again.
"How exciting!" I said. "You might have been drowned."
"I floated for a long time on a raft," he told me, "looking out for sharks and wondering how long I was going to last."
"And what happened?"
"I sighted land and came to an island." I don't know whether it was my imagination but I fancied there was something thrilling in his voice when he said that. As though the island meant something to him.
I said: "An island? What island was that? I'll look for it on the map."
"Sometime I'll tell you about it," he said. I was very happy because he was implying that we were going to spend time together.
"And eventually you were picked up and found your way home?"
"Yes."
"You must have lost your charts when you were shipwrecked," said my father. "What a terrible blow."
"Yes. But I shall go again."
"There are so many hazards," commented my father sadly and I guessed he was thinking of Charles. He went on: "I trust you will be comfortable with the Masters."
"I am sure I shall. Mr. Masters has so much knowledge. It is a pleasure and an honour to talk with him."
"I am sure you and he will have a great deal in common."
"And Mrs. Masters... she is so good. She tells me I am thin and she threatens to 'feed me up.'"
"She's a good soul," said my father. "I think her husband exasperates her at times because he is more interested in maps than in her cooking."
"She is a very good cook."
"And we hope to see you here ... often."
He was smiling across the table at me. "That is an invitation which I shall delight in accepting."
When he took his leave I was so excited. I wanted to go straight to my room and write in my journal. Writing it down is like reliving it all again and I have a feeling that this night is important to me. I shall want to go over and over it again and again.
May 3rd
It has been a wonderful month. During it I have spent a great deal of time in the company of Magnus Perrensen. He is at the Shop all through the day but often I take the gig into Great Stanton— Freddy with me—and we visit the Shop. Sometimes I take a luncheon basket and we all go into the country and picnic. At others I sit with him in the Shop and we eat sandwiches and drink cider while we talk. It is what I call helping Magnus Perrensen to feel at home.