" But she had learned that Alice had an indomitable
will and she fully realized that further argument and opposition were
useless.
Alice went on board the boat at Dover with some foreboding. She had
read and had been told of the rigours of the Channel passage and her
experience was equal to the descriptions. Had it not been for the
presence of Babette, the maid so wisely provided by her aunt, her
journey might have ended at Calais, or even before. She had a horror
of the water and it was with a sense of great mental and physical
satisfaction that her feet touched solid ground again.
They went to Paris, but spent no time in the gay city. Their
objective point was the south of Italy, and then the island of
Sicily. Did not the guide books say that Sicily was the home of the
orange and the lemon?
They would stop a short time in each important town. Carriages were
taken from day to day and inquiry was made at the principal groves in
the near vicinity of the towns. Then trips were made into the
country, but everywhere Alice's questions were answered in the
negative. She was allowed to talk to the labourers, by the aid of an
interpreter, but none had any remembrance or had heard of any such
man as she described.
At only one grove, near Palermo, was she refused admittance. The
proprietor, Silvio Matrosa, said he had no authority to admit
strangers.
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