Listening for Lions: Chapters 5–6

Though she had urged me for days to wear her daughter’s clothes, when at last she saw them on me, there was so furious a look of resentment on her face, I was afraid that, as in the story of the shirt woven as a curse by an evil woman, Valerie’s clothes would wrap around me and burn me.

After a restless night I awoke to the desolate Taru, an area of grassless land.

I was introduced to Miss Limplinger, a governess whose charges had outgrown her, and who was returning to England.

Her eyes were very bright and inquisitive, like a bird hunting among the grasses for insects.

“Good-bye, my dear. Your grandfather’s solicitor will cable us when you arrive. Write at once and let us know how your dear grandfather is.”

There were hundreds of dhows, their sails billowing out in the breeze.

There were hundreds of dhows, their sails billowing out in the breeze.

In the distance I could make out Mombasa’s ancient coral fort looming over the harbor.

When more Portuguese came and took back the fort, all the new Portuguese were killed by the sultan of Zanzibar, and then the Africans got rid of the Arabs and then the Arabs came back until the British took over the fort.

When we took our meals, Miss Limplinger was careful to look about the table to see if there was someone important or aristocratic. Finding such a person, she would grovel and bow and scrape.

When we took our meals, Miss Limplinger was careful to look about the table to see if there was someone important or aristocratic. Finding such a person, she would grovel and bow and scrape.

I saw that many of the passengers liked being fawned over.

I paid no attention to these stories until one afternoon she said, “I once saw your parents in Nairobi at a Government House garden party. I can’t be sure, but I do believe you were with them. One doesn’t forget ginger hair, although I don’t recall you as being so thin. Of course I never for a moment believed the tales of your father being disowned and sent away by your grandfather. That was just malicious talk, I am sure.”

After our lunches I would have my one moment of solitude and peace to consider all this.

I thought of confiding in her, but her love of gossip held me back.

We stopped in Naples, but it was in the middle of the night and I had only a glimpse from our stateroom porthole of Mount Vesuvius at dawn.

“Portsmouth is a naval base,” Miss Limplinger answered. “The town is always crowded with sailors, and a loutish lot they are; however, we will be docking in Southampton.”

There were old towers and forts along the shore and, as we reached Southampton, wharf after wharf crowded with every kind of ship and barge.

I was hustled into a large black automobile that reminded me of the big black beetles that scuttled about among the grasses.

As soon as he found out I was an imposter, there would be no more polite greetings of welcome or buying of coats.

If I told the grandfather upon his deathbed that his son had deceived him and that I was an imposter, I would certainly hasten his death.

I warned your grandfather that once the camel’s head was inside the tent, there would be no keeping the rest of him out. I went along with it only so that your grandfather should die in peace, but I won’t be fooled by your pretending to some sort of humble and modest behavior. Your letters to your grandfather have been a disgrace, nothing but whining and begging for money.

I warned your grandfather that once the camel’s head was inside the tent, there would be no keeping the rest of him out. I went along with it only so that your grandfather should die in peace, but I won’t be fooled by your pretending to some sort of humble and modest behavior. Your letters to your grandfather have been a disgrace, nothing but whining and begging for money.

Doubtless it’s not your fault that your parents are greedy and underhanded. Some of that was bound to rub off on you.

“What is shivering?” I had asked Mother. “Like the chills of malaria,” she said.

At first I couldn’t believe it was someone’s home. I thought it must be a great church, like one of the English cathedrals I had seen in pictures. It was all gables and chimneys, and so large it seemed impossible that it should be a home for just one person.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see peeking around a screen the heads of some women wearing aprons and fancy caps. At an indignant look from Burker, they quickly disappeared.

When I looked more closely, I saw that beneath the severity was a look of hopelessness and defeat. It was the look of a Masai who has been shut into a prison.

Once I tried to get him to leave. “Thank you very much, Arthur,” I said. “I'll be quite all right alone.”
He merely turned red and averted his eyes. He stuck to his place as if he were the last soldier standing to protect the fort.

He stared quizzically at me for a bit and then said, “We’ll take care of that by and by. Now, you will have to sing for your supper. My world has dwindled to just this room and this bed. Though I know you don’t care for Africa, surely there must be one tale of the country you could tell me. I suppose there are lions and leopards and such?”