Alice was glad for the invitation to stay on the boat, but she wasn't sure how she felt about Miss Pennyfeather challenging her husband, or her drawing attention to Alice looking scared. She didn't want to look scared. She didn't want people to think she was a victim or that her life was that miserable. She didn't want them to think it was worse than it was.

And yet as Miss Pennyfeather and then Lory put an arm around her, she suddenly had to fight back tears and she felt like a child - with a childish urge to cling onto one of them for protection and comfort. Some part of her was scared, and had been so afraid all these months. She just wished they wouldn't appeal to it.

She shrunk. "Please..." she whispered to Miss Pennyfeather. But she wasn't certain what it was she wanted to ask, and she found it hard to speak at all. She was too dizzy to think.