There are five people at our table, including myself. I’ve [?] learnt a great deal about them in the [?] time we have been at sea, although we rarely meet except at meal-times.
First of all, there is Dr Stone-my favourite, I must [?]. He is a man of about sixty-five, with grey hair and a humorous face. He [?] his practice a short while ago and is now travelling round the world before he retires to some quiet country [?]. As a young man, he served abroad for many years as a doctor in the Army. He speaks [?] languages and has told us a great deal about the ports we are going to call at. He seems to have been everywhere. During the day, when he is not [?] to his fellow passengers (one gets the impression that he already knows everybody on board!), he sits on deck reading or else gazes out to sea through an old-fashioned telescope.
Then there is “grandmother”. I call her that because her name escapes me. [?] being a grandmother, she looks remarkably young, not more than forty-five. She is on her way to visit a daughter who [?] to Australia some years ago. Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grand-children, whom she has never seen. She can talk of little else. This [?] is great adventure for her: she has never been abroad before.
Then there is a man I do not care for very much, an engineer by the name of Barlow. He has been on leave in England and is now [?] to his work in Singapore. He seems full of energy: he swims or play tennis the best part of the day. I have never in my life [?] a man with such a loud laugh. He has the cabin next to mine and I can hear his laugh even through the wall!
The other person who sits at our table is Mrs Hunt. I have found out [?] anything about her. She is extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult the doctor about her children’s various [?]. He is on her way to join her husband in India.