A Race Against Time – Episode 02
Miss Elswita Williams was the daughter of John and Jennifer Williams, but she had been brought up by her grandmother, Esmeralda Williams in Barbados, WI.
Her parents had travelled to Panama, leaving her in the care of her grandmother, in the hope of making their fortune with the building of the Panama Canal. They had intended to send for her as soon as they had enough money and were settled.
Sadly, both had come to an untimely end from disease. The building of the Panama Canal had been halted by the French because of the death rate of the workers and it was rumoured that America intended to complete the task.
From the moment she heard of her parents’ passing, Elswita decided she wanted to become a doctor and worked incredibly hard at school. With her grandmother’s encouragement, she obtained a full scholarship in 1900.
And now here she was, studying at the University of Edinburgh, which was a dream come true. She was one of two female students from the West Indies, the others being men. And, like most of the students offered this prestigious scholarship by the British Government, she was determined to succeed.
On the day she met Mr Christian Grenfell-Darling, that very morning, in fact, she had received a letter from her sweetheart in Barbados. She was in a rush and didn’t have time to read it before her lectures began, so she had tucked it into her skirt pocket to read when she had a spare moment.
During the day she often touched her pocket to remind herself it was there, but there hadn’t been an appropriate moment to read it, not with lectures overrunning and various other distractions.
After her day’s lectures she’d skated over to the library to get a good seat for study. It was then that she opened the envelope.
It was an unusually thick letter, and it took four pages of his tiny, precise writing for her intended – for that’s what he had been up until that moment – to tell her one thing. He’d found someone else.
Oh, and another thing, too. He hoped she wasn’t too broken-hearted by his announcement.
After she had received this terrible news she could no longer study; tears had come to her eyes and she’d scooped up her books, running from the library.
But running through icy snow in her leather boots, long skirt and layers and layers of clothing had been rash. Add to that several heavy tomes and her tears practically freezing before they had a chance to run down her cheeks, and it was little wonder she had found herself face down on the frozen ground.
And then her knight had appeared.
Indeed, while she had sipped at her tea and stared into the handsome, angular features of Mr Christian Grenfell-Darling, she could hear her grandmother’s voice saying: “There’s better fish in di sea.”
As term-time continued, Elswita hung on to those wise words, because even heartbreak was not going to ruin her chances of becoming a doctor!
* * * *
Prior to their meeting, Christian had seen Elswita around the university. Who could miss that dusky skin and those large intelligent eyes?
No-one could ignore her strident walk as she dashed around the university, while students in her path parted like the Red Sea did for Moses.
This was what Christian was amusedly thinking about when Margaret Lively came to disturb him.
Margaret was the daughter of a politician. She read politics and was very witty. A select few of Christian’s friends were in attendance in his rooms, including Elswita, who was holding her own quite admirably.
Christian, having been out late the night before in celebration of his twenty-first birthday, was lazing on his newly purchased chaise longue, enjoying the merriment around him.
Margaret Lively pulled up a chair and sat by him.
“Are you in love with her?” she asked.
“In love with whom?”
“That young woman.” Margaret indicated with a nod. “The one who is drinking tea, when there’s all this champagne around. What’s her name? Oh, yes. Elswita.”
