“Let’s swim,” Poppy said, walking into the water.
“I can’t,” Augusta said.
“You can’t swim? How can that be? Surely everyone can swim!”
“Not me,” Augusta said. “I wasn’t brought up near water. And the sea is always freezing in England. In any case, it’s not proper for women to do such things.”
“Why on earth not?” Poppy said.
“I don’t know,” Augusta replied. “It’s not modest.”
“We have different customs here, as you may have noticed,” Poppy said firmly. “Well, I’m going in.”
She turned and dived into a wave. Augusta sat on the sand, watching wistfully. It looked like such fun, ploughing through the waves. Perhaps someone would teach her. She reflected on how different things were here. How many were the restrictions back home! Women should not do this, and not do that. Even though sh
