“Gentlemen bathe in the nude,” he revealed, and she frowned again, since she disliked the idea of her husband strutting around unclothed.
“And how exactly is the machine rolled into the water?”
“It has wheels, and there are wooden rails leading it into the water. Once there, you open the machine door and, using the steps, you descend into the water, while still completely hidden from view by the machine, and then,” he concluded with a flourish of his hand, “you enjoy.”
Elizabeth had a hard time seeing how she was supposed to enjoy a large, unfamiliar body of water she would be wheeled into inorder to wash herself while worrying that someone might see her. And how would she go back?
“What happens if I want to go back to shore?” Panic was starting to well up inside her at the thought of being stranded in the water behind some strange mechanical contrivance she’d never used before.
“There is a flag you can raise as a signal.” He must have noticed that something was bothering her, because he added, “Are you worried about something?”
“I’ve never done this before and I rather dislike not knowing what to expect,” she admitted somewhat reluctantly. “Shall you be in the machine with me?”
There was no concealing the vulnerability in her voice.
“I cannot, for men and women bathe on separate sides of the beach.”
Her eyelids fluttered as she tried to blink the tears away.
“But I shall swim to where you are to keep you company.”
Her shoulders visibly relaxed, and she exhaled.
“Thank you.”
Talbot cleared his throat. “I have a friend who is a physician, and he told me that sea air is beneficial as well. He tends to read all the most recent journals and books, so he should be right.”
Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully, not seeing the connexion, but trusting that the physician knew better than she did. “Have you visited many sea-bathing places?”
“Some,” her husband said nonchalantly. “I approve of exploring one’s homeland. If there is one thing that this terrible war was good for, then it was halting the practice of the European GrandTours. What can the Continent offer me that Britain cannot? Besides, I can always go look at panorama displays to learn about other places.”
Elizabeth took a moment to think about his words.
“But you enjoy reading about travels so much, one would think you would, at some point, feel the pull to go out and explore,” she said, recalling that they had once briefly discussed the same issue.
So much has changed since then,she thought.
Her husband said nothing.
*
After they had settled in at the hotel and changed in their rooms, one of the maids brought up a bathing flannel for Lizzie.
“Why is it so heavy?” Elizabeth asked as she weighed it in her hand.
“It’s got weights sewn into the hem, ma’am,” the maid explained, “so it doesn’t float up in the water.”
“Oh,” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “How clever.”
She packed the bathing dress and nervously waited for Colin’s knock on her door so they could walk to the beach together.
The smell was the first thing that she noticed. It reminded her of one of Mrs. Barlow’s brines, but was somehow fresher. Whenever she inhaled, she felt something inside her lungs expand.
Perhaps Colin’s doctor friend is right,she thought.
The beach was long and covered in smooth sand. Beyond it, the sea stretched as far as the eye could see, and it melted into thesky on the horizon. The other people on the beach were further away from them.
“I don’t know why I imagined it would be rocky,” she whispered while Colin observed her wordlessly. “It is huge,” she said as she turned to him.
