Jaime and Lionel had received plenty of invitations to dine with a number of families during their stay in New York. Many took them to lavish restaurants, and another young man, whose home was in Maine, gave them a tour of the Speakeasies and Jazz Clubs of 52nd Street. At one club Jaime thoroughly enjoyed the Paul Whiteman Ambassador Orchestra, and hummed the tune of ‘Whispering’ all the way home. Jaime also took in all the tourist sights, including the Statue of Liberty, Grant’s Tomb, New York Stock Exchange, and both the Metropolitan and Woolworth buildings. He always purchased a number of postcards to send to Ally and his parents. A week later, he was delighted to find a postcard had arrived from Ally. He took out his wallet and gently kissed the photograph he had of her.
In late September, Jaime boarded the ship, Adriatic, in New York, bound for Southampton, England, arriving on 13 October 1921. When he saw the date, Jaime felt a trifle nervy; he had a strong superstition about the number thirteen being unlucky. However, he soon forgot about it, as he began a tour of London. Taking in all the historical sights, he visited Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London on the north bank of the River Thames, and thoroughly enjoyed Hampton Court Palace, former home of the flamboyant King Henry VIII. He caught his breath at the Unknown Warrior’s Grave, in the beautiful Gothic church of Westminster Abbey. The unidentified British soldier from World War I had only recently been buried there, on 11 November 1920. The Cenotaph, in Whitehall, had recently been built and designated as the United Kingdom’s official war memorial, so he bought a few more postcards to send back home.
His next stop was Paris, before heading back to Barcelona, where he would catch up with his cousin, Agapito Ferran and other relatives. Jaime spent a night at the palatial Hotel Ritz, 15 Place Vendôme, Paris, that was founded the year he was born, 1898. His mother, Rebecca, had supplied some extra spending money, urging Jaime to experience at least one night in the grand hotel. She and Antonio had spent several enjoyable nights there on one of their trips. And now that he was gone, her precious memories were all that kept her going.
Jaime was thrilled to return to Barcelona and the old family home in Alella, where Agapito, his wife, and their three children now lived. Agapito’s wife was also pregnant with their fourth child, and they welcomed Jaime with open arms. They all discussed the assassination of the Spanish Prime Minister, Eduardo Dato Tradier, who had been shot on 8 March 1921 by three Catalan anarchists as he was exiting the parliament buildings in Madrid. Agapito told Jaime he knew the brother of one of those arrested, adding that his friend was appalled at his brother’s involvement.
A sunny afternoon was spent at Montserrat, the multi-peaked mountain located near Barcelona and site of the Benedictine Abbey , Santa Maria de Montserrat. He took a few photographs with his Brownie Box camera, and once again purchased postcards of the magnificent vistas.
As the weeks rolled by Jaime was slightly concerned as he’d heard nothing from Ally since the postcard he’d received in New York. He had been sending her postcards and letters constantly, and she knew the address of the Alella home. Early one morning, after returning from a walk, Agapito greeted him waving a letter from Ally. Thrilled to bits, he retreated to his room to read its contents. What it contained completely devastated Jaime, and he couldn’t understand what had happened.
14 September 1921
My beloved Angus,
I treasure every moment we spend together and I count the moments till we meet again, for when I am with you, this world is a different place. Everything but you fades away into the background and becomes dim. But with you there is always that vividness of life. I have written to Jaime and have told him about us. I pray he understands. He has been gone such a long time, and you my darling, have captured my heart.
My eternal love forever,
Ally
Jaime read it again, tears pouring down his cheeks. Who was this man, Angus, and why had Jaime received his letter? Obviously, Jaime concluded, Angus had received Ally’s break up letter to him. How could this happen? Later that evening as Agapito consoled his cousin, he suggested to Jaime that perhaps Ally had mixed the letters up on purpose. At first horrified at the thought, Jaime eventually agreed that it was a strong possibility, and then he remembered the date he had arrived in Europe, the thirteenth.
Alella,
30 November 1921
My Own Darling little Sweetheart of Old,
Oh, Ally darling, if you only knew what I am suffering, you would never have let me go through this. I cannot realise it all yet, dearest, and what it means to me, and to think it is all true. This will be my first of many nights in agonizing torture of mind, without any possible chance of sleep. It is driving me crazy. Any way I might express myself tonight in this letter is only one quarter of what I feel as words won’t express my feelings, but I shall make a feeble attempt nonetheless.
Ally my own, I am going to make one last pathetic appeal to you now, and for the sake of my sacred love towards you my own ‘little chicken’, do please listen to me. First of all, sweetheart, I love you to death itself, and honestly, I would go through hell itself to have one last small chance of winning you back. My cup is full of bitterness to think that it is really my own fault — that I had you, and so to speak, let you slip through my fingers. Yes Ally, I know that you had every right to wonder whether I was really in earnest, but I was, and I realise it fully now. I know I have been away so long, but I will be home soon.
Somehow your precious nature always made me turn to you, and now that is gone, I have only a dead world to face. Perhaps it was the unhappy relations that existed once between you and my people that has influenced your mind most. Our love for each other has been too great to think anything else, but that state (with my family) has passed long ago, although you may not think it. I have unfortunately, and bitterly so, been lax on that point. But sweetheart I promise you that I would become engaged to you tomorrow if you will only let me, and what is more, with the full consent of my people. If it is a case of your lifelong happiness, surely it is not too late. Ally, just think of the happy times we have had together during the last three years. Do you mean to say we could not have any more such as those? So think about that and your promise to me before I left. If you …
The letter was unfinished and never sent; Jaime often wondered whether it would have changed anything, had Ally received it.
It was now December and soon Jaime would be returning to Australia. He bid an emotional farewell to Agapito and his family and headed to Toulon in Southern France to spend a few days on the Côte d’Azur. Just prior to Christmas, he boarded the Ormonde in Toulon, bound for Australia. Christmas and New Year were spent on board, and although the voyage and ports of call were extremely interesting and enjoyable, his heart still bled for Ally. Jaime arrived home on 1 February 1922. He had been gone for nearly two years.
FOOTNOTES
1 St Abbs at 33 York Street, Mont Albert, still stands although on much smaller grounds. The cork tree that Antonio San Miguel planted was eventually ruined by possums and cut down by the current owners in the mid 1990s. Finding St Abbs was also a detective game. My research assistant, Jo Simmons and I went to York Street in May of 2012. I had been shown St Abbs as a little girl, but had only a vague memory of the property. We had no luck and returned a week later, as after more research we had found the street number. Jo convinced me to ring the doorbell, and after much trepidation, we did just that! After introducing myself to the owner, she knew the history of the home (and the San Miguels) and invited us back for a tour. This too