Recently, your Editor sailed to Halifax and back aboard Silver Cloud. One of his fellow passengers was Doreen Atkinson, a veteran English passenger who has enjoyed countless crossings and cruises over much of her long life.
She told of an impromptu friendship she had once struck up as a young girl with a world-famous author. He and she used to stroll the decks of the Duchess of Bedford.
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The author's wife did not care for deck exercise so Doreen filled in as willing escort in her place.
This was in the summer of 1930. To commemorate her mid-Atlantic friendship, she asked the author timidly if he would autograph her musical program. He was delighted to oblige. So Doreen attached it to a ship's photograph of her prestigious friend and has kept the two of them together ever since. His signature can be found and, your Editor trusts, deciphered below.
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