Five Passengers from Lisbon

FOREWORD

Once in awhile a writer wishes to add a few words of facts to a story of fiction; such is the case in this story of fictional romance and fictional murder placed in a factual setting.

Not that the U. S. A. H. S. Magnolia is, or ever was, a real ship, for she is not. She is an imaginary composite of a number of ships which, however, are very real and very magnificent—staffed by men and women whose courage and devotion are equally real and magnificent. If this novel had a serious dedication it would be, humbly, to them! The nurses and doctors, the ship's officers and men, the Army Transportation Corps, whose combined and tireless effort brought thousands of our sick and wounded soldiers safely home. But no words can properly express the debt of gratitude we owe them.

Neither can I adequately thank the many people who gave me so helpfully and so very kindly of their precious time and energy, and also gave me without knowing it more stories of heroism and humor, of mercy and fortitude than there is space for in this book or many books.

They and the Mercy Fleet are real.

This story is fiction, and there are differences! For one thing, while men and women are men and women (Army nurses are very pretty, too!) I can't help thinking that there could have been, in fact, very little time for romance and practically none for murder. Besides, the Colonel and the Captain wouldn't have permitted it for one minute!

But, fictionally, there might have been a storm, there might have been a lifeboat. There might have been five passengers, unexpected and unwanted, bringing their own past and present aboard.

M. G. E.

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