On one occasion, to console Kim, Baba cabled her this poetic message: "Trying to please her Lord, poor Mary Magdalene's heart is breaking."
Meanwhile on the train to Marseilles, before retiring in their sleeping compartments, Baba indicated to Margaret that if he were awake, he would tap three times on the wall adjoining their compartments. If she were awake, she was to reply with three knocks. Why?
Baba indicated that it signified, "I love you."
This "game" continued through the night, several times between them.1
In Marseilles the next day, after taking the luggage to the ship and having breakfast, Margaret took Baba to an old church on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean called Our Lady of the Sea . Outside the church was a beggar to whom Margaret wanted to give some money.
Baba stopped her, explaining, "Give it from me. If you give it [from yourself], you may receive sanskaras from him."
In the church was a statue of the Pieta. As Baba stood before it, Margaret wondered if Baba would be crucified.
Baba immediately responded by spelling on the board, "It will not happen this time, but I will have mental persecution."
Later, they saw a French film in Marseilles titled The Big House , with Charles Boyer about inmates in a prison. Margaret kept Baba informed of the plot by translating it into English. Suddenly she noticed that Baba had slumped in his seat and seemed not to be listening.
She stopped, and Baba sat up after a while, remarking to Chanji, "I have been to Vienna."
Margaret was sent back to Paris the same day, 17 December. She later wrote to Baba:
What a wonderful and unforgettable 24 hours I had with you — to have had you all to myself for that time. It seems almost impossible that that divine day existed. Although the greatest happiness for me will be to see the whole world love you and share you, it was lovely to be greedy and just steal you for a day.
As long as I live, that night and day will stand in my memory.
On Friday, 18 December 1931, Baba, Chanji and Aga Ali boarded the P & O Line SS Narkunda for their voyage to India.2 Kimco sent this telegram on the 22nd, which Baba received at Port Said: "Impossible [to] get rid of us; we are still with you." Baba had taken the Paul Robeson records back with him and would have them played in his cabin.
Footnotes
- 1.In subsequent letters to Baba, Margaret would write at the top, "Three big knocks on the wall!" or sign them, "Three knocks, very loud ones!"
- 2.The Narkunda was bombed and sunk by the German Air Force in 1942, during World War II.