Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [50]
They stayed at the rail talking for some time. Jack told her that while he’d been in Liverpool he’d worked for a carter and had lodged with a family in Leeds Street. ‘They was worse than me own,’ he laughed. ‘Rough as they come and always fighting and drinking. Glad to get out of there I was. But they took me in when I didn’t have a penny to me name, not many would do that.’
Beth in turn told him about her parents dying and how she’d left Molly behind. ‘You did the right thing by her,’ he said with a look of real understanding. ‘I was lookin’ at some of the folks down there last night with all their little ’uns and wonderin’ ’ow on earth they thinks they can get a start in New York. It’ll be hard to get a place to live, and if the men can’t get work straight off, how they gonna feed ’em?’ This same thought had been in Beth’s mind too. It was comforting rather than painful to imagine Molly toddling around the house at Falkner Square, adored by everyone. Her life would remain constant and secure and she would always have a warm, clean bed, good food and plenty of love. Beth thought that if she reminded herself of that each day, in time she might be able to be truly glad she gave her to the Langworthys.
The sea became even rougher in the late afternoon and as the ship bucked and rolled, more and more people became sick and took to their beds. For most of the day Beth had felt dutybound to help those affected, washing their faces, getting them drinks of water and emptying the vomit bowls, but as the evening progressed and the smell below decks began to make her feel queasy too, she put on her coat and went up on deck again for some fresh air.
It was freezing cold up there, and deserted, but she could hear an orchestra playing in the first-class saloon even above the noise of the wind and sea.
To hear the music better she walked right down the deck to the railing which kept the steerage passengers contained in their section, and seeing a lifejacket locker, she tucked herself into the side of it to get out of the wind and listen to the waltz music. In her imagination she was in a pale blue dress with a satin sash, being twirled around the floor by one of the ship’s officers.
She became so immersed in this happy little fantasy that she came out of her little shelter to dance alone. But a sudden burst of louder music and a pool of golden light spilling out on to the deck alerted her that someone had come out of the first-class saloon. She slunk back into her shelter when she saw a man in formal evening dress lighting a cigarette, but she couldn’t resist peeping out to look at him.
He was tall, slim and dark-haired, and although he was some forty yards from her, and the light poor, she thought he seemed jumpy, looking around him in a nervous manner.
A few minutes later the door opened again and a lady came out.
She was like a beacon in the dark because of the white fur stole around her shoulders, her blonde hair and light-coloured, shiny dress. As she raised her hand to greet the man, her bracelet twinkled brightly, suggesting it was diamonds.
The couple embraced, and Beth wondered why they would come out on to a freezing cold deck when they could have been dancing together in the warm saloon.
The reason became obvious when they began kissing frantically, for clearly they couldn’t do that in front of people. Beth thought it rather romantic and wondered if they were engaged and had given their chaperone the slip.
But the man was clearly concerned at them being caught, for even as he kissed the woman he was manoeuvring her down the deck towards Beth and the shelter of the lifeboat suspended there.
‘I daren’t stay more than a minute or two,’ the woman burst out breathlessly, her words carrying clearly on the wind. ‘He’s watching me like a hawk.’
‘You’ve got to leave him,’ the man said fiercely. ‘I want to kill him each time he paws you.’
Beth suddenly felt very uncomfortable at being a witness to this clandestine tryst. She