Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [52]
‘She was pushed into it by her family,’ he replied.
Beth thought about that for a moment. ‘Then why doesn’t she just leave him?’
‘You surprise me,’ hesaid with a touch of sarcasm. ‘Ialways thought girls of your class believed in the sanctity of marriage.’
Beth bristled at the mention of her class, and his assumption that a girl like her couldn’t have an open mind. ‘As I see it, there is no sanctity in a marriage of convenience.’
‘You sound bitter,’ he said, looking at her intently. ‘If you weren’t so young I’d think you were speaking from experience. But what you suggest is impossible anyway; her husband has her watched.’
‘By a servant?’ Beth asked. She remembered the woman had mentioned someone called Aggie.
He nodded.
For reasons she didn’t understand, Beth felt drawn into his problems and wanted to help him. ‘She’ll be easily distracted once we get to New York. Maybe your lady should make plans for then?’
‘And what kind of plan would a devious little minx like you devise?’ he said, a faint smile tweaking his lips.
Beth could well understand why the woman Clarissa was taking such risks for him. It wasn’t just his face that was attractive, he had an easy manner too. ‘I think she would need help from another woman,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Her servant wouldn’t think to watch her so closely if she was with a friend.’
‘I’ll bear that idea in mind,’ he said, this time giving her a beaming smile. ‘Shame you aren’t in first class too, it could be you!’
Beth laughed lightly. ‘I wish I was in first class. I don’t suppose so many people are seasick there. That was why I came up here, to get away from it. But I must go now, I’m frozen.’
‘And can I rely on you not to speak of this to anyone?’ he asked, raising one eyebrow questioningly.
‘Discretion is my middle name,’ she giggled.
‘Then, Miss Discretion, I hope we run into one another again,’ he said with a little bow. ‘And you must run along now before you freeze to death.’
The rest of the voyage passed slowly and uneventfully, without Beth catching sight of the lovers again. As sickness had descended on so many of the steerage passengers there were no more nights of dancing, music and revelry, and Beth filled her days nursing, cleaning and minding the children of those too ill to take care of their own.
There were many she’d helped who claimed she was an angel, but to Beth there was nothing extraordinary in taking care of others; she was used to it. Besides, the light was too bad to read, it was too cold to go up on deck for more than ten minutes at a time, and the people she liked most, Maria and Bridie in particular, were too poorly for fun or conversation.
Sam would call for her to go up on deck with him several times during the day, and Jack Child invariably turned up too. Beth assumed it was because he had become friends with Sam, but her brother was quick to point out that she was the attraction.
Beth didn’t really believe this because she’d become aware that everyone, male and female, admired Sam. He was funny, kind-hearted, daring and often outspoken.
Yet whatever Jack’s reason for wanting to spend time with them, Beth was always pleased to see him. He was entertaining, quick-witted and worldly. He made her feel slightly giddy, and he always understood her little jokes and came back with sharp retorts that made her giggle. She often wished that it wasn’t so cold on deck so they could stay up there longer; as it was, she often prolonged their meetings until she was almost a block of ice. On the way back down the companionway they lingered chatting until one of the crew or stewards told them off for blocking the way.
Sam’s activities were not curtailed by mere rules. He managed to flout them all by sheer charm, his smart appearance and his good manners. He’d somehow managed to get to know a young lady called Annabel in second class, and spent part of each day with her and her family in various places around the ship, even to the extent of eating with them and avoiding the disgusting daily meal of stew given to the