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vitality, her complexion looked fresh and vibrant, and there was an animation to her features that hadn’t seen there for a very long time indeed.
    ‘I have to say I can’t remember having seen you look so well for years.’
    ‘That’s more like it. You’re a good boy, Carl, but if you try and put me back in that sickroom we’ll have words. I shouldn’t have gone into it in the first place, or any other sick room either, for that matter, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk. I’m alive again now, and that’s the way I’m going to stay.’
    ‘You don’t just look alive, you look young,’ he told her truthfully.
    ‘Well, so I should,’ she replied. ‘I was only eighteen when I had you. I’m not even fifty yet, you know.’
    He looked surprised.
    ‘You’d forgotten. So had I, until that girl reminded me that I wasn’t an old lady. And now you’ve frightened her off,’ she said with a glint in her eye.
    He laughed.
    ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.
    ‘You are,’ he said with a smile. ‘You sound exactly as you used to, before you took to your bed. Before . . . . ’
    ‘Before your dad died?’
    He nodded.
    Her face fell. ‘It was a bad time, and that’s the truth, but what’s done is done. I’ve got to make the best of it, and I’ve got that young woman to thank for making me see it. If she hadn’t come in, I’d still be in that sick room. Would you believe it, I was so used to being treated like an invalid I’d started thinking I must be one. You’d better go and find her, Carl, and ask her to have her dinner with us.’
    He pursed his lips. ‘I can’t do that, I’m afraid. She’s leaving the ship at Queenstown.’
    His mother looked surprised.
    ‘How do you know that?’ she asked. ‘I didn’t know you knew her.’
    ‘I don’t. But I tried to buy her stateroom from her and she told me I could have it when she left the ship She’ll be disembarking at mid-day.’
    ‘Well! So she got the better of you, did she? I like her more and more,’ she said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘You’d better go find her straight away then. You can tell her you’re sorry for speaking to her like that, and I can say thank you to her before she gets off the ship.’
    He put his hands in his pockets. Although he saw the sense of his mother’s suggestion, he wasn’t looking forward to speaking to Miss Cavendish. He was going to have to eat humble pie, and it wasn’t a dish he liked. But Miss Cavendish had helped his mother. He owed her for that. And whatever else he might or might not be, Carl Latimer was a man who paid his debts.
     
    Emilia made an effort to put Mrs Latimer and the infuriating Mr Latimer out of her mind as she explored the ship. There was so much to see that she soon became engrossed as she wandered between decks, investigating as many rooms as she could before it was time for her to disembark. She was amazed to see that the accommodation in second class was almost as good as that in first-class, for although the carving on the woodwork was less ornate, it was still sumptuous. The dining saloon was panelled in oak, and the library was panelled in sycamore. There were bars in which the passengers could while away their time, and a barber’s shop selling pennants, postcards and other souvenirs of the voyage. She bought a postcard for her godmother, with a picture of Titanic on the front, and one for Mrs Wichwood. They had the White Star emblem in the top left hand corner, and across the top was written, White Star Liner "Titanic ".
    She caught a glimpse of several cabins through open doorways, and although they were not as large as those in first-class, they were still spacious and well appointed, with basins for washing and mahogany furniture.
    She wandered on, storing everything away in her memory to tell her godmother, until she realized that her surroundings were becoming less sumptuous, and with a feeling of dismay she realized that she was lost. By the look of the