Read Women and Children First for Free Online Page A

there were only four hundred fashionable people in New York (the exact number that would fit in Mrs William Astor’s ballroom). The term ‘The Four Hundred’ had been coined and instantly everyone began scrabbling for their place in the hallowed ranks. The irony was that the harder you tried, the less eligible you appeared, and she knew the Howsons would never get there. Would that prove a rupture that would tear their marriage apart?
    Mrs Howson’s flirtatiousness with Reg was awkward for the boy. He dealt with it professionally, but it couldn’t be easy when you are trained to be polite to all passengers. You can’t take sides between husband and wife.
    She wondered if marriage would be easier when you came from Reg’s class. Surely things would be simpler without all the rules about status that bedevilled her own class? His girl, Florence, sounded like a sweetheart, but Reg had intimated that he was hesitating about taking the step of getting engaged. Maybe it was hardly surprising given all the bickering couples he saw on the ships where he worked. He didn’t want to make a mistake. He was a good person, and wouldn’t have led her on for – what was it? – two years now if he didn’t genuinely love her.
    Margaret had taken a liking to Reg. He had the looks of a moving picture star but seemed unaware of it. There was no trace of the vanity that afflicted many handsome men she had met, who checked their appearance in every reflective surface and strutted arrogantly into rooms, watching for a reaction. Reg seemed modest and introspective, and an all-round good sort.
    During the Mediterranean voyage, she had witnessed an incident that he didn’t know she had seen. His friend John had been looking very queasy during breakfast service one morning, as if he had a stomach upset, and he had suddenly rushed off, leaving a pile of soiled plates on a table near the entrance, where arriving guests would see them. The chief steward noticed them and became instantly enraged. His eyes swept the room looking for someone to blame, and in an instant Reg was by his side. Margaret was close enough to overhear their exchange.
    ‘I’m sorry, sir, I only put them down for a moment. It won’t happen again,’ Reg said, and relayed them quickly to the pantry, letting John off the hook.
    That’s one of the reasons he was Margaret’s favourite steward, but she also liked a sense that he had hidden depths. He was a sensitive person, who thought about the world and all that he saw of it. When they talked, he really looked at her and seemed to see beneath the surface.
    There was something else, as well. Reg was an independent type. Deep down, despite his bosom friendship with John, she sensed a loneliness in him, and that’s what attracted her. They were alike in that, for she was herself perhaps the loneliest woman in the world.

Chapter Seven

     
    At luncheon, first-class passengers could choose from a set menu with soup, fish, chicken, eggs or beef; they could have items from the grill, such as mutton chops or sirloin steak; or they could select from a buffet with salad, cold cuts and seafood dishes, such as salmon mayonnaise, Norwegian anchovies or potted shrimp. Reg hovered near the buffet to help serve passengers when they’d made their decision, or to retrieve the food they dropped while serving themselves.
    Most of the ladies had changed since breakfast. First thing in the morning they wore skirts and blouses but for lunch they wore suits with long jackets – some of them caught at the back like a bustle, others slim and fitting on the hips – and all topped with the obligatory hat. Personally, Reg thought it was silly wearing a hat to eat a meal because they kept having to flick back those long floaty feathers and ribbons to stop them dipping in the food.
    The Howsons sat down at their table and Reg spread the napkin on Mrs Howson’s lap in a swift fluttering motion, without touching her or encroaching on her line of