Titanic Affair (28 page)

Mrs Gisborne’s face cleared.

‘Thank goodness,’ she said.

‘Of course, he may not live,’ said Mrs Braithwaite cautiously.

‘Oh, he’ll live,’ said Mrs Gisborne confidently. ‘He’s a fighter. He clawed his way up from poverty to the highest reaches of society when he became a millionaire. Men like that don’t lay down and die. Where is he now?’

‘His mother is taking care of him. She came aboard shortly after he did and saw him on the deck. Mr Donaldson, one of Carl’s business associates, was on board
Carpathia
, and gave them his stateroom.’

Mrs Gisborne gave a satisfied smile. ‘Then all is well,’ she said, taking another sip of tea

‘Are he and Isabelle engaged yet?’ asked Mrs Frampton.

‘Not yet,’ said Mrs Gisborne, ‘but they will be.’ She frowned. ‘As long as that little upstart didn’t survive.’

‘You mentioned her before,’ said Dolly curiously. ‘A kitchen maid you called her. Who is she?’

‘A common little nobody. A goddaughter of one of
Charlotte
’s poverty stricken school friends, not one of our kind, I assure you. She was only able to travel on
Titanic
thanks to
Charlotte
’s generosity, and she was a laughing stock on board. You’ll never believe it, but she wore a home made dress in the first-class dining room.’

‘Shocking,’ murmured Mrs Frampton, wrinkling her nose.

‘Unfortunately, as chance would have it, she attracted Carl’s attention. She had golden hair and blue eyes, the sort of things men make themselves fools over. ‘

‘He doesn’t seem the sort to take a fancy to a lame duck, however beautiful,’ said Mrs Braithwaite, helping herself to a biscuit from the plate in the centre of the table and nibbling it delicately.

‘Well, on this occasion, he did. And more than a fancy. I think he fell in love with her.’

Mrs Frampton and Mrs Braithwaite exchanged glances.

‘Fortunately,
Titanic
sank, and with luck the problem of Miss Cavendish will have resolved itself.’

The ladies finished their tea, then Mrs Gisborne expressed her intention of visiting Carl.

‘Where is the Donaldsons’ stateroom?’

‘I’ll show you,’ said Mrs Frampton. ‘I want to call in and see how Carl is faring myself.’

They took their leave of Mrs Braithwaite.

‘I think I will just go on deck for a minute and see if any of our other friends survived,’ said Mrs Gisborne. ‘The de Bretts were on board and I didn’t see them leave the ship. It will be a terrible tragedy if they have perished. They were to hold a charity ball next month, and I have the most splendid gown to wear.’

The two ladies went up on to the deck. They paid no attention to the other survivors but went across the deck towards the Captain. If a list of survivors had been made, he would be the person who would know where it was.

They had almost reached him when Mrs Gisborne stopped.

‘What is it?’ asked Mrs Frampton.’ Have you seen the de Bretts?’

‘No, more’s the pity. It’s not the de Bretts. It’s Her.’

Mrs Frampton followed her eyes to a young woman standing by the rail wrapped in a blanket.

‘Out of all the people to survive, why did one of them have to be Emilia Cavendish?’ said Mrs Gisborne in disgust. ‘This could be the end of all our plans for Isabelle. If Carl survives, and he and Emilia find each other here, the ordeal they’ve been through will bring them together and they’ll be engaged by the time they reach
New York
.’ She thought. ‘There’s nothing for it, Dolly. You’ll have to take her in.’

‘Me?’ asked Mrs Frampton in surprise.

‘Yes, you. It’s the only way we can keep the two of them apart. As long as you take her in, you can keep her in your stateroom so that she can not go looking for him.’

‘But won’t he look for her?’ asked Dolly. ‘Even if I can keep her below deck until we get back to
New York
, he will see her name on the survivors’ list - the officers are drawing one up now. As soon as he does so he’ll know she’s on board, and sooner or later he will find her.’

‘If he recovers sufficiently to look. Remember, he has been through a terrible ordeal, and he was unconscious when he was brought on board.’

‘He has only to ask his mother to look for her, even if he is too weak to look himself, and he will find her,’ Mrs Frampton pointed out.

Mrs Gisborne thought.

‘Then we must make sure we keep her name off the survivors’ list. Let’s just hope she hasn’t already given it to one of the crew - though, judging by the condition she’s in, it doesn’t seem likely. Once she’s in your stateroom we can give it for her, saying she’s called Miss . . . Miss Elsie Carter.’

‘It won’t work,’ said Mrs Frampton regretfully. ‘She will look for him.’

‘She evidently doesn’t know he’s aboard, or she would not be standing by the railing. If we can get her below quickly enough we can prevent her hearing anything of him, and as for the survivors’ list, well, we will just have to find a way of keeping her away from it.  But that is a problem for later. Now, we have to get her off the deck.’ She thought. ‘She had better not see me. I have already tried to warn her away from Carl and she might suspect something.’

‘Very well. Leave it to me. In fact, if you would send my maid to me, I have an idea as to how I can get Miss Cavendish to abandon her vigil.’

Mrs Gisborne looked at her enquiringly.

‘I will induce her to leave the deck by telling her that my maid will watch for her loved one in her place. I rely on you to tell Mary what’s expected of her before you let her come on to the deck. Make sure she understands that under no circumstances is she to "find" him.’

‘A good idea,’ said Margaret approvingly. ‘I can’t thank you enough Dolly.’

Dolly smiled. ‘My dear Margaret, what are friends for? I am only too happy to help. I am as annoyed as you are at the idea of Isabelle losing Carl to a nobody. Just make sure you invite me to the wedding.’

‘If we manage to arrange it, you will have pride of place.’

Emilia was weak and shivering. She had been given brandy on first boarding
Carpathia
, but had resisted the efforts of the crew to persuade her to go below and have a hot breakfast. She was sick with worry. She had failed to find Carl on deck, and she had gone over to the rail to watch further boats arriving. With each new boat that reached
Carpathia
her hopes rose, only to be dashed again when he was not on board, and she was close to exhaustion.

Everywhere around her were the cries of distressed people, which lowered her spirits still more. So many people had lost loved ones, and with each new boat that arrived, bringing no sign of Carl, she feared she could be among them.

She had seen many people she knew brought on board: stewards and stewardesses; Mr and Mrs Thirske; and the waiter who had served her in the first-class dining-room on her first night aboard
Titanic
. She had also seen Mr Ismay. The sight of him had shocked her. She had caught a glimpse of him as one of the lifeboats had drawn up alongside
Carpathia
. His face had been blue, and he had been staring ahead of him, like a statue.

‘I should have gone down with the ship,’ she had heard him saying as he had come aboard. ‘Women went down. I should have.’

One of the men in her boat had seen Mr Ismay leave the ship. He had not left until all the wooden boats had been launched on the starboard side of the ship, at which side he had been helping. Only the collapsible boats had remained. He himself had left in one of the collapsible boats, and he had only done so after the crew had ensured there were no more women and children in the vicinity. But still, he had survived.

She had seen nothing of Carl. Nor had she seen Pansy, or Robert, or Mrs Latimer. But she could not think about them now. All she could think about was Carl.

So absorbed was she that she did not at first hear the kind words spoken softly next to her.

‘My dear. You look frozen. Come with me. My name is Mrs Frampton, and I have a stateroom on board ship. You are welcome to stay there. My maid will draw you a bath, and then you can have something hot to eat before getting in to bed. You must be exhausted after your ordeal.’

With difficulty, Emilia gave her attention to Mrs Frampton.

‘No, thank you. That’s very kind of you, but I can’t leave the rail,’ she said. ‘I’m watching for someone.’

‘A loved one?’ asked Dolly with false concern.

‘Yes.’

‘Your husband?’ queried Dolly.

‘No, he’s not my husband,’ said Emilia.

‘Your fiancé, then?’

Emilia was too tired to argue.

‘I understand your feelings, but if you stay here you will do yourself harm. It’s cold, and you are shivering. Will you not let my maid watch for your loved one in your stead? What is his name?’

‘Latimer. Mr Carl Latimer.’

‘Mary, you are to stand here and check the names of every gentleman who boards the ship. In addition, you must ask each and every survivor if they know what happened to Mr Carl Latimer,’ she said to her maid, who had joined them on deck.

‘Yes, madam,’ said Mary respectfully.

‘Come, my dear. You won’t be any use to your fiancé if you are exhausted when he arrives. He might need looking after when he gets on board, you know, and you must be rested in order to manage it.’

Worn out by a lack of sleep, by the cold, and by the terrible ordeal she had been through, Emilia agreed. She leant against Dolly as she led her to her stateroom.

‘Your clothes are soaking,’ Dolly said. ‘You must have a warm bath, and then we will see about getting you something to eat before putting you to bed.’

‘Well, that’s settled,’ said Mrs Gisborne to her husband, as she returned to the Braithwaites’ stateroom. Mr Gisborne, like his wife, was virtually unmarked by his ordeal. He did not suffer from his wife’s complete insensitivity, but he was not a man to worry about things he could do nothing about, and although he had felt for the souls who had gone down with
Titanic
, he had not been overcome. ‘At least Miss Cavendish will be no more threat.’

‘You mean she’s drowned?’ asked Mr Gisborne, looking up from his paper.

‘No. Unfortunately not,’ said Mrs Gisborne, putting her hat down on an elegant table. ‘She survived.’

‘That’s a bit harsh, even for you,’ he said uncomfortably.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she sighed, patting her hair and then sitting down opposite him. ‘If she had drowned, it would have saved us a great many problems. Carl would have returned to
America
, grieved for a few weeks, put it behind him and got on with his life. In other words, he would have married Isabelle. But now that Miss Cavendish is alive, the future is by no means so certain, which is why I asked Dolly to take her to her stateroom. Carl will not be able to find her, and he will not know she is alive. Nor, if we are careful, will she be able to find him. They will both assume the other one drowned and Isabelle might marry Carl yet.’

‘The poor girl,’ commented Mr Gisborne.

She raised her eyebrows. ‘I sometimes wonder about you, Thomas. Why should Emilia Cavendish be a poor girl, any more than anyone else? We’ve all been through a disaster.’