I looked out to see a sleek liner with two big red funnels and two tall masts. She wasn’t as big as the Majestic had been, on which I had traveled from Liverpool in steerage, but she looked elegant enough and large enough to brave the Atlantic waves. Daniel carried Liam and swept us quickly up the gangplank.

“Surely you don’t think that I’ll be in danger traveling to Europe?” I said.

“I don’t believe so,” Daniel answered, “but these men do still have connections with other ruffians in the south of Italy.” He sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe we are making too much of their skills and their reach. Maybe the bomb was a lucky accident for them and they only intended to give me a warning, not burn down our house. It’s hard to tell. They may just be a gang of local thugs after all. Still, I’m not prepared to run any risks with my wife and child. Don’t forget to send me a cable the moment you arrive.”

“Of course I will,” I said. I looked at his face with longing. How could I bear to be parted from him for so long?

His eyes met mine. “How can I bear to be parted from you both?” he said, echoing my thoughts. “But we’ll get through it, because we’re both brave and strong and we want what’s best for our son.”

I nodded, biting my lip and not trusting myself to speak. A steward came up to us and asked for my cabin number. Then he led us along narrow passageways to my cabin. He was very French-looking with slicked black hair and a jaunty black mustache.

“I ’ope madame will ’ave ’appy voyage wiz us,” he said.

I noticed that other passengers who passed us were also speaking French. I wished that I had brushed up on my French during that week with Dodo rather than learning mah-jongg and studying dress patterns for Dodo’s future soirees. When I had taken my lessons with the Hartley girls at the big house my French had been quite good. The governess insisted that young ladies of good family should be fluent in French and we had conversation practice every day. I seemed to have a natural facility for language and was better at it than Miss Henrietta and Miss Vanessa. A lot had happened since I sat in the schoolroom at the Hartleys’ mansion. I wondered how much French I would remember. I’d have to get in some practice during the crossing.