“We must make it our quest during this voyage to find out who this young girl is,” Miss Schmitt said with great animation. “Was she with anyone?”

“Yes, an older woman who could have been a companion,” I replied.

“Ah, then we must seek her out.” The women exchanged a glance and nodded conspiratorially.

Chapter 9

Nine

We met at dinner that night and my table companions reported that they had had no success, except to determine that she was not traveling second class. Since a cold wind had been blowing on deck, she would probably have stayed in the first-class lounge. That cold wind was now accompanied by a decided swell.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Schmitt exclaimed as the ship crested a wave then fell again. “I do hope I’m not going to be seasick. I don’t think I’m a very good sailor and one has heard that the Atlantic can be so rough.”

“It’s all a question of mind over matter,” Miss Pinkerton said. “You simply tell yourself that you are not going to be ill. You eat hearty meals and take plenty of exercise.”

“Quite right,” one of the widows exclaimed. They were a Mrs. Bush and a Mrs. Cowper but I hadn’t worked out which was which. Then she added, “And I always bring ginger pills to suck. Most effective. I’ll give you one after dinner, Maude.”

I had crossed the Atlantic twice before and hadn’t experienced any seasickness so I hoped for the best this time. Liam seemed to think the whole idea of rolling side to side was quite fun. In fact he had been no trouble at all this first day at sea. I fell asleep watching two dressing gowns swing like pendulums on the cabin door.

Next morning we awoke to clouds racing across a pale sky and a noticeable swell to the ocean, making it hard to walk straight along the passageway. We breakfasted, I played with Liam, and after I put him down for a morning nap, I decided to venture out on deck. As I stepped out into the wind, I had the door wrenched out of my hand and slammed shut. It was lucky that I wasn’t wearing a hat or it would have gone sailing over the side. There were whitecaps on a slate-colored ocean and no sign of any living thing. It made me realize how small and insignificant even the largest ocean liner really is. I stared out to the north, looking for icebergs. A young officer passed me and smiled. “You are brave to come outside when it blows such a gale,” he said in such a charmingly French accent that it could almost belong on a stage. “You must be an American demoiselle. The French ladies, they do not venture forth when it blows like this. They worry about their coiffure, their hats, and that the wind will make their faces red.”