“That’s highly unlikely in first class, don’t you think?” Margaret said, tightening her grip as Breda staggered. “Is this the cabin? In you go. Shall I have water fetched for you, or tea? Here, let me take your cloak. And here is a basin, just in case.”

Breda sank onto the bunk. “I really shouldn’t, my lady. Lady Powerscourt . . .”

“Will never know. It will be our little secret.” Backing out of the cabin, guiltily relieved to be alone, Margaret closed the door softly behind her.

RMS Munster, which would take five hours to cross the Irish Sea, offered its first-class patrons a choice of opulent saloons in which to relax and chat with fellow passengers, but Margaret had no desire to do either. Noting that all the sofas, chairs, and tables were bolted to the floor, which did not bode well for poor Breda, she returned to the deck. Chairs with warm blankets had been set out at intervals, though most of the passengers were standing in family groups, making their farewells, or waving at those still on the dock.

A low wooden guardrail separated the first-class passengers from the other, more significantly crowded decks. She found a space at the ship’s rail to watch the last of the passengers come aboard via the gangplanks, including an elderly priest in a dusty black cassock.

On the quay, a group of four balladeers were singing to entertain the crowds. One of the quartet stepped forward and launched into a plaintive song that squeezed her heart.

For Annachie Gordon he’s bonnie and he’s rough,

He’d entice any woman that ever he saw;

He’d entice any woman and so he has done me;

Oh, I never will forget me love Annachie.

The words were slightly different from “Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie,” the Scots ballad that Molly used to sing to her, but the tune and the theme of the song were the same. Margaret listened intently to the all-too-prescient tale of a young girl, Jeannie, who is to be married off to the wealthy Lord Saltoun. Alas, poor Jeannie is in love with the highly unsuitable Annachie Gordon, and refuses the man her father has chosen for her.