Free Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh Page A

the room slowly resumed. The children began playing again.
    “Sure, and that was a nice display!” Brian told Paddy sharply. It seemed to Katie that his peevishness included her, but she told herself that might just be her guilty conscience. After all, Brian couldn’t know how much she’d enjoyed the kiss. Or could he? Nothing much got past him. “It pleases you to know you’ll be on their tongues tonight when they sit down in their fancy restaurants? They’ll be speakin’ of you as a common, ignorant lout.”
    Paddy shrugged. “I care as much for their opinion as I do the cows in the meadow. But I don’t mind apologizin’ to you , Bri. I was so riled up, I wasn’t thinkin’.?
    “No need to apologize to me. But you might give some thought to how people on this ship regard Katie!”
    That, Katie saw, did give Paddy pause. He reddened, and she realized in awe that she’d been wrong earlier. Paddy Kelleher, ladies’ man or no, did blush. Amazin’! But why had he seen fit to apologize to Brian for kissing her?
    “Sorry, Katie,” Paddy muttered. “I should have asked you first if it was fine with you. But they made me so mad ! Like I told Bri, I wasn’t thinkin’….”
    “And there’s a shock,” Brian said sarcastically.
    But Katie, remembering how she’d felt when she was being stared at and remarked upon, nodded and said, “I know, Paddy. I was mad, too.” The three stood in silence for a few moments. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say about the incident. It had happened and it was ugly, but it was over now. Best to forget it. Quickly.
    The girls who had been talking with Paddy earlier were, Katie noticed, waiting impatiently for him to rejoin them. They either didn’t care that he’d kissed someone else or they were smart enough to realize the kiss had been for show.
    “Your adoring fans are waiting,” she said, her voice sugary sweet.
    When Paddy, with his usual arrogant grin back in place, had sauntered off, Brian said sharply to Katie, “You’re not the first girl he’s ever kissed, y’know.”
    “Nor am I the last,” she responded blithely, and hurried off to stop Bridey from yanking a fistful of hair off the scalp of her older brother.
    Back in their cabin, Elizabeth said in disgust, “I can’t believe we did that! Staring at those people as if they were mannequins in a department store window! Everyone talking about them as if they were deaf.” She wished fervently that she’d stayed with Max and Lily instead of letting her mother talk her into that stupid tour. “They’re people, Mother! They have feelings! But then,” she added, “feelings aren’t something you care very much about, are they?”
    “You wouldn’t dare speak to me that way if your father were here.” Nola Farr calmly removed her plumed hat, tossing it carelessly onto the bed, and slipped free of her purple velvet jacket. Because she had neglected until the last minute to see about hiring a maid for the trip and then been unable to find one willing to make the journey, there was no one to pick up after her. The jacket joined the hat on the bed and would remain there until nightfall, when Martin Farr would hang both items in the wardrobe room.
    “Well; he isn’t here.” Elizabeth sank into a chair. She kept seeing the furious eyes of that beautiful, red-haired girl. The boy in the second tender had called her “Katie.” Katie had been very, very angry. Elizabeth didn’t blame her. The steward should never have guided them down there, to gawk and make thoughtless comments. The reverse would never be permitted, she was sure of that. Third-class passengers were barred from entering first-class accommodations. The steward guiding their tour had found it necessary to unlock more than one gate.
    “And,” Elizabeth added, “I can’t believe Father would approve of what just happened. He’d think it was disgusting, just as I do.”
    Her mother had taken a seat on the velvet bench in front of