Free Cold April by Phyllis A. Humphrey

other passengers? She could have just stepped inside, not realizing that it would go somewhere else. At any rate, it was an idea worth pursuing.
    She left her cabin and hurried down the corridor to the Grand Staircase. The lifts went between A and D decks. Since Richard had already tried A Deck, she’d try the lower ones.
    Inside one of the four lifts, she asked the operator—a ruddy-cheeked young man not a day over sixteen—if he had seen a little girl, not yet four, get on all by herself.
    “ No, ma’am,” he answered. “I’da been concerned if I ’ad. A child that young, and not with her mum?”
    “ If you had seen her, what would you have done?”
    “ Taken her to a steward, ma’am.” He pushed the lever, and the car began its descent. “Not everyone has this job might-a done that. O’course, there’s lots of children in steerage—excuse me, third class. You want to try D Deck? That’s as low as this lift goes, but there’s stairs after that.”
    “ Yes, I’ll try D Deck.”
    She exited from the car, walked to the long corridor stretching the length of the ship and started for the stern. Very soon she came upon a large dining saloon, its tables already being set for a meal.
    A uniformed steward or waiter, holding a tray of utensils, approached her. “Excuse me, ma’am, are you looking for something?”
    “ Someone. A little girl is missing.”
    “ I didn’t see no one like that, ma’am. This is the second-class dining saloon. Was she coming here?”
    “ No.” She frowned and bit her lower lip. “Is third class on this deck?”
    “ No, ma’am, but if you go up one flight,” he pointed above his head, “there’s a third-class public room near the stern. I always see lots of children there.”
    She thanked him, retraced her steps to the stairs, went up to C Deck and again headed toward the stern of the ship.
    Before she reached it, she heard the sound of people talking and laughing, and the high, excited voices of many children. She paused at the wide open doorway and saw a crowd surrounding an open area where a young man was performing magic tricks. The same one she’d seen more than an hour before.
    He did the coin trick again—making them disappear and reappear—and also made a cup float in the air and a spoon bend and magically straighten again. Now, his performance was apparently ending, and he bowed while the audience applauded.
    As the crowd began to disperse, she observed the children sitting on the floor in front of what must have been the magician’s makeshift stage. She mustered her courage and approached the man.
    He smiled broadly when he saw her, removed his silk hat and made a little bow. “Welcome, Miss. Did you like the show?”
    “ I saw your show an hour ago in a different public room.”
    “ I know. I watched you come in, but you left again before I could speak to you.”
    Beth felt her face warm, surprised he had noticed her. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and was as handsome as he was talented. She remembered her reason for being there. “I’m looking for a little girl.”
    His grin widened as he pointed to a bench in a corner. “She says her name is Kathleen.”
    Kathleen saw her at the same instant, hopped off the bench, and attacked her knees in a fierce hug. “Miss Beth, Miss Beth. I found you.”
    The young man laughed. “I think it’s the other way around. Your Miss Beth has found you.”
    Tears of joy springing to her eyes, Beth stooped down and embraced Kathleen.
    When she resumed standing, her hand clutching Kathleen’s, she acknowledged the young magician again.
    “ I knew she didn’t belong in steerage,” he said, “not dressed like that. I decided someone would likely come and fetch her soon enough.”
    “ And if I hadn’t?”
    “ I’d have taken her to a first-class steward as soon as I finished my act. Excuse me, the name’s Harry Palmer. At your service.”
    “ I’m Elizabeth Shallcross.”
    “ Your daughter calls you Miss