No Moon
Page 15
That night, when I go down for my cocoa and biscuits, the servants’ hall is hushed. Everyone is gathered around the long table in complete silence. Has something happened? Mr. Briggs gets up and pulls out my chair for me.
“Good evening, Nanny,” he says respectfully. I flush scarlet and look over my shoulder, half-expecting to see Nanny Mackintosh standing behind me. Croft comes in from the larder holding a large, white, iced cake, decorated with pink roses. Written in pink letters are the words WELCOME HOME, HART AND NANNY GARDENER.
“What a beautiful cake! Thank you, Mrs. Porter,” Hart says. I am quite overwhelmed and can manage only a smile. Everyone applauds.
As usual, Phipps is the first to speak. “Is it to look at or to eat, Mrs. Porter?”
“That’s for Hart and Nanny Gardener to say, seeing as I baked it for them!”
“It looks too nice to eat, Mrs. Porter, but it would be a shame to let it get stale, wouldn’t it?” Hart replies. Mrs. Porter cuts everyone a generous slice and says she’ll send up some for the children’s tea next day, subject to my approval!
This time, I do find my voice. “You are kind, Mrs. Porter, thank you. The girls will love a treat. I’d better get back to the nursery so that Good can come down and enjoy a piece, too. And, Mrs. Porter, you know best about what to send up for nursery meals. Thank you again. Good night, all.”
The children do not talk about what happened on the Titanic. But I watch and listen carefully, ready to answer their questions if need be. They have gradually come to accept that their papa will not be coming home.
On the last night of our stay in Amersham, I slip into the garden. It is a beautiful warm night, bright with stars and a new moon. This time, unafraid that Nanny will pounce when I return upstairs, I sit for a while on the swing, grateful for a slight breeze, listening to sounds of the garden.
A white-gowned figure tiptoes down the path towards me. She looks like a small ghost in her white nightgown, long fair hair, and bare feet.
“Miss Portia, whatever are you doing? Come here.” I pull the little girl up beside me and put my arm round her. “Did you have a bad dream?” I ask.
She looks up at me. “What happened to the dogs and to Jenny’s new kittens?” Here in the light of the new moon, the moon which can still bring back memories of other sorrows, I hope I can find the right answer.
“I am not sure, but I like to think of them in heaven with your papa, safe and happy. It’s late–one last swing, and then we’ll wave good-bye to the garden until next summer.”
Hand in hand, we return to the house, tiptoe through the scullery and kitchen, through the green baize door, and upstairs to bed. “Shall I leave your window open a little, so you can see the moon?” I ask. But Miss Portia falls asleep instantly.
Baby Fiona is born the first week in September. Nanny Barnes has moved into Nanny Mackintosh’s old room. She is full of stories about all the babies she has taken care of. She sings to Miss Fiona and encourages the girls to sit in the rocking chair and hold their baby sister. Born at such a sad time, Miss Fiona is the most contented of babies and in danger of being completely spoiled by an adoring household! Even Master Roger approves of his new sister. Nanny Barnes leaves us to look after another baby when Miss Fiona is a year old, and she settles into the nursery under my charge.
There are more changes. Lady Milton no longer entertains as much as she did when Lord Milton was alive. She has decided to manage with a smaller staff.
Phipps joins the army, which he has wanted to do for some time. Before he leaves, he asks if he may write to me and if I will write back! I tell him I will think it over, but I fully intend to reply. Mrs. Ransom accepts a position in a bigger establishment, and Mrs. Porter becomes cook/housekeeper. She and Mr. Briggs are strict, but fair.
Mr. Harris and Hart are officially keeping company, and we expect a wedding announcement any day. Hart told me that Mrs. Porter and Mr. Briggs had discussed the matter and said there would be no objection to her and Mr. Harris remaining in Lady Milton’s service after their marriage!
Patrick and Kathleen announce their engagement and will marry when she turns eighteen. Emmy and I are to be bridesmaids, and Kathleen has already started to design the most splendid hats for the occasion. I hope Charlie will get leave so he can attend the wedding with me.
Mr. Briggs continues to read us bits from the Times newspaper, shaking his head and predicting a war. Just like Father, he mistrusts change. He still refers to me as Nanny Gardener, though everyone else, both upstairs and downstairs, calls me Gardy.
Afterword
The Gardener family, their friends, neighbors, and the staff and family of Lord and Lady Milton are imaginary. However, they exist in a real world with the public figures of the time and experience the life-changing events that occurred between 1911 and 1912. At the conclusion of the story in 1913, the First World War is only months away.
The passengers and crew on board the Titanic and the Carpathia, with the exception of Mrs. Landers, Tim, and Roberts (who are drawn from composite figures), are historically accurate. They lived or died on the ill-fated voyage.
The Titanic was heralded as the largest, most luxurious, and safest ocean liner ever constructed and yet
1,503 passengers and crew lost their lives, and only 705 people were saved.
Even in death, social hierarchies were rigidly observed. The bodies of first-class passengers found at sea were placed in coffins on board the recovery ships sent out from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Second-and third-class passengers were placed in canvas bags. Steerage and crew were placed on ice in the ship’s bow.
Passengers who lived or died were remembered by name. Maids, nannies, and man-servants were listed in the following way: Astor, Colonel J.J. and Manservant.
Harold Bride, the radio operator, recovered in hospital from his ordeal.
Within days and weeks of the tragedy, new seagoing regulations were put in place, the most significant being that sufficient lifeboat spaces must be provided for every person on board. Lifeboat drill and training for ship’s crew became mandatory. Lifeboats were to be equipped with compasses and sufficient provisions. A twenty-four-hour watch was made compulsory on all ships.
In 1913, an international ice patrol was established in North Atlantic waters to track icebergs during the spring and winter months.
Copyright © 2010 by Irene N. Watts
Published in Canada by Tundra Books,
75 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2P9
Published in the United States by Tundra Books of Northern New York,
P.O. Box 1030, Plattsburgh, New York 12901
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009929065
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Watts, Irene N., 1931-
No moon / Irene N. Watts.
eISBN: 978-0-88776-972-6
1. Titanic (Steamship) – Juvenile fiction. I. Title.
PS8595.A873N66 2010 jC813′.54 C2009-902978-2
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.
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