“I want to go home,” he answered and his voice wobbled.
“Where is home?” Justina asked gently.
“Bombay, miss. That’s where Mama and Papa live and my two little sisters and – that’s where I want to go.”
“But – ”
Justina could not understand why, if that was the case, young Harry was not with them.
“They sent me to England, miss, to school. All children go to school in England when they are old enough, Papa said. And – and he said I was old enough and it would be fine. Only it wasn’t – ”
Tears poured down his face.
“They beat me at school and the other boys are awful. They hate me because I can’t play rugger and I like reading poetry. And I spent the summer holidays with Aunt Martha and she, well, I think she hates boys. She doesn’t let me have any friends and I’m not allowed to make a noise or do anything that she says “gets in the way’.
“She never kisses me or tells me I’m a good boy. She’s always saying she’s taken me in as a duty!” he ended on a wail. “I want Mama and Papa and Milly and Agatha – and my Ayah.”
Justina hugged him hard and did not care if his tears stained her gown.
“So you thought if you jumped on this ship, you would get back to India?”
He nodded and dug his fists into his eyes to stop his tears.
“There was a boy joined the school late. His parents brought him. I heard one of the Masters ask them if they were returning on the new ship and they said, no, it was leaving the next day and they had business or something in London. So then I thought I would hide away on it.”
The magnitude of what he had done astounded Justina.
“How did you know where to find the docks?”
“When Papa and I came last spring,” again there was an unhappy wobble in his voice. “We went from the boat to the school by train. I knew where the station was.”
“Did you have money for the ticket?”
Harry shook his head.
“There was a family with lots of children going onto the platform, so I just went along with them. And when we got to the docks, I found another family and followed them onto the ship. It was easy!”
“And how did you find a lifeboat?”
“When we came over on the ship – it was much smaller than this one – Papa told me all about lifeboats, how they had what he called ‘iron rations’, in case everybody had to abandon ship. So I thought I’d be able to live in one and I had all the chocolate from my tuck box. But that soon went and I could only find dry biscuits in the boat and tins of things that I couldn’t open.”
Justina remembered the passengers who had complained that someone had taken fruit from their cabin.
“So you started to climb into people’s cabins to find food? You came into mine.”
Harry looked shamefaced.
Justina could not understand how he had kept going for so long. No wonder he looked so rough.
“My lifeboat is just outside your window, miss, and I’d seen you often and you looked friendly, so I hoped – well, I hoped you could help me, miss.”
“Of course I will,” Justina promised, wondering exactly what she could do.
Suddenly there came a loud knocking at the door.
“Justina, let me in. I want to say goodnight to you.”
It was Sir Thomas.
Harry looked startled and apprehensive.
Justina put a finger to her lips. Then she called,
“I am going to bed, Sir Thomas. I will see you in the morning.”
“You’ve got someone in there, I know you have, I heard you talking to him. It’s Castleton and I won’t have it, open the door.”
His voice was low, urgent and aggressive.
“There isn’t any man in here,” Justina protested.
She glanced around the cabin then motioned to Harry to get under the bed.
He understood immediately and in a moment had wriggled himself out of sight.
Justina, pretending the pause had been necessary so she could refasten the buttons on the back of her dress, opened the door a little.
“You are making a great mistake,” she told Sir Thomas.
At that moment Lord Castleton came along the corridor towards his cabin.
“Good evening,” he said pleasantly. “The concert went well, didn’t it?” He unlocked his door. “See you in the morning,” he added as he went inside.
“See?” hissed Justina at Sir Thomas. “See how ill-founded all your suspicions are. She flung open the door for a brief moment. “Nobody is here and certainly not Lord Castleton.”
She immediately tried to close the door again, but Sir Thomas stuck a foot in.
“I insist on my goodnight kiss,” he pressed in a different tone.
Justina realised with a sinking heart that he had drunk several brandies since the end of the concert.
Then along the corridor came Mrs. Bloxham, her bosom prominently displayed by her low-cut green silk gown.
“Sir Thomas,” she exclaimed in a low voice that seemed to throb. “You are just the man I need.”
His attention immediately switched away from Justina.
“Indeed, madam? What can I do to help?”
“But I do not wish to intrude,” Mrs. Bloxham purred suggestively. “It’s only,” she continued without a pause, “it’s only that this ship is so large and the corridors so confusing. I cannot find my cabin – isn’t that ridiculous?”
She gave a rich little laugh.
Justina seized on the interruption.
“Sir Thomas will help you, madam. Until tomorrow morning, Sir Thomas, I think we shall be in Port Said then.”
Justina closed the door and lay against it, listening.
Their voices faded along the corridor.
“Can I come out?” whispered Harry.
“Yes, of course, let me help you.”
Justina pulled the boy from underneath the bed.
She wondered exactly how to help him. Food was an obvious necessity, but she could not force him to return to his lifeboat and what was the alternative?
He stared back at her, his big eyes apprehensive.
She came to a decision.
“Stay here,” she ordered. “I will be back in a moment.”
She whisked herself out of the cabin and knocked on Lord Castleton’s door.
He opened it and looked at her with surprise and concern.
“Miss Mansell, is anything wrong?”
“Please, can you come with me,” she entreated. “I don’t know who else to ask.”
Just the sight of him, tall, kindly and authoritative, made her completely confident that he would find a solution to Harry’s problem.
He raised an eyebrow, but murmured helpfully,
“Of course, anything I can do,” and followed her back into her cabin.
As Justina watched with eager anticipation, Lord Castleton took in Harry and his filthy clothes and it seemed as if he understood everything in a glance.
“So, this is the ghost who caused so much upset the other day,” he observed. “You had better give me the full story.”
Lord Castleton leant against the side of the cabin and Justina sat beside Harry on the bed as the boy once again explained how he had come to be on the ship.
As he faltered to the end of his account, Lord Castleton said,
“Well, the first thing is to get some food inside you.”
He opened the door of the cabin– and came face to face with Sir Thomas.
“I knew it,” Sir Thomas cried. “I knew you were canoodling with my fiancé.”
Lord Castleton looked at him coldly.
“Don’t make more of a fool of yourself than you can help, Watson.”
He opened the door fully and revealed Harry.
“As you can see, we have a stowaway problem here. Miss Mansell has very properly called on me to help solve it.”
Sir Thomas looked as though he could hardly b
elieve the evidence of his eyes.
“Send for the Captain,” he said. “The boy should be confined to quarters then put ashore at Port Said.”
“No!” cried out Harry. “I am going to Bombay.”
“Quarters, what do you mean by quarters? He’s been living in a lifeboat!” Justina burst out. “I am going to find a Steward and make sure he gets some food.”
She had never felt less in sympathy with her fiancé. Whereas Lord Castleton treated Harry as someone in need of help, Sir Thomas saw him as a nuisance to be disposed of.
She could hardly bear to think of what that poor boy had suffered. She wanted to gather him into her arms and keep him safe from the harsh world.
Justina did not know what Lord Castleton would do, but she had complete faith in his ability to sort the situation out and ensure Harry reached Bombay.
As she sought out a Steward and ordered whatever food could be quickly assembled, she thrust the problem of Sir Thomas to the back of her mind.
When she returned to the cabin, she found Lord Castleton had got Harry washed and into what she assumed was one of his shirts, which hung on the boy rather like a night shirt, his bare feet peeking out of the bottom, small neck.
“Sartorially speaking,” Lord Castleton said, “I don’t think any tailor would approve, but it’s better than what you’ve had to live in for the past ten days, eh?”
Harry grinned at him.
“It’s very kind of you, sir.”
She looked around the cabin. It only contained the three of them.
“What has happened to Sir Thomas?” she asked.
“Ah,” said Lord Castleton. “I am afraid I may have frightened him away.
“Frightened?” Justina found this hard to believe.
“I told him you would be so grateful if he took on responsibility for Harry, which would probably mean paying his fare to Bombay and equipping him with a new wardrobe in Port Said.”
“No?”
“Oh, but yes!” he said in amusement. “He immediately claimed that you would think he had lost his head if he did anything of the sort and discovered that he had arranged to meet someone in the Smoking Lounge.”
“He looked jolly cross,” contributed Harry. “I didn’t like him at all, sir.”
“Did not your Papa tell you it is very rude to make personal comments, especially about someone you have only just met?” scolded him Justina severely.
Harry hung his head.
“I’m sorry, miss,” he said. “Only he wasn’t very nice to me, not like you and – and, sir here.”
“This is Lord Castleton,” Justina informed him gently.
Harry looked embarrassed,
“I should address you as “my Lord’, shouldn’t I?”
“Don’t let it worry you,” Lord Castleton said. “The angel here who brought me into the picture is Miss Mansell.”
Justina could not stop her heart beating quicker as she heard Lord Castleton describe her as an angel. Then she reminded herself that he looked on her as a young girl in need of a fatherly figure.
There was a knock on the door and the Steward entered with a tray of food.
Harry’s eyes lit up, but the Steward’s face fell when he saw the stowaway.
“As you can see, we have a problem here,” Lord Castleton said cheerfully. “I think I need to speak to the Captain. Be good enough, Chappell, to ask him to come to my cabin. I will leave Miss Mansell in charge here.”
“I’ll have a word with the First Officer,” replied the Steward.
“You will be all right, Miss Mansell?” asked Lord Castleton.
Justina looked at Harry, tucking into the food as though it might be whipped away from him at any moment and smiled.
“We shall be fine.” She brought her gaze back to the man she now believed could manage anything. “You won’t let him be put off the ship, will you?”
He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile.
“Leave it all to me. We’ll sort out young Master Nicholls.”
He left and Justina sat on her bed and watched Harry demolish the food.
“Feeling better?”
“Much, much better.” He ran a small hand through his fair hair, now dry again and flopping over his face. “I didn’t like being so dirty, Papa says a man has to keep himself clean at all times.”
There was a knock at the door and Lord Castleton entered.
Harry immediately stood up.
“Have you spoken to the Captain, my Lord?”
“I have. He is waiting for you in my cabin next door.”
Harry looked very apprehensive.
He shepherded the nervous boy out of the cabin.
Justina waited, as apprehensive as Harry. She tried to remember that she trusted Lord Castleton to fix everything in the best possible way.
Lord Castleton quickly returned.
“Sorry to leave you, but I thought I should introduce Harry to the Captain and not leave him to encounter the great man on his own.”
He spoke cheerfully and Justina felt that things were going to be all right.
“I suppose the Captain is rather like God,” she said with a smile.
“On his ship, I think you have it exactly right. Now, you will want to know what has been decided about young Master Harry.”
Justina nodded eagerly.
“He is receiving a bit of a dressing down at the moment but, don’t worry, the Captain is a splendid man with sons of his own. I trust him to level with Harry in just the right way. We cannot have him thinking he can ever repeat this escapade.”
“I think he’s been so hungry and miserable, he is not going to want to.”
“I hope you are right. Now, for tonight, he will sleep in my cabin. The Steward will arrange for an extra bed. Tomorrow there are several passengers leaving the ship at Port Said, so the Captain will have an empty cabin and he is willing to allow Harry to use it for the rest of the voyage.”
“My Lord, that is all your doing, I am sure,” Justina sighed in heartfelt tones. “Thank you so much.”
“No need, I am happy to be of help,” murmured Lord Castleton quietly. “Now I think it is time you retired, it has been a long and exhausting day.”
Justina nodded gratefully.
“You have done very well,” he added. “Both with the concert and now with our stowaway. I’ll see you again in the morning.”
He gave her a quick smile and left.
For a long moment Justina remained where she was and savoured the glorious feeling his compliments gave her and the relief that Harry’s situation had been so satisfactorily resolved.
But before she could start undressing, there was another knock at her door and Harry entered.
“I wanted to thank you for taking care of me so well and to wish you a good night,” he said.
His face was glowing and he looked a different boy from the dirty rapscallion she had discovered in her cabin.
Justina hugged him, gave him a kiss and said she would see him the next day.
*
Justina woke late the next morning to find that the ship’s engines had stopped.
She drew aside the curtain of her porthole to find they had docked at Port Said.
All at once the events of the previous evening flooded back into her mind and she knew that she had to ensure that Harry was being properly looked after.
The plight of the small boy who had gone through such trials in order to rejoin his family had touched her heart.
Before she could start dressing, her Stewardess appeared.
“I have a message from Lord Castleton,” she said with a smile. “You are invited to lunch at Port Said. There will be a carriage waiting in an hour and will you please be ready to accompany him.”
Justina gasped. It sounded wonderful, but how could she accept? There was Harry to think about and Sir Thomas.
When she thought of Sir Thomas’s behaviour over the little stowaway, she decided that it would probably be b
est not to encounter him quite yet or she might say something she would later regret.
And as for Harry, Lord Castleton was taking care of him and he could tell her exactly what the position was.
Yes, she decided, she would accept this dazzling invitation.
Perhaps Aunt Theodora would say that she was being dangerously impulsive, but for once she did not care what the dragon Viscountess thought.
She found a light muslin shirt and skirt in a becoming shade of pale green that Dorcas had brought up the previous day beautifully ironed. There was a tie of the same muslin to arrange around the crown of her wide straw hat and a matching parasol. For once Justina thought that she was both properly and stylishly dressed.
She picked up her reticule and the parasol and left her cabin.
Almost immediately she ran into Mrs. Arbuthnot.
“Ah, my dear Justina, I was coming to find you. Such excitement, everyone is talking about our little stowaway. The girls are quite overcome with jealousy that he didn’t come into our cabin last night.
“And then Lord Castleton sought me out and explained that Lord Cromer, the Governor of Egypt, has sent him an invitation to lunch. Well, not Lord Cromer himself, he, of course, is in Cairo, but his representative in Port Said, such a highly placed person, and Lord Cromer being a friend of your father’s and knowing that you are also on this ship, you are included in the invitation.”
Mrs. Arbuthnot drew breath and appeared to look respectfully at Justina for the first time.
“What a pretty dress, you are quite a belle today. Well, of course, I told Lord Castleton that it would only be right if Sir Thomas attended the luncheon as well.”
Justina’s heart plummeted. All her anticipation evaporated. For a moment she wished Mrs. Arbuthnot had never come on the ship – almost had never been born!
Her chaperone looked slightly embarrassed as she continued,
“Lord Castleton said he was most sincerely sorry, but since the engagement has not yet been announced, it would not be possible, etiquette would not allow it. Such a shame, my dear. I do hope you do not think it is my fault you have been placed in such an unfortunate position?”
Justina tried to contain her delight.
“I am sure you did everything correctly, Mrs. Arbuthnot. Now, forgive me, but I understand that Lord Castleton has a carriage waiting and I must not be late.”
Touching the Stars Page 13
