THE DIARY OF MRS. TOMY RYAN
Chapter Ten
As I opened the door, I saw Jack and Rose
walking down the hallway. They were holding hands, and they seemed quite
nervous. "Jack!" Tommy and I yelled out at the same time. They both
turned around, startled. We ran up to them, and I said, "What’s
happened?"
"We’ve struck an iceberg."
"What? How bad is it?" Tommy asked.
But I already knew.
"I think it is bad. We saw Mr. Andrews
and the captain," Jack said.
And Rose added, "We were just going to
tell my mother and Cal."
"It is worse than bad. This ship is
going to sink," I said.
"Who are you?" Rose asked.
"I am Katherine. I’m afraid I never got
a chance to meet you."
"Katie’s all right, Rose, even if she
thinks this ship will sink," Tommy said.
"This ship is going to sink. I know it
sounds impossible, but I know."
As we were standing talking in the hall, a
steward approached us. "I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you all to
return to your cabins. It seems we have struck ice, and the captain has asked
that everybody get ready to get into the lifeboats. We are bringing up the
passengers from third class, and we will need to make sure that there is no
panic."
"What?" I asked, very loudly. Could
I have changed something? Never had I read of them bringing up the third class
passengers first.
He looked at me, and said, "Miss, the
third class passenger are at the greatest risk right now. Their areas will
flood first. We are bringing them up onto deck. Don’t worry, they’ll behave
themselves."
"I have no doubt as to that," I
said, and this seemed to amuse Jack and Tommy. They both knew I had spent more
time in third class than my own.
"Rose, let’s go to your cabin together.
Then I’d like to see if maybe we could help them evacuate to the decks."
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea to
me."
We started walking towards Rose’s cabin, and
a man came up. "We’ve been looking for you, Miss," he said, and
turned, walking next to Jack.
I noticed him take a rather large necklace
out of his pocket, and I asked him, "What is that?"
Tommy had noticed it, too. It had looked to
me like he was going to try to slip into Jack’s pocket.
"This is nothing," he said, putting
it back in his pocket.
But Rose had stopped. "What is it?"
she asked.
"He had a necklace in his hand."
Rose looked at him, and all of a sudden a
furious look came over her face. She took Jack’s hand again and led us to a
room where the door was open.
"What is the meaning of this, Cal? As we
were walking here, Lovejoy was caught trying to slip the Heart of the Ocean
into Jack’s pocket. I demand an explanation."
I noticed that the Master-at-Arms was in the
stateroom, but I think that Rose was too focused on Cal to notice. Her mother
was especially interesting; she was staring at Rose’s hand, still intertwined
with Jack’s.
"What did you say, Miss?"
Rose looked around the room and noticed who
was there for the first time.
"Lovejoy was caught trying to slip a
rather expensive necklace into Jack’s pocket."
"You’re quite sure, Miss? I was called
here because the necklace had been reported stolen."
"My man does not have the necklace. That
gutter rat stole it," Cal said. He was too focused on Rose, but I noticed his
man was trying to signal him.
"I have two witnesses, but go ahead and
search them both."
"Who? Them? More third class scum, no
doubt," Cal said, but the Master-at-Arms moved to search this Lovejoy
character. We watched as he pulled the necklace out of Lovejoy’s pocket.
"Trying to stage a robbery, Mr. Hockley?
Or did your man here steal it?"
I could see that Cal was furious.
"Should I arrest him, or won’t you be
pressing charges?"
"No. That will be all."
The ship’s men left quickly. We were left
alone. Rose’s mother had gasped when the necklace was found. I turned and
quietly shut the door.