“Why not?” Futrelle responded.
TWO
Into the entryway of B deck, with its gleaming white walls and gleaming white linoleum, trooped the elegant army of First-Class passengers. They were met by a gaggle of ship’s staff-the chief steward and his assorted minions, and the purser’s clerk, who saw to it that tickets were quickly processed, names jotted in a ledger book, keys dispensed, directions to staterooms given, with smiles and courtesy and efficiency that boded well for a pleasant voyage to come.
In the entrance hall beyond, the opulence of the ship first made itself known to the Americans: gold-plated crystal teardrop light fixtures, polished oak paneling, gilt-framed landscapes in oil, Oriental carpet, horsehair sofas, silk lampshades, caneback chairs with red velvet cushions….
The abundance of it all assaulted their senses, stopping them in their tracks. May gasped, Rene began to laugh, and both women did pirouettes, looking all about with the wide, innocently greedy eyes of children in a lavishly stocked toy store.
To the right rose a magnificent marble staircase enclosed by a grand framework of wood sculpture, its carved walnut flowers running floor to ceiling, with exquisitely sculpted oak balustrades bearing wrought-iron and gilt-bronze scrollwork.
Henry put his hands on his hips and laughed. “And I thought I was a producer! This makes the Lusitania look like a garbage scow.”
Futrelle was admiring a beautiful bronze cherub perched on a pedestal at the center of the foot of the flight of stairs. “Well, I heard White Star planned to leave speed to Cunard, and concentrate on luxury-apparently it wasn’t just the bunkum.”
Only the relative lowness of the ceilings in this reception area provided a hint that this was anything but the finest land-based hotel. Behind them, the next group of First-Class passengers was traipsing in, to be similarly bowled over by this opulence.
The two couples made their way around and down the staircase to C deck, and were soon padding along a wide, blue-carpeted, brass-railed white corridor on the port side of the ship, where other First-Class passengers were following the path to their staterooms, as well. Up ahead was that family from the boat train, the handsome couple with the lovely little golden-haired girl, shapely blunt-nosed nanny with babe in arms and plump maid. They had paused and the young husband was speaking to someone.
John Crafton.
“Is your friend making friends again?” Henry whispered, walking just behind Futrelle and May.
Actually, he seemed to be. Crafton’s pearl-gray fedora was in his hands and he was smiling pleasantly, or at least as pleasantly as possible for him, and both the husband and the wife were returning the smile, with no apparent strain.
Only the nanny was frowning, and seemed nervous, but then again the baby in her arms was squirming and fussing.
As the Futrelles and Harrises approached where the little group clustered, blocking the way, Crafton noticed and said, “We seem to be holding things up… I’m so pleased to have run into you, Mr. Allison, Mrs. Allison. Until later, then.”
Crafton tipped his hat and-the Futrelles and Harrises standing aside for him-swaggered past, cane in hand, nodding and smiling as he did.
Rene twitched her nose. “Why does a smile from him make me crave a bath?”
This required no answer, and anyway, they were up even with that family, now.
“I’m afraid we always seem to be in the way,” the young husband said, turning toward the two couples with an embarrassed grin. “I’m Hudson Allison, this is my wife Bess, our daughter Lorraine… Alice, there, has little Trevor.”
Introductions were made all around, hands shaken (though of course the maid was not mentioned, and nanny Alice only that once in passing); but more passengers were coming up the corridor and the baby was crying, so further information, getting better acquainted, would have to wait. It was time for everyone to move on.
Heading aft, making a left turn down a hallway (for all its length, the ship wasn’t all that wide-perhaps ninety feet), the Harrises finally found C83, their cabin. Before pushing on to find their own quarters, the Futrelles peeked in at the lovely little room with its graceful, even dainty Louis XVI styling, exemplified by walls of white-and-green-and-gold brocade with whitewashed waist-high walnut trim.
“Oh, Rene,” May said. “It’s simply beautiful!”
“Step inside, you two,” Rene said.
A gilt-adorned carved walnut bed with silk-damask-upholstered head- and footboard dominated the room, that same upholstery carried to a plump sofa and a padded walnut armchair. A basket of fresh flowers adorned a rosewood-and-walnut dressing table, and more flowers waited on the marble-topped mahogany nightstand. A small black fan was ceiling-mounted, perching like a big out-of-place bug in all this elegance.
“I guess our baggage will be delivered later,” Harris said, taking in the posh little room with a big grin.
“Wrong again, Henry B.,” Rene said-she’d been exploring. “Here it all is!”
In a spacious trunk closet, as if they’d materialized magically, were neatly stacked the array of steamer trunks and bags.
“Can all the rooms be this marvelous?” May wondered.
“Let’s find out,” Futrelle said, and to the Harrises added, “We’ll probably head up on deck to take in the departure.”
“We’ll find you up there, or see you at luncheon,” Henry said. Rene waved, saying, “Toodle-oo, you two!”, and the Futrelles pressed on.
The numbering of the rooms was confusing and inconsistent, and by the time they found theirs-C67/68-the Futrelles were not far from where they’d started, the area near the C-deck entrance hall and the grand stairway.
“We’re going in circles already,” Futrelle said, working the key in the door, not sure if the size of this ship was to his liking.
But May’s eyes glittered with girlish anticipation. “Let’s see if our accommodations measure up to Henry and Rene’s.”
They did, and then some.
The Futrelles found themselves in a suite that made the Harrises’ quarters seem like a plush closet: awash with the elegance of Louis Quinze stylings, the oak-paneled suite consisted of a sitting room adjoining a bedroom (off of which were both a bathroom and a steamer-trunk closet-their things, too, had been delivered). The carpeting was a deep blue broadloom.
“Oh Jack,” May said, breathlessly. “This is too much….”
“The last time I saw a room like this,” Futrelle said, “a velvet rope was keeping me back, and a tour guide was nudging me on.”
The sitting room was almost cluttered with fine furnishings with their typical Quinze cabriolet legs and ebony wood-replete with rococo carvings, in a shell motif-and upholsteries of delicate shades of blue: a sinuously contoured sofa, a round table with a damask cloth, corner writing desk, assorted formal chairs. A large gilt-framed mirror leaned out over the white-and-gold sham fireplace with an ornate gold clock on the mantel; on either side of the mirror were windows-not portholes-blue-striped satin curtains gathered back for ocean views.
“How can I make myself at home in this showroom?” Futrelle asked May, thinking she was beside him, but she wasn’t.
Glowing, she leaned out from the adjacent room. “Jack, come take a look at this bedroom-”
“Now this is starting to sound like a second honeymoon,” he said, joining her, but she wasn’t paying any attention to his flirtation. She was caught up in the grandeur of their sleeping quarters.
Ebony woods and the rococo shell motif continued, but shades of rose had taken over the fabrics, and the carpeting was a cream-and-rose floral that Futrelle hesitated to set foot on with his lowly shoes. Like a child in a flower garden, May flitted from furnishing to furnishing-mirrored dresser, table with lamp and chairs, pink-and-white striped chaise lounge-touching each as if to test its reality. A four-poster brass bed with plump pillows and pink quilted bedspread nestled to the right of the adjoining room’s door.