Then she turned back to Number 15. She had looked about the deck for Jimmy, but guessing that he had fallen asleep in his own bunk, pushed open the door softly. She was determined that he should not sleep in there with Ole Fred, who was celebrating a great win at poker.
"What are you going in there for?" he asked.
"I'm fetching poor little Jimmy. He's terrified of Ole Fred. He calls him the Beast. I think it's disgusting that he and the red-haired man sleep in here with a little boy."
He nodded and smiled at her, but Jimmy was not in the cabin at all. As she came out Ole Fred came along the alley-way. He leered at her but did not speak. She hurried into her own cabin, shut the door and pushed the bolt along instinctively. As she switched on the light she saw a very small amount of exceedingly dirty water in her basin, and Jimmy's neat pile of tiny clothes folded on the floor. He was fast asleep in the lower bunk.
She started to undress in a golden glow of romance, and realized that, as her clothes came off, her armour was going to stay on, waking and sleeping, visible only to herself. Then she thought of a small, trivial thing. She tapped on the partition.
"Go and talk to Knollys. He's very nice. He'll find something for you."
"N-no. I c-can't," he stammered, frightened immediately.
"Then I shall," she said, and, slipping on her dressing-gown, went along to the saloon. By luck she found Knollys there and he produced bread and cheese and ship's biscuit from the steward's pantry.
"I imagine you are hungry, miss," he said respectfully when she asked him to be sure to give her a lot.
"No, I'm not. It's Mr. Farne in Number 8. He hasn't had a meal since he came aboard."
"Well--" she began, and realizing that she could not explain, nodded.
"I'll make him some tea if you like, miss," went on Knollys. She waited until he had made it, and ten minutes later she tapped on Louis's door, took the tray in, laid it on his bunk and came out.
"I won't stay to keep you company. When I'm very hungry I like to gobble, but I don't like anyone to watch me," she said.
As she came out Ole Fred opened the door of Number 15 and stood watching her until her door closed. Then he hurried on deck.