I chew without tasting and swallow hard. “Your friends here are like brothers. I respect that, though some of them are backstabbing adders.” Bo’s presumptuously handsome face appears in my mind, that wagtail.
“Bo’s solid. He didn’t want me to count his winnings in the bet.”
“You mean, he wanted you to perform with me?”
“Yes, he did.”
My skin flames at the knowledge that I misjudged Wagtail. “Then whydoyou count his winnings?”
“Even if you get in, America is as foreign as the moon. They’ll eat you alive.” His mouth tightens, as if he has tasted something sour.
I toss my half-eaten roll back with the others. It’s true that I may have hung a big fish on a slender hook. Even if we get past the Chinese Exclusion Act, for all I know, a nest ofhungry alligators lies on the other side. “You’re worried I’ll end up like Mum.”
“No.” He levels his gaze at me. “I’m worried you’ll end up like Ba.”
The statement squeezes the breath from me.
“Your whacky ideas. Hasty pudding plans.”
“Hasty,” I sputter. I yank off Drummer’s cap and fan my hot face with it. “We’ve been talking about going to America since we were kids. And just because I know an opportunity from a spot on the wall doesn’t make it whacky.”
He glares at me. His eyes climb to my hair, and his expression softens. “Look, Val, you’re my sister. I want a good life for you. I’d hoped a stable job in a fine home could provide that. But if you’re hell-bent on going to New York, I’ll perform for this Mr. Stewart with you.”
“You... will?”
His cheek twitches with a hint of a smile. “Yes, I will.”
“And I’m not ordering you to do it either, right?”
“I’m regretting this already.”
“You’re a sport, Jamie.” I resist throwing my arms around him.Finally.A bit of slack in the rope.
“So when do we meet him?”
“Well, I haven’t found him yet.” I ignore the grimace screwing into Jamie’s face. “But I know he wears a purple bowler.”
A thought seems to cross in front of him, and a laugh floats from his mouth. “I’ve seen him.”
“Where?”
He folds his hands in front of him. “Charlotte hired me to walk her dog, Strudel, around the Promenade Deck. I saw a man in a purple bowler reading the paper. Charlotte says he always sits in the same chair on the starboard side.”
The fact that Jamie has seen Mr. Stewart nearly bypasses my brain. “She—Charlotte—hiredyou to walk her dog? I thought third-class passengers weren’t allowed on the upper-class decks.”
“She got permission. Apparently, I’m the only one who can calm that poodle. Dogs get seasick, too, you know.”
“When does this walking happen?”
He glances at a clock on the wall. It’s nearly one o’clock. “Soon.”
“Does she know about your acrobatic ability?”
“We might have talked about it a little.”
“Huh.” He doesn’t breathe a word about our acts to the lads he has lived and worked with, but when a hen comes pecking, the rooster’s all crow. “Does she know aboutme?”
He lifts one of his well-shaped eyebrows. “Aye. What are you up to?”
