TITANIC: A STORY TOLD
Chapter Twenty
Rose sat at the table, flanked by people in
heated conversation. Cal and Ruth were laughing together, while on the other
side Lady Duff-Gordon was holding forth animatedly. She didn’t hear what they
were saying. Rose was staring at her plate, barely listening to the
inconsequential babble around her.
She saw her whole life as if she’d already
lived it...an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo
matches...always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. She felt
like she was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull her back, no
one who cared...or even noticed.
Beneath the table Rose’s hand held a tiny
fork from her crab salad. She poked the crab-fork into the skin of her arm,
harder and harder until it drew blood.