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accessible to him.
    “Can we go swimming later, Papa?” he asked excitedly, and Nick agreed. It distracted
     him from his miseries to be with his children, and he wanted the trip to be a happy
     time for them, before they faced the unknown, and joined the circus.
    The two boys went to a movie at the cinema later that afternoon, and Nick continued
     to stroll the deck, and visit the horses periodically. One of the other passengers
     questioned him about it, when he went indoors for teatime. There was an elaborate
     buffet set out for the first-class passengers, and the German equivalent of high tea.
     The food was supposed to be notoriously good on the ship, but Nick couldn’t eat. All
     he wanted was a cup of tea, which he followed up with a stiff malt whiskey.
    “I understand that you’re traveling with a boxcar full of Arabians,” the man who’d
     asked about the horses commented with interest. He was American, said he was from
     Kentucky, and that he owned horses himself, and had been in Germany buying hunters
     and two racehorses, but they were being sent to the States on another ship, withhandlers he had brought over. He said his name was Beauregard Thompson. “Where are
     you taking them?” he asked, in a heavy Southern accent Nick could barely understand.
     He was used to British inflections and not an American accent from the South.
    “To Florida,” Nick said simply, and the man nodded, impressed by what he’d heard about
     Nick’s horses. Transporting eight Arabians was a sign of great wealth.
    “You’re smart to have them on the ship with you,” he complimented him. “You can keep
     an eye on them yourself. I’d love to have a look at them sometime,” he suggested politely,
     and Nick nodded as he took a long sip of the whiskey. He needed it, it had been a
     hard, deeply emotional day.
    “Of course,” Nick said pleasantly. “Only six are Arabians actually. The other two
     are Lipizzaners,” he said casually, not sure the man would know what they were.
    “Oh my God,” the man said, awestruck. “Now,
that
I’d like to see. Are you taking them to show them?” Nick nodded with a wry smile.
     He was taking them to be “shown” in a circus. He was sure that if Thompson knew that,
     he’d be shocked. There was nothing gentlemanly about the circus.
    “I’ll be happy for you to see them,” Nick volunteered, and Thompson left after that,
     to find his wife, who he said was shopping at the ship’s boutiques.
    Toby and Lucas came to find Nick in his stateroom after the movie. They went swimming,
     and then Nick and Toby went to clean out the horses’ stalls before they went to change
     for dinner. Nick hadn’t done stable boys’ work in years, but he found it easier than
     he remembered, and not totally unpleasant. It was a good chance for him to get to
     know the horses, as he moved between them, patting them now and then. Pluto was the
     most responsive to him, and nuzzledhim each time he walked by, as though to say hello. Nina, the Lipizzaner mare, was
     the most upset. And the Arabians still seemed nervous, but all right. And all eight
     horses were eating and drinking. Nick was careful to notice that.
    And once he and Toby had cleaned out their stalls, and disposed of the manure as they’d
     been told to, they went back to their cabins to bathe and dress. Dinner that night
     was white tie, for him and Toby, and Lucas was going to eat in their cabin with a
     steward. He was too young for the formal sitting in the dining room, and it sounded
     boring to him anyway. And the young steward had promised to take him to the kennels
     again. According to Lucas, the ship was full of dogs. Theirs were the only horses.
    Nick and Toby introduced themselves once they were seated at the captain’s table.
     There was a very glamorous-looking couple from Berlin—he was from a well-known banking
     family, and they were planning to visit relatives in New York. There was a relatively
     famous German