When we had devoured the rest of the bread, I settled us up for the night in an abandoned shop doorway, covering us with some old blankets I had found in a rubbish cart. They were smelly and dirty, but kept us from freezing. I took Freddie's cap off his head, and placed it in front of us. That was what the children in the book had done; it was for people to put spare change in.
By daylight the next morning, the cap held a few pennies. I was surprised at how easy it was, and I was overcome by people's generosity. Again, I felt a pang of guilt. My parents would never have spared any pennies for beggars.
And so, this is how Freddie and I spent a few weeks of our lives, begging for money in a doorstep, and then spending what we got on food and drink. The winter rolled into spring, though I didn't know the exact date, I knew that March must have arrived, because it was getting lighter and the weather warmer. Though, with the warmer weather came freak rainstorms; the sky would suddenly turn black, and rain would fall heavily.
It was on one of these wet, dark days, that mine and Freddie's lives changed dramatically, though at the time we were unaware of how much they were going to change.
A black carriage pulled up in front of us, and a man stepped out, carrying an umbrella above his head. He darted towards us, rain pouring down. To my surprise, he walked straight up to us and crouched down, as if to talk to us. Up close, he appeared middle aged, with grey hair. He spoke in a low voice.
"I have been watching you two a while. Homeless are you?" he had an abrupt manner, but it wasn't particularly unpleasant.
"Yes" I nodded, longing to pour out our tale of woe, but decided now was not the time.
"Well then madam, young man" he added to Freddie who had been staring up at this peculiar fellow, "this could be your lucky day"
Lucky day? I wondered. What on earth was this man talking about?
"I would like to offer you a job. Both of you. My name is Mr Lovejoy, and I am soon to be boarding the HMS Titanic, along with my good friend, Mr Caledon Hockley. I expect you've heard of the Titanic, right?"
I nodded again; the Titanic was all people were talking about on the streets, the unsinkable ship, they called it, soon to be making her maiden voyage to America.
"Well then" Mr Lovejoy continued "I will make you an offer I'm sure you cannot resist. Accompany me and Mr Hockley on board. You will work as our servants, cleaning and fetching us things, we shall need a lot done on this trip. In payment, a trip on board the Titanic. So then, what do you say"
For a few moments, I was stunned. Was this man serious, what would he want with a couple of children? Although I was now nearly sixteen, Freddie was only five, what use would he be? But, very quickly, as the rain continued to pour, good deal or not, the man had made her an offer, and she wasn't going to hesitate accepting a moment longer.