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The steward returns and coughs, giving me a signal to leave the cabin so he can lock it.

It’s then that I notice the woman’s glove on the bedside table.

It’s a long white one. It stands out because it isn’t placed with care, but in a messy mound.

It’s the only thing in the entire room that has been carelessly tossed aside.

Isn’t it a little strange for a man to have a woman’s glove in his bedroom?

I return to my cabin and the job at hand. The glove bothers me. Is it Delia Finch’s glove? Could it be? Is a liaison with this woman the reason I’m here on the Titanic? Is this what I’m meant to witness?

We sit around the table. I light the candle and lay out the board.

I don’t need to explain to Emma Livingstone how it works, and, as Josephine doesn’t ask, I assume that she, too, is familiar with it.

I say the prayer and, with my eyes closed, imagine the room filled with light and love.

This raises the energy and makes it easier for spirits to reach us.

Then I ask specifically for Hermione Pengower.

This is strange, as it was only a short while ago in my time that I possessed her.

Now, as I feel her come close, bringing with her a draught of cold air, I wonder whether she has any idea who I am.

‘Are you here, Hermione Pengower?’ I ask. It doesn’t take long. She has been here before, and this time she is stronger. That might be due to the altered energy in the room, or to the presence of her daughter. I sense an urgency about this spirit. She has something specific she wants to say.

The planchette carrying our three fingers moves across the board to the word Yes .

Josephine lets out a gasp. Emma stares wide-eyed at the planchette.

‘Can you feel anything?’ I ask Josephine.

She closes her eyes, determined to feel her mother’s spirit. ‘The room has gone cold,’ she says.

‘That’s normal,’ I tell her. ‘Your mother is with us. I can feel her close. Are you happy, Hermione?’ I ask.

The planchette slowly moves onto the word Yes . Both Josephine and Emma are in awe of the force that’s moving it. They know it’s not their doing.

‘Do you miss us?’ Josephine asks suddenly and her eyes fill with tears. The planchette glides over the board and settles, surprisingly, onto the word No . Josephine frowns, crestfallen. ‘You don’t miss us at all?’ she asks.

I cut in. ‘Is that because you are with your husband and daughter in spirit?’

The planchette moves back onto the word Yes . This time more easily. Josephine’s face relaxes again.

‘Do you have a special message for your daughter?’ I ask. I know it’ll get difficult now, because it takes a lot of energy to spell out words and I don’t feel Hermione has very much.

There’s a long pause. For a while nothing happens. The girls watch the planchette expectantly.

L O V E

‘You love her,’ I say and smile tenderly at Josephine. The tears are now slipping down her pale cheeks, leaving shiny trails.

‘I love you too, Mama. So very much,’ she whispers.

‘That’s really all they ever want to tell us,’ I say, knowing that Constance and I both agree on that. In that moment, I realise how similar we are and am awed by the law of attraction that has brought us together. ‘Love is all we take with us,’ I add, and watch Josephine’s cheeks flush pink.

To my surprise, the planchette starts to move again, a new vigour giving it a sense of urgency. From letter to letter, it staggers.

S T Y C L S T O C

I write down the letters and then take a moment to work them out. ‘Stay close to C,’ I say at last, interpreting the abbreviations.

‘What does that mean?’ Josephine asks.

‘My name begins with C. Constance.’

‘Can we ask her to be clearer?’ says Emma, who has not spoken for a while.

‘Of course,’ I reply. ‘We can try. Why must she stay close to C, Hermione?’ I ask.

The planchette vibrates. I feel the energy in the room intensify. The temperature seems to drop further. I sense that she is now becoming agitated, perhaps at her own ineffectiveness.

B O A T

‘Are you telling Josephine to stay close to me on this ship?’ I ask.

No

‘Are you telling her to stay close to me , Constance?’

Yes

‘On this ship?’

No

‘Then on what ship?’

B O T

‘Boat?’

Yes

‘On what boat must she remain close to me?’

The planchette picks up speed and races over the letters.

B O T

B O T

B O T

I take my finger off the planchette. ‘I think that’s all we’re going to get out of her,’ I tell them.

‘I don’t understand,’ says Josephine, putting her hands in her lap.

I understand perfectly. When the ship sinks, she wants me to make sure Josephine gets into a lifeboat. But I can’t let on that I know what’s going to happen.

‘Me neither,’ I say. ‘But remember that she is seeing our world from a different perspective. Everything will become clear. Just keep it in mind. Perhaps we will meet again in New York and take a boat together somewhere. Maybe her advice is not for now, but for a time in the future.’

Josephine nods. Then her frown vanishes and she smiles broadly.

‘The important thing is that I felt her, Miss Fleet. And she communicated with me. She is always with me. I won’t forget that.

Whenever I miss her, I will remind myself that she is with me in spirit.

I am so grateful to you. Thank you. What you have given me today is so special.

’ She brushes away a tear with trembling fingers.

‘I only wish I could tell Papa, but I cannot. He wouldn’t understand.

He might even get cross. But Mama is not in the ground at St Sidwell, but right here with us. ’

I take her hand and squeeze it. ‘Those we love and lose never leave us. I promise you that. Love never dies. It connects you for ever in an unbreakable bond.’