Relaxing, she snuggled down beside him with a happy sigh.
"I'd never be tired of you, Tom, in a million years. Wherever you are, that's where I want to be, always."
She closed her eyes.
The children were no longer afraid, and they had stopped crying. Leading them through the maze of corridors towards Boat station F, Tanya laughed and told them jokes until, reaching a corner, she suddenly found the passage blocked with a screaming mass of people, fighting, gouging, jamming the hall so that forward movement was almost impossible. She drew back, huddling the children behind her.
"No place for us here, youngsters," she said. "Let's go back, where it isn't so noisy."
Obediently they followed her back to the library, where she settled them in her favorite corner and picked up the abandoned chalk and paper.
"Now Aunt Tanya will tell you a story," she said. "And if you're very good and don't cry at all, I'll even draw you some pictures to go with the story. Once upon a time...."
There was not enough room. A lifeboat which had been designed to carry two hundred and fifty persons could not suddenly expand to take in three hundred and seventy-five, although Chief Thayer did his best. At Boat E he stood with drawn pistol, sorting the crowd, and ordering them one by one through the port according to custom as ancient as the race.