Goodness and Mercy Summary

This story is set on a ship that is traveling from Montreal to Britain. On board are June Rodgers (nicknamed Bugs), and her daughter Averill. Bugs used to be quite a well known opera singer. Now she is dying, but wants to hide this fact from the other passengers. A professor on board seems to have taken a shine to Bugs, despite his much younger wife, but she finds him rude and irritating. Meanwhile Averill has attracted the attentions of an artist, whom she finds equally annoying. They befriend a middle-aged woman called Jeanine, who claims to be taking a holiday on her own away from her husband, something she says they do regularly. She is looking for a man with whom to have an affair, and Averill suggests the captain. Jeanine, however, has no luck trying to seduce...