"And of course, we'll conduct our own thorough investigation... interviews, courts, body identification if we possibly can. It'll be work, but, it's what is planned."
England said nothing, then - he raised an eyebrow at America, disbelieving the words he'd just heard. America - help out? With this, of all things? American lives had been lost, true - some very important ones, England was told. But not as many as his own citizens. Not as many as his neighbor country's people, even.
"Why?" he asked, simply.
America shrugged, pushing up his glasses in a careless way.
"American lives were lost, of course! And New York will have to deal with most of the victims, I think... I mean, who would want to travel by boat back to Europe after that?" He chuckled, without any trace of actual humor in his voice, which England could only cringe at - it didn't suit the normally upbeat country.
England bit back a retort about the British lives lost - his men, his people, were surely more refined, more polite... the Americans probably have shoved their way onto a boat while his own waited politely for their turn!
He watched as America thumbed through some paperwork, no doubt distracting himself during the silence between them.
"Oh," he said finally, "are you that concerned about the American lives? I lost countless more than you did."
America stopped fiddling with the papers.
There was a pause, and he looked up, a look on his face that seemed almost too serious for him.
"But a lot of people were coming on the Titanic to live here, weren't they? The American Dream, I mean. So..." he shrugged, looking down and staring at an interesting ink smudge on the top of his paper pile, "... in a way, they were American."
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"And of course, we'll conduct our own thorough investigation... interviews, courts, body identification if we possibly can. It'll be work, but, it's what is planned."
England said nothing, then - he raised an eyebrow at America, disbelieving the words he'd just heard. America - help out? With this, of all things? American lives had been lost, true - some very important ones, England was told. But not as many as his own citizens. Not as many as his neighbor country's people, even.
"Why?" he asked, simply.
America shrugged, pushing up his glasses in a careless way.
"American lives were lost, of course! And New York will have to deal with most of the victims, I think... I mean, who would want to travel by boat back to Europe after that?" He chuckled, without any trace of actual humor in his voice, which England could only cringe at - it didn't suit the normally upbeat country.
England bit back a retort about the British lives lost - his men, his people, were surely more refined, more polite... the Americans probably have shoved their way onto a boat while his own waited politely for their turn!
He watched as America thumbed through some paperwork, no doubt distracting himself during the silence between them.
"Oh," he said finally, "are you that concerned about the American lives? I lost countless more than you did."
America stopped fiddling with the papers.
There was a pause, and he looked up, a look on his face that seemed almost too serious for him.
"But a lot of people were coming on the Titanic to live here, weren't they? The American Dream, I mean. So..." he shrugged, looking down and staring at an interesting ink smudge on the top of his paper pile, "... in a way, they were American."