DAYS AT SEA
The time on shipboard passed all too quickly.
Each day was crammed full of various amusements and occupations, and
Patty and Elise enjoyed it all thoroughly.
Although the majority of passengers were French, yet they nearly all
spoke English, and there were a number of Americans and English people,
who proved to be pleasant and companionable.
The young people from Chicago seemed to wear well, and as she grew to
know them better Patty liked them very much. The Van Ness girls, though
breezy in their manner, were warm-hearted and good-natured, and their
boy cousins were always ready for anything, and proved themselves
capable of good comradeship.
The English girl, Florrie Nash, Patty could not quite understand.
Florrie seemed to be willing to be friends, but there was a coldness
and reserve about her nature that Patty could not seem to penetrate.
As she expressed it to Elise, "Florrie never seems herself quite
certain whether she likes us or we like her."
"Oh, it's only her way," said Elise; "she doesn't know how to chum,
that's all."
But Patty was not satisfied with this, and determined to investigate
the matter.
"Come for a walk," she said, tucking her arm through Florrie's one
morning. "Let's walk around the deck fifty times all by ourselves.
Don't you want to?"
"Yes, if you like;" and Florrie walked along by Patty's side,
apparently willing enough, but without enthusiasm.
"Why do you put it that way?" asked Patty, smiling; "don't you like to
go yourself?"
"Yes, of course I do; but I always say that when people ask me to do
anything. It's habit, I suppose. All English people say it."
"I suppose it is habit," said Patty; "but it seems to me you'd have a
whole lot better time if you felt more interest in things, or rather,
if you expressed more interest. Now look at the Van Ness girls; they're
just bubbling over with enthusiasm."
"The Van Ness girls are savages," remarked Florrie, with an air of
decision.
"Indeed they're not!" cried Patty, who was always ready to stand up for
her friends. "The trouble with you, Florrie, is that you're
narrow-minded; you think that unless people have your ways and your
manners they are no good at all."
"Not quite that," returned Florrie, laughing. "Of course, we English
have our prejudices, and other people call us narrow; but I think we
shall always be so."
"I suppose you will," said Patty; "but anyway you would have more fun
if you enjoyed yourself more."
"It's good of you, Patty, to care whether I enjoy myself or not."
Florrie's tone was so sincere and humble as she said this that Patty
began to realise there was a good deal of character under Florrie's
indifferent manner.
"Of course I care. I have grown to like you, Florrie, in these few
days, and I want to be good friends with you, if you'll let me."
"If you like," said Florrie again, and Patty perceived that the phrase
was merely a habit and did not mean the indifference it expressed.
"And I want you to visit me," went on Florrie. "I'm travelling now to
Paris with my aunt, who took me to the States for a trip. From Paris I
shall soon go back to my country home in England, and I wish you would
visit me there--you and Elise both. Oh, Patty, you have no idea how
beautiful England is in the springtime. The may blooms thickly along
the lanes, till they're masses of pink fragrance; and the sky is the
most wonderful blue, and the birds sing, and it is like nothing else in
all the world."
The tears came into Florrie's eyes as she spoke, and Patty was amazed
that this cold-blooded girl should be so moved at the mere thought of
the spring landscape.
"I should dearly love to visit you, Florrie, but I can't promise, of
course, for I'm with the Farringtons, and must do as they say."
"Yes, of course; but I do hope you can come. You would love our country
place, Patty; it is so large, and so old, and so beautiful."
Florrie said this with no effect of boasting, but merely with a sincere
appreciation of her beautiful home. Then as she went on to tell of the
animals and pets there, and of the park and woods of the estate, Patty
found that the girl could indeed be enthusiastic when she chose.
This made Patty like her all the better, for it proved she had
enthusiasm enough when a subject appealed to her.
But when they were joined by the crowd of gay young people begging them
to come and play games, Florrie seemed to shut up into herself again,
and assumed once more her air of cold indifference.
But if Florrie was lacking in enthusiasm, it was not so with another of
Patty's friends.
Ma'amselle Labesse, who had recovered from her indisposition, had taken
a violent fancy to Patty and would have liked to monopolise her
completely.
Patty was kind to the old lady and did much to entertain her, but she
was not willing to give up all her time to her. The old ma'amselle
greatly delighted to carry Patty off to her stateroom, there to talk to
her or listen to her read aloud. Except for her maid, ma'amselle was
alone, and Patty felt sorry for her and was glad to cheer her up. Not
that she needed cheering exactly, for she was of a merry and volatile
disposition, except when she gave way to exhibitions of temper, which
were not infrequent.
One morning she called Patty to her room, and surprised the girl by
giving her a present of a handsome and valuable old necklace. It was of
curiously wrought gold, and though Patty admired it extremely, she
hesitated about accepting such a gift from a comparative stranger.
"But yes," said ma'amselle, "it is for you. I wish to give it to you. I
have taken such a fancy to you, you could scarce believe. And I adore
to decorate you thus." She clasped the necklace about Patty's throat,
with an air that plainly said she would be much offended if the gift
were refused. So Patty decided to keep it, at least until she could get
an opportunity to ask Mrs. Farrington's advice on the subject.
When she did ask her, Mrs. Farrington told her to keep it by all means.
She said she had no doubt the old ma'amselle enjoyed making the gift
far more than Patty was pleased to receive it, so Patty kept the
trinket, which was really a very fine specimen of the goldsmith's art.
"And, my dear," the old lady went on, the day that she gave Patty the
necklace, "you must and shall come to visit me in my chateau. My home
is the most beautifull--an old chateau at St. Germain, not far from
Paris, and you can come, but often, and stay with me for the long time."
Patty thanked her, but would not promise, as she had made up her mind
to accept no invitations that could not include the Farringtons.
But Ma'amselle Labesse did include the Farringtons, and invited the
whole party to visit her in the winter.
Mrs. Farrington gave no definite answer, but said she would see about
it, and perhaps they would run out for the week-end.
For the first five or six days of their journey the weather was perfect
and the ocean calm and level. But one morning they awoke to find it
raining, and later the rain developed into a real storm. The wind blew
furiously and the boat pitched about in a manner really alarming. The
old ma'amselle took to her stateroom, and Mrs. Farrington also was
unable to leave hers. But the girls were pleased rather than otherwise.
Patty and Elise proved themselves thoroughly good sailors, and were
among the few who appeared at the table at luncheon.
After the meal, Bob and Guy Van Ness came up to the girls and asked
them if they cared to brave the storm sufficiently to go out on deck.
Elise, though not timid, declared that she could see all she wished
through the windows; but Patty, always ready for a new experience,
expressed her desire to go.
She put on her own little rain-coat and tied a veil over her small cap,
but when she presented herself as ready the boys laughed at her
preparations.
"That fancy little mackintosh is no good," said Bob; "but you wait a
minute, Patty; we'll fix you."
Bob disappeared, and soon returned, bringing from somewhere an oilskin
coat and cap of a brilliant yellow color. These enveloped Patty
completely, and as the boys were arrayed in similar fashion, they
looked like three members of a life-saving corps, or, as Patty said,
like the man in the advertisement of cod-liver oil.
Although the yellow oilskins were by no means beautiful, yet Patty's
rosy face peeping out from under the queer-shaped, ear-flapped cap was
a pretty picture.
Laughing with glee, they stepped out on the deck into the storm. The
stepping out was no easy matter, for the wind was blowing a hurricane
and the spray was dashing across the decks, while the rain seemed to
come from all directions at once.
With the two big boys on either side of her, Patty felt no fear, and as
they walked forward toward the bow of the ship she felt well repaid for
coming out by the grandeur of the sight. It was impossible to
distinguish sea from sky, as both were of the same leaden grey, and the
torrents of rain added to the obscurity. The ocean was in a turmoil,
frothing and fuming, and the waves rolled over and broke against the
ship with angry vehemence. Patty, though not frightened, was awed at
the majesty of the elements, and did not in the least mind the rain and
spray in her face as she gazed at the scene.
"You're good wood!" exclaimed Guy; "not many girls could stand up
against a storm like this."
Patty shook the wet curls out of her eyes as she smiled up at him. "I
love it!" she exclaimed, but she could hardly make her voice heard for
the roar of the sea and the storm.
Up and down the decks they walked, or rather tried to walk, now
battling against the wind, and now being swept along in front of it,
until almost exhausted, Patty dropped down on a coil of rope in a
comparatively sheltered corner. The boys sat down beside her, and they
watched the angry ocean. At times the great waves seemed as if they
would engulf the pitching ship, but after each wave the steamer righted
herself proudly and prepared to careen again on the next.
After a time Patty declared she'd had enough of it, and also expressed
her opinion that oilskins were not such a positive protection against
the wet as they were reputed to be.
So indoors they went, warm and glowing from their vigorous exercise,
and their appetites sharpened by their rough battle with the weather.
Every day there seemed to be something new to do.
"I've been told," said Patty, "that life on an ocean steamer is
monotonous, but I can't find any monotony. We've done something
different every day, haven't we, Elise?"
"Yes; and next will be the concert, and that will be best of all. What
are you going to sing, Patty?"
"I don't know. I don't want to sing at all, but your mother said I'd
better sing once, because they all insist on it so, and I do like to be
accommodating."
"I should think you did, Patty; you're never anything but
accommodating."
"Oh, pooh! It's no trouble to me to sing. I'd just as lief do it as
not; only it seems foolish for me to sing when there are so many older
people with better voices to do it."
"Well, sing some simple little ballad, and I don't believe but what the
people will like it just as much as the arias and things sung by the
more pretentious singers."
So Patty followed Elise's advice, and when the night of the concert
came her name was on the programme for one song.
And, as Elise had thought, it pleased the audience quite as well as
some of the more elaborate efforts.
Patty wore one of her pretty new dresses, a simple little frock of
white chiffon cloth, with touches here and there of light blue velvet.
Her only ornament was the necklace that Ma'amselle Labesse had given
her, and in her curly golden hair was a single white rose.
Very sweet she looked as she stood on the platform to sing her little
song. She had chosen "My Ain Countree" as being likely to please a
popular audience, and also not difficult to sing.
Mr. Pauvret accompanied her on his violin, and so effective was his
accompaniment and so sweet pretty Patty's singing of the old song, that
their performance proved to be the most attractive number on the
programme. So prolonged was the applause and so persistent the cry of
"Encore!" that Patty felt she really must respond with another song.
So she sang Stevenson's little verses, "In Winter I Get Up at Night,"
which have been set to such delightful music. Again Mr. Pauvret's
accompaniment added to the charm of the song, and Patty returned to her
place in the audience, quite embarrassed at the praises heaped upon her.
Elise sang, too, in a quartette of four girls. They had practised
together considerably, and sang really well. There were many other
musical numbers, interspersed with monologues and recitations, and the
programme wound up with a series of tableaux.
Patty was in her element in these, and had helped to arrange them. She
took part in some of them herself, and in others she arranged the
groups to form effective pictures. An immense gilt picture frame,
stretched across with gauze, was at the front of the stage. This was
held up on either side by two able-bodied seamen of the ship, in their
sailor costume. All of the tableaux were shown as pictures in this
frame, and they called forth enthusiastic and appreciative applause.
Old Ma'amselle Labesse had been induced to appear in one of the
tableaux, and as she possessed strikingly handsome costumes, she wore
one of the prettiest, and made an easily recognisable representation of
a painting by Nattier. Altogether the concert was a great success and
everybody had a good time. It was expected that they would see land the
next day, and so the concert partook of the nature of a farewell
function. Everybody was shaking hands and saying good-bye to everybody
else, and after many good wishes and good-nights our two tired and
sleepy girls went to their stateroom.