He is full of fun, but dignified too, and he never forgets we are the
captain's daughters. It must be that boy! Martha Jordan says he
hasn't been ill a minute, and that he knows everybody on shipboard,
already, and they all like him."
The stewardess was fond of the girls, and in her frequent visits had
brought them every bit of news she could pick up, to lighten their
confinement. She appeared while they were conjecturing, and said,
"Aha! Well, aren't you?"
"Almost," said Faith, as both began telling the story of their package.
Martha appeared much interested, but there was a look on her honest
face that seemed to say she was not so densely ignorant of the matter
as she pretended to be, and, while she assisted them into their long,
flannel-lined ulsters and close caps, for a visit to the upper deck,
where she declared the fresh wind would blow their last qualms away,
they tried to learn just what she did know, but without success.
Giving it up, finally, Hope proposed that they wear the sea-biscuit as
ornaments, and see who should look most conscious when they drew near.
"A good idea! And where is that box of ribbons? Let's find a pink and
blue, if we can."
"Tell me where you put it and I'll look," said Martha, much amused,
and, when found, she punched a hole through one corner of the pasty
squares, and tied each to a button of the ulsters. Hope's was pink,
and Faith's blue.
Thus equipped, she started them up the companion-way, and seeing they
were reasonably firm on their feet, went about her business, chuckling
to herself as if greatly enjoying something.
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