As Patty looked around at the others at their table, she felt that she had been fortunate in sitting next to the old ma’amselle.  For though she could not judge entirely by appearances, no one else at the table seemed to be so quaintly interesting as the old French lady.

Patty soon discovered that even a “few miles of dancing upon the blue water” had decidedly sharpened her appetite, and she did full justice to the delicate viands and delicious French cookery placed before her.  She and Elise chatted happily, and after introducing her companions on either side to each other the conversation became general.

Under the influence of the comradeship always felt on a French liner, the people across the table became sociably inclined, and acquaintances were made rapidly.

After dinner our party went out on deck, and though warm wraps were necessary, the crisp, clear air was delightful, and the starry sky and tumbling black water fascinated Patty beyond all words.  She leaned against the rail, watching the waves as they dashed and plashed below, breaking into white foam as the steamer ploughed through them.  Patty was very susceptible to new impressions, and the great expanse of black water beneath the dome of the star-studded black sky filled her with an awe and reverence which she had never known before.

Elise stood quietly beside her, with her hand through Patty’s arm, and together the girls silently enjoyed the sombre beauty of the scene.

“Are you afraid, Patty?” asked Elise.

Patty laughed a little, and then she said:  “I don’t know as I can make you understand it, Elise, for it sounds so ridiculous when it’s put into words.  But it’s this way with me:  In my imagination, when I think of this little cockleshell of a boat tossing on this great, deep, black ocean, which may engulf it at any moment, I have a certain feeling of fear, which seems to belong to the situation.  But really, my common sense tells me that these staunch steamships are constructed for the very purpose of carrying people safely across the sea, and that there is almost no danger at all of their doing otherwise.  So you see it only depends on whether I’m in a mood of poetical imagination or practical common sense as to whether I’m afraid or not.”

“Patty,” said Elise, with a little sigh, “you are certainly clever.  Now I never could have reasoned the thing out like that, and yet I see just what you mean.”

“Throw bouquets at yourself, then, Elise,” said Patty, laughing, “for you’re a great deal more clever to see what I mean than I am to say it!”

After a brisk walk up and down the deck for a time the girls tucked themselves snugly into their deck chairs by the side of the elder Farringtons.

“How do you like it so far, Patty?” asked Mr. Farrington.

“It’s simply perfect,” declared Patty enthusiastically.  “It’s awfully different from what I thought it would be, and ever so much nicer.  I thought it would be impossible to walk across the deck without tumbling all over and catching hold of everything.  But we can walk around just as if in a house, and everything is comfortable, even luxurious, and it’s all so clean.”