te in selection, compared with the others. But she
was somehow different, rather subtly different, from them in all ways;
not so elaborately refined, not so abnormally tall, not so startlingly
picturesque. "One always thinks of the ark animals in a procession,
poor dears--showing off their fur or their stripes or their spots or
something--just like us."

"Speak for yourself, if you talk about spots, please," said Miss
Devereux, who never addressed Miss Child as "dear," nor did the
others.

"I was thinking of leopards," explained the fifth dryad. "They're
among the few things you _can_ think of without being sick."

"I can't," said Miss Devereux, and was. They all were, and somehow
Miss Child seemed to be the one to blame.

"We were just getting better!" wailed Miss Vedrine.

"It was only a momentary excitement that cheered us," suggested
Winifred Child.

"What excitement?" they all wanted indignantly to know.

"That man looking in."

"Do you call that an excitement? Where have you lived?"

"Well, a surprise, then. But _would_ we have been better if it had
been madame who looked in?"

The picture called up by this question was so appalling that they
shuddered and forgot their little grudge against Miss Child, who was
not so bad when you were feeling well, except that she had odd ways of
looking at things, and laughed when nobody else could see anything to
laugh at.

"Thank heaven, she's a bad sailor!" Miss Devereux cried.

"Thank heaven, all the other women on board are bad sailors," added
Win.

"If madame was well she'd think _we_ ought to be," said Miss Carroll.
"She'd dock our pay every time we--- Oh, _this_ is bad enough, but if
she was well it would be a million times worse!"

"Could anything be worse?" Miss Tyndale pitifully questioned, for just
then the ship was sliding down the side of a wave as big as a
millionaire's house.

"Yes, it would be worse if we were wearing our waists slender this
year," said Win.

"Down, down, wallow, wallow, jump!" was the program the _Monarchic_
carried out for the twentieth time in half as many minutes. Slender
waists! Oh, horrible to think of, unless you broke in two and death
ended your troubles!

"Let's try breathing _in_ as she goes up and _out_ as she goes down.
I've heard that works wonderfully," said Win.

They tried, but it worked disappointingly that time. Perhaps it was
the ship's fault. It was impossible to time her antics with the most
careful