But at last the sailing date was close at hand. Mary Alice's heart was
heavy and glad together. "If I could only take you!" she whispered to
her mother.

Mother shook her head. "I wouldn't go and leave your father and the
children," she said. "You go and enjoy it all for me. I like it
better that way."

And so, once more Mary Alice smiled through tear-filled eyes at the
dear faces on the station platform, and was gone again into the big
world beyond her home. But this time what a different girl it was who
went!




X

THE OLD WORLD AND THE KING

They had an unusually delightful voyage. The weather was perfection
and their fellow-voyagers included many persons interesting to talk
with and many others interesting to observe and speculate about.

One particularly charming experience came to Mary Alice through the
Captain's appreciation of her eagerness. Godmother had taught her to
love the stars. As well as they could, in New York where, to most
people, only scraps of sky are visible at a time, they had been wont to
watch with keen interest for the nightly appearance of stars they could