Patty was amused, and a little ashamed that a stranger should have read
her feelings so accurately, for she had felt slightly repelled at the
somewhat forward manners of these would-be friends.

As if to make up for her coolness she said heartily: "I'm sure you are
delightful to know, and I'm quite ready to be friends if you will allow
it. I'm Patty Fairfield, and this is my chum, Elise Farrington."

"We knew your names," said Alicia Van Ness; "we asked the captain. You
see, we thought you two were the nicest girls on board, but if you had
thrown us down we were going to tackle the English girl next."

Though this slangy style of talk was not at all to Patty's liking, she
saw no reason to reject the offered friendship because of it. The Van
Ness sisters might prove to be interesting companions, in spite of their
unconventional ways. So two vacant chairs were drawn up, and the four
girls sat in a group, and very soon were chatting away like old friends.

"Do you know the English girl?" asked Doris; "she sits at your table."

"No," said Elise; "she's way down at the other end from us. But I like
her looks, only she's so very English that I expect she's rather stiff
and hard to get acquainted with."

"You can't say that about us, can you?" said Alicia, laughing; "I'm as
easy as an old shoe, and Doris as an old slipper. But we hope you'll
like us, because we do love to be liked. That English girl's name is
Florrie Nash. Isn't that queer? She doesn't look a bit like a Florrie,
does she? More like a Susan or a Hannah."