"Oh, I am strictly neutral," said the young lady. "Besides, it really
amounts to nothing. Steamer friendships are the most evanescent things
on earth."

"Not on earth, surely, Miss Earle. You must mean on sea."

"Well, the earth includes the sea, you know."

"Have you had experience with steamer friendships? I thought, somehow,
this was your first voyage."

"What made you think so?"

"Well, I don't know. I thought it was, that's all."

"I hope there is nothing in my manner that would induce a stranger to
think I am a verdant traveller."

"Oh, not at all. You know, a person somehow classifies a person's
fellow-passengers. Some appear to have been crossing the ocean all their
lives, whereas, in fact, they are probably on shipboard for the first
time. Have you crossed the ocean before?"

"Yes."

"Now, tell me whether you think I ever crossed before?"

"Why, of course you have. I should say that you cross probably once a
year. Maybe oftener."