Lady Betty Across the Water | Page 9

It is beyond that of any English demoiselle I have seen,
yet all the world knows they are the best on earth. With such eyes, no
doubt Miladi can wear any colour; and she has the figure for which the
make of corsets is of no import."
If it had been in English, I should have wanted to order her out of the
room; but things like that don't sound so objectionable in French.
Miss Woodburn's, and especially Mrs. Ess Kay's clothes looked so
exquisite that I was mortified to have Louise unpack mine, though I
have brought my smartest things, and Vic had two or three pretty
blouses of hers altered in a great hurry, for me. Besides, Mother said
my outfit was quite good enough for a young girl in England, and that I
was not to let myself feel dissatisfied if in another country they chose
to overdress.
Anyhow, I will say for Mrs. Ess Kay that she didn't appear to be
ashamed of me at first. On the contrary, she had a way of seeming to
show me off, almost as if she thought I did her credit.
When we had unpacked, we three went to luncheon, and took the first
seats which were vacant. But presently Mrs. Ess Kay sent for the chief
steward or someone important. "I am Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox," said she,
in a haughty voice, "and I have as my guest Lady Betty Bulkeley,
daughter of the Duchess of Stanforth. You must give me three of the
best seats at the Captain's table."
I couldn't help hearing, and my ears did tingle, but Miss Woodburn
only smiled and looked down, with a funny twinkle under her eyelashes,
which curl up so much that it always seems as if she were just going to
laugh.

I thought, if I were the steward, I would give us the worst seats on the
ship, to teach us not to be proud; but he didn't do anything of the sort;
he was as meek as a lamb, so I'm sure he can't have any sense of
humour. He said Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox might count on him, and she
and her party should have places on the Captain's right hand.
Mrs. Ess Kay was as bad with the deck steward. She found that he
hadn't put our chairs (which she had brought on board herself) in the
right place, and she had him called up and made a great fuss. The cards
of a Reverend Somebody, his wife and daughters, were on chairs in the
position which she had made up her mind to have, exactly amidship
and on the shady side.
"I must have my chairs changed and put here," she said. And then--oh,
horror!--I'm certain I caught her repeating the formula she'd used at
luncheon. "I am Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox, and I have as my guest, etc,
etc." To be sure, she had walked off to a little distance with the
deck-steward, where our chairs were, and I might have been mistaken;
but two or three people who were standing near looked suddenly very
hard at me, and I know I turned scarlet with annoyance, to be labelled
in that way, as if I were a parcel marked "glass" and to be handled with
care.
Afterwards, when I came to read the passenger-list, I found that there
was nobody else on board with any sort of title, not even an
Honourable Anybody; otherwise, of course, Mrs. Ess Kay's little
manoeuvre (which I'm afraid must have been meant for snobbishness)
wouldn't have excited the slightest notice.
"Now," said Mrs. Ess Kay, when we were settled in our places, "I know
a good many people on the ship, but most of them are Nobodies, and I
do not intend to be troubled with them, nor do I think that the Duchess
would care to have me let Betty mix herself up with anybody and
everybody. I shall do a great deal of weeding and select her
acquaintances carefully."
"Betty," indeed! I'd never told her that she might call me Betty; and I
hate having persons I don't care for take hold of my name, without

using a handle to touch it. It makes me feel as I did when I was a child,
and Mother commanded me to let myself be kissed by unkissable and
extraneous grown-ups.
Thank goodness, Vic and I have come into the world with something of
poor Father's sense of humour. My share often serves me as well as
balm on a wound, or as a nice, dry, crackly little biscuit which you're
enchanted to find when you're hungry, and thought you had nothing to
eat; and I got a good deal of quiet comfort out of it during Mrs. Ess
Kay's "weeding" process, which otherwise would have