“Let’s go up and see those photographs, right now,” Laura changed the subject.
“Yes, let’s,” Amelia agreed. So, walking and talking the six friends left the cabin and went to an upper deck.
“Bess Harley,” Nan exclaimed as they stood around the pictures. “How did you ever manage to get yours taken so many times?”
Bess blushed. She had contrived to have her picture taken more than anyone else. Now, as she thought of the number of times she had purposely posed, hoping that the photographer would see her, she felt guilty. There were pictures of her in the deck chair, posed against a life preserver, and standing at the rail. There was one of her in a bathing suit on the morning she had gone swimming, another of her in slacks when she was headed for the ship’s gymnasium, and another in leather jacket and skirt when the wind was blowing so hard that her hair was standing on end.
“Anyhow, they are all cute,” Nan comforted, “and I’m as jealous as anything, because there aren’t any of me.”
“Oh, yes, there is, Nan. Look!” Rhoda pointed her finger to a picture of Nan posted right in the center of the board. The photographer had caught her when she was totally unaware of the rest of the world. He had made a silhouette of her on the ship’s rail, in the place she called her balcony, looking out over the sea.
“Oh, how nice!” Nan herself was pleased. “I’ll have to send one home to Momsy.” Then a sad look flashed across her face. She was lonesome sometimes amid all the new strange things for her mother, her father, and the little cottage on Amity street. There were times when she wished most earnestly that she could consult with her father or have the bright hopefulness of her mother’s comfort to encourage her.
Her thoughts flashed back to her father’s warning and then to the letter she had received at Lakeview Hall, the letter she had concealed from Bess. Was this hunchback who seemed to be watching her connected in any way with either of the two? Was he the one her father was warning her against? Had he had anything to do with the letter? Nan resolved to get it from the purser with whom she had left her valuables, look at it again, and see whether it contained any undiscovered clues.
“What’s the matter, Nan,” Bess brought her thoughts back to the present. “Your mind seems miles away. We’ve all ordered our pictures, and you haven’t had a word to say for the last ten minutes.”
Nan started guiltily, laughed with them at her own absent-mindedness, bought photographs of herself and her friends for her memory book, and then, with them, went into the ship’s store to buy souvenirs for friends back home.