“Girls, have you ever seen the Hippocampus?” she asked.
“It’s a steam yacht, isn’t it?” said Sue, while the rest listened eagerly.
“It’s a dream afloat,” said Polly, solemnly. “All shining brass, with a white hull, and silk curtains—silk curtains at the cabin windows, children—and tufted leather walls, and—”
Ted perched herself on the window-seat, and sang softly, with a comical lisp,
“I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing on the sea,
And it was filled with pretty things, for Polly and for me.
There were raisins in the cabin, sugar kisses in the hold,
The sails were made of silk, and the masts were made of gold.”
“Goose,” exclaimed Polly, tossing a sofa pillow at the scoffer. “Wait until you see it.”
“There’s one thing certain,” said Ruth, “we shall appreciate our own little flotilla all the more, when we have seen this queen of the seas. I think we should send Mrs. Yates a united vote of thanks.”