through with till they sighted Sandy Hook and the Neversinks,—a waiting varied with peeps at Marseilles and Gibraltar and the sight of a whale or two and one distant iceberg. The weather was fair all the way, and the ocean smooth. Amy was never weary of lamenting her own stupidity in not having taken Maria Matilda out of confinement before they left Venice.
"That child has hardly been out of the trunk since we started," she said. "She has n't seen anything except a little bit of Nice. I shall really be ashamed when the other children ask her about it. I think I shall play that she was left at boarding-school and did n't come to Europe at all! Don't you think that would be the best way, mamma?"
"You might play that she was left in the States-prison for having done something naughty," suggested Katy; but Amy scouted this idea.
"She never does naughty things," she said, "because she never does anything at all. She's just stupid, poor child! It's not her fault."
