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girl had always been easygoing. She seldom lost her temper, except sometimes when Josh teased her.
    Stooping down, Abbey began to gather up the fragments of the plate. “Well, she is difficult, I'll admit that.”
    â€œDifficult? Nothing pleases her!”
    â€œI guess she's used to having her own way.”
    â€œNo doubt about that. She's spoiled to the bone. I don't know if I can put up with her highfalutin ways much longer.”
    â€œWhat's this?” Daybright stepped down into the galley where the two girls had been doing some cleaning. “Break a plate?”
    â€œI did it,” Sarah said briefly.
    â€œWell, I break one every now and then myself.” But Daybright was a quick man to see things. “Is Her Highness getting on your nerves?”
    â€œShe'd get on your nerves too, Captain, if you had to put up with her all the time. She's impossible.”
    Daybright said, “I know it's hard. I have the best of it—I can stay away from her, but you two have to take all of her temper tantrums.”
    â€œNothing pleases her!” Sarah burst out. She shoved her hair back from her forehead with an angry gesture. “I thought I'd seen vile-tempered people before but nothing like her.”
    â€œI think her father's shipping her off just to get rid of her.” Daybright shrugged. “She had him over the fire, I could see that.”
    â€œHow much longer are we going to be on this trip?” Sarah asked suddenly. Her lips trembled with anger and humiliation. “She treats me like I was—was nothing but dirt!”
    â€œWell, she treats everybody else the same way,” Daybright said. “I had a first mate like that on my first voyage. By the time we had been out to sea for two weeks, I was ready to cut his head off.”
    Abbey had been moving about preparing some things for the evening meal. “You know,” she said, “my guess is that she's really a nice person—underneath all that bluster.”
    The other two stared.
    â€œNice?” Sarah said. “How can you say that, the way she treats you?”
    â€œBecause I was a little like that myself when I was younger.”
    Daybright smiled. “Well, Granny, you're getting mighty old. How much younger were you when you were such a horrible person?”
    Abbey flushed but laughed at her own words. “She's pretty and the daughter of a rich man. She's never had to make her own way. And I don't think people like that are happy.”
    Sarah had known, of course, that Abbey herself had been spoiled. Abbey was a beautiful girl; and as long as they had been together, Sarah had been slightly jealous of the younger girl's attractiveness.
    â€œSomething happened to me on our last adventure,” Abbey said. “I learned that beauty isn't everything.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, Abbey?” the captain asked.
    â€œYou must have noticed that the most attractive people aren't always completely happy.” Abbey spoke this with some surprise as if she thought everybody knew it. “I knew several beauty queens back in the old world.”
    â€œWhat's a beauty queen?” Daybright asked.
    â€œOh, they have contests to pick the prettiest girls,” Abbey answered.
    â€œAnd did they pick you?”
    Abbey blushed and shrugged her shoulders. “Once or twice,” she said. “I was never Miss America, but I knew some girls that went up pretty high. And you know what?” She stopped and looked at them curiously. “Those were always the ones who seemed the most insecure.”
    â€œI'd think if they were all that pretty, they wouldn't have to be insecure.”
    â€œI guess they're never satisfied. Like some men who never get enough money. Once a girl starts running on her beauty, she's always thinking about losing it—or whether the next girl is going to be prettier.”
    Abbey picked up a cup and wiped it slowly, her eyes thoughtful. “You never