"I do think waiting for a steamer is the horridest, pokiest performance in the world You never know when they're coming, no matter how much they sight them and signal them and wireless them " Mrs. Allen was not pettish, and she spoke half laughingly, but she was wearied with her long wait for the Mauretania, in which she expected her daughter, Nan, and, incidentally, Mr. Fairfield and Patty.