after her
yesterday's experiences, and much disinclined for further rambles; so
it was with a sigh of genuine relief that she found herself seated in
the high gig by the side of the old farmer.

"Good-bye, dearie!" said Mrs. Ledbury, tucking a shawl over Honor's
knees, and pressing a slice of bread and honey into her hand, from fear
that she might grow hungry on the road. "You run straight home when you
get to Westhaven! They'll be in a fair way about you, they will that!
It gives me a turn yet to think of you sleeping in the barn all night
long, with rats and mice scrambling round you, and me not to know you
was there!"

Mr. Ledbury was evidently not of a communicative disposition; he drove
along without vouchsafing any remarks, and Honor was so lost in her
thoughts that she did not feel disposed to talk to him. Her great
anxiety now was to catch the steamer to Cork; she wished she had some
idea of the time of its starting, and only hoped that it did not set
off early in the morning, for to miss it would seem almost more than
she could bear. The gig jolted slowly on over the uneven road, till at
length the moor gave way to suburban villas and gardens, quickly
followed by streets and shops; and they finally drew up in the busy
market-place of Westhaven.

Mr. Ledbury helped Honor to dismount, and having thanked him and said
good-bye, she turned round the nearest corner; then, once safely out of
his sight, she set off as fast as she could for the harbour. Partly,
perhaps, because she enquired chiefly from children, whose directions
were not very clear, and partly because it is generally difficult to
find one's way in a fresh place, it was a long time before she saw the
welcome gleam of the water and the masts of the shipping; and then,
after all, she found she had come to the wrong quay, and it was only by
dint of continual asking that at last she arrived at the particular
landing-stage of the Irish steamers.

"Want the boat to Cork, miss?" said the weather-beaten seaman to whom
she addressed her question. "Why, she's bin gone out an hour and a half
ago. She was off at eleven prompt. When will there be another, did ye
say? Not till eight to-night, and she's only a cargo."

Honor's hopes, which had managed to sustain her spirits so far, dropped
to zero at this bad news. There she was, penniless, in a strange town;
and how could she get through all the long, weary hours until the
evening? Gulping down a lump in her t