at it is!" said the young bride, and then
blushed, as if she had been too bold.

Mrs. March liked the blush and the young bride for it, and she asked,
"Have you ever been on one of these German boats before? They seem very
comfortable."

"Oh, dear, no! we've never been on any boat before." She made a little
petted mouth of deprecation, and added, simple-heartedly, "My husband
was going out on business, and he thought he might as well take me
along."

The husband seemed to feel himself brought in by this, and said he
did not see why they should not make it a pleasure-trip, too. They put
themselves in a position to be patronized by their deference, and in the
pauses of his talk with the gentleman at the head of the table, March
heard his wife abusing their inexperience to be unsparingly instructive
about European travel. He wondered whether she would be afraid to own
that it was nearly thirty years since she had crossed the ocean; though
that might seem recent to people who had never crossed at all.

They listened with respect as she boasted in what an anguish of wisdom
she had decided between the Colmannia and the Norumbia. The wife said
she did not know there was such a difference in steamers, but when Mrs.
March perfervidly assured her that there was all the difference in the
world, she submitted and said she supposed she ought to be thankful that
they, had hit upon the right one. They had telegraphed for berths and
taken what was given them; their room seemed to be very nice.

"Oh," said Mrs. March, and her husband knew that she was saying it to
reconcile them to the inevitable, "all the rooms on the Norumbia are
nice. The only difference is that if they are on the south side you have
the sun."

"I'm not sure which is the south side," said the bride. "We seem to have
been going west ever since we started, and I feel as if we should reach
home in the morning if we had a good night. Is the ocean always so
smooth as this?"

"Oh, dear, no!" said Mrs. March. "It's never so smooth as this," and
she began to be outrageously authoritative about the ocean weather. She
ended by declaring that the June passages were always good, and that
if the ship kept a southerly course they would have no fogs and no
icebergs. She looked round, and caught her husband's eye. "What is it?
Have I been bragging? Well, you understand," she added to the bride,
"I've only been over once, a great while ago, and I don't really know
anything a