est drew of some happier child, a gay little
garment cut low in the neck and short in the sleeves, which gave her the
grotesque effect of having been at a party the night before. Presently
came two jaded women, a mother and a grandmother, that appeared, when
they had crawled out of their beds, to have put on only so much clothing
as the law compelled. They abandoned themselves upon the green stuff,
whatever it was, and, with their lean hands clasped outside their knees,
sat and stared, silent and hopeless, at the eastern sky, at the heart of
the terrible furnace, into which in those days the world seemed cast to
be burnt up, while the child which the younger woman had brought with
her feebly wailed unheeded at her side. On one side of these women
were the shameless houses out of which they might have crept, and which
somehow suggested riotous maritime dissipation; on the other side were
those houses in which had once dwelt rich and famous folk, but which
were now dropping down the boarding-house scale through various
un-homelike occupations to final dishonor and despair. Down nearer the
water, and not far from the castle that was once a playhouse and is now
the depot of emigration, stood certain express-wagons, and about these
lounged a few hard-looking men. Beyond laughed and danced the fresh blue
water of the bay, dotted with sails and smokestacks.

"Well," said Basil, "I think if I could choose, I should like to be a
friendless German boy, setting foot for the first time on this happy
continent. Fancy his rapture on beholding this lovely spot, and these
charming American faces! What a smiling aspect life in the New World
must wear to his young eyes, and how his heart must leap within him!"

"Yes, Basil; it's all very pleasing, and thank you for bringing me. But
if you don't think of any other New York delights to show me, do let us
go and sit in Leonard's office till he comes, and then get out into the
country as soon as possible."

Basil defended himself against the imputation that he had been trying
to show New York to his wife, or that he had any thought but of whiling
away the long morning hours, until it should be time to go to Leonard.
He protested that a knowledge of Europe made New York the most
uninteresting town in America, and that it was the last place in the
world where he should think of amusing himself or any one else; and then
they both upbraided the city's bigness and dullness with an enjoyment
tha