nd settling their luggage to
pay any attention to, or even to think of, the few German and English
emigrants, who went to their own quarters on the middle deck. And so no
one noticed the girl, who clung so timidly to the Welsh woman, and who
shook with cold and nervousness as she sat down upon the berth allotted
to her and glanced furtively around at the people and the appointments
of the place. Everything was scrupulously clean, but of the plainest
kind, and "steerage" seemed written everywhere. There was nothing
aristocratic in Bessie's nature, and, if necessary, she would have
broken stone upon the highway, and still Neil himself could not have
rebelled more hotly against her surroundings than she did for a few
moments, feeling as if she could not endure it, and that if she staid
there she must throw herself into the sea.

"Oh, I cannot bear it--I cannot. Why did I come?" she said, as she felt
the trembling of the vessel and knew they were in motion. "Oh, can't I
go back? Won't they stop and let me off?" she cried convulsively,
clutching the arm of Mrs. Goodnough, who tried to comfort her.

"There! there, darling! Don't take it so hard," she said, tenderly
caressing the fair head lying in her lap. "They'll not stop now till we
are off Queenstown, when there will be a chance to go back if you like,
but I don't think you will. America is better than Wales. You will be
happy there."

Bessie did not think she should ever be happy again, but with her usual
sweet unselfishness, and thoughtfulness for others, she tried to dry her
tears, so as not to distress her companion, and when the latter
suggested that she go out and look at the docks of Liverpool and the
shores as they passed, she pulled up her hood and tied on her vail, and
with her back to anyone who might see her from the upper deck, where the
first-class passengers were congregated, she stood gazing at the land
she was leaving, until a chilly sensation in her bones and the violent
pain in her head sent her to her berth, which she did not leave again
for three days and more.

She knew when they stopped at Queenstown, and was glad for a little
respite from the rolling motion, which nearly drove her wild and made
her so deadly sick. But she did not see the tug when it came out laden
with Irish emigrants, of whom there was a large number. Of these the
young girls and single women were sent to the rear of the ship, where
Bessie lay, half unconscious of what was pas