ng home.--The breaking up of the party.--We start
for Paris alone.--Basle, and a search for a hotel.--
The twilight ride.--The shopkeeper whose wits had
gone "a wool-gathering."--"Two tickets for Paris."--
What can be the matter now?--Michel Angelo's Moses.--
Paris at midnight.--The kind _commissionaire_.--The
good French gentleman and his fussy little wife.--A
search for Miss H.'s.--"Come up, come up."--"Can women
travel through Europe alone?" A word about a woman's
outfit. 220

AN

AMERICAN GIRL ABROAD.

CHAPTER I.

ABOARD THE STEAMER.

We two alone.--"Good by."--"Are you the captain of
this ship?"--Wretchedness.--The jolly Englishman
and the Yankee.--A sail!--The cattle-man.--The
Jersey-man whose bark was on the sea.--Church
services under difficulties.--The sweet young
English face.--Down into the depths to
worship.--"Beware! I stand by the
Parson."--Singing to the fishes.--Green Erin.--One
long cheer.--Farewell Ireland.

WE were going to Europe, Mrs. K. and I--alone, with the exception of the
ship's company--unprotected, save by Him who watches over the least of
his creatures. We packed our one trunk, upon which both name and
nationality were conspicuously blazoned, with the necessaries, not
luxuries, of a woman's toilet, and made our simple preparations for
departure without a shadow of anxiety. "They who know nothing, fear
nothing," said the paterfamilias, but added his consent and blessing.
The rain poured in torrents as we drove down to the wharf. But floods
could not have dampened our enthusiasm. A wild Irishman, with a
suggestion of spirituous things in his air and general appearance,
received us at the foot of the plank, one end of which touched earth,
the other that unexplored region, the steamer. We followed the direction
of his dirty finger, and there fell from our eyes, as it were, scales.
In our ignorance, we had expected to find vast space, elegant
surroundings, glass, glare, and glitter. We peered into the contracted
quarters of the ladies' cabin. One side was filled with boxes and
bundles; the other, with the prostrate form of an old lady, her head
enveloped in a mammoth ruffle. We explored the saloon. The purser, with
a wen an