VOYAGE

signed to undertake, who, save myself, would suffer? If I died far away

from— home, I was going to say, but I had no home— from England, then,

who would weep?

I might suffer; I was inured to suffering: death itself had not, I thought,

those terrors for me which it has for the softly reared. I had, ere this, looked

on the thought of death with a quiet eye. Prepared, then, for any conse-

quences, I formed a project.

That same evening I obtained from my friend, the waiter, information re-

specting, the sailing of vessels for a certain continental port, Boue-Marine.

No time, I found, was to be lost: that very night I must take my berth. I

might, indeed, have waited till the morning before going on board, but

would not run the risk of being too late.

"Better take your berth at once, ma'am," counselled the waiter. I agreed

with him, and having discharged my bill, and acknowledged my friend's