Frenchwoman had
assured her women were as free as men. What would such freedom bring
to her? Riches, possibly, would here reward her father for his
artistry upon the flute, and luxuries surround them both, in
consequence. And romance! Her heart began to flutter at mere thought
of the word, and her mind, against her modest maiden will,
involuntarily turned to the youth who had so splendidly sprung to
their rescue from the malign Moresco. Ah, how strong, how handsome he
had been as he had thrown himself upon the big Italian! She blushed
before her own brain's boldness. In that youth undoubtedly might, even
now, be found the hero of the romance which the new world would
undoubtedly unfold for her delighted eyes to read! Singularly innocent
and ignorant of many things which most girls of her age know well,
she did not stop to reason any of this out--she merely felt the firm
conviction of its certainty, and, for a time, was glad.

But as the ship passed slowly up the river, and, finally, was taken
charge of by the grimy tugs which nosed her with much labor into place
at a great dock, the officers began to hustle all the steerage
passengers into more compact masses on the deck and her attention once
more centered on the matters of the moment. The building on the dock
shut off the free salt breeze and quickly the unclean breath of the
crowd distressed her lungs. The worried immigrants trod on one
another's heels, fell across their huddled trunks and bundles,
chattered, gayly or in fright, close in each other's ears. There was a
long delay, in which, if one of the poor throng dared move beyond the
boundaries set for them by the burly officers in charge, loud
language, not too nice to hear, was the result, and, even, once or
twice, a blow. She heard an English-speaking veteran of many voyages
explaining to his uncomfortable fellows what Vanderlyn had told his
mother about them: that because they had come in the steerage they
could not land upon the dock, as did the passengers of the
first-cabin, but would be borne to some far spot for further
health-inspection and examination as to their ability to earn their
livelihoods.

This worried her, as it had Vanderlyn. Suppose her father should not
satisfy these stern examiners? Would the authorities consider that
ability to play a flute divinely was sufficient ground for thinking
that a man could earn his way? And, if they were landed in two
different places, how would the young ma