"I AM hopeless!" said the young man, in a voice that was painfully
desponding. "Utterly hopeless! Heaven knows I have tried hard to get
employment! But no one has need of my service. The pittance doled
out by your father, and which comes with a sense of humiliation that
is absolutely heart-crushing, is scarcely sufficient to provide this
miserable abode, and keep hunger from our door. But for your sake, I
would not touch a shilling of his money if I starved."

"Hush, dear Edward!" returned the gentle girl, who had left father,
mother, and a pleasant home, to share the lot of him she loved; and
she laid a finger on his lips, while she drew her arm around him.

"Agnes," said the young man, "I cannot endure this life much longer.
The native independence of my character revolts at our present
condition. Months have elapsed, and yet the ability I possess finds
no employment. In this country every avenue is crowded."

The room in which they were overlooked the sea.

"But there is another land, where, if what we hear be true, ability
finds employment and talent a sure reward." And, as Agnes said this,
in a voice of encouragement, she pointed from the window towards the
expansive waters that stretched far away towards the south and west.

"America!" The word was uttered in a quick, earnest voice.

"Yes."

"Agnes, I thank you for this suggestion! Return to the pleasant home
you left for one who cannot procure for you even the plainest
comforts of life, and I will cross the ocean to seek a better
fortune in that land of promise. The separation, painful to both,
will not, I trust, be long."

"Edward," replied the young wife with enthusiasm, as she drew her
arm more tightly about his neck, "I will never leave thee nor
forsake thee! Where thou goest I will go, and where thou liest I
will lie. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

"Would you forsake all," said Edward, in surprise, "and go far away
with me into a strange land?"

"It will be no stranger to me than it will be to you, Edward."

"No, no, Agnes! I will not think of that," said Edward Marvel, in a
positive, voice. "If I go to that land of promise, it must first be
alone."

"Alone!" A shadow fell over the face of Agnes. "Alone! It cannot--it
must not be!"

"But think, Agnes. If I go alone, it will cost me but a small sum to
live until I find some business, which may not be for weeks, or even
months after I arrive in the New World."

"Wha