ould think it was better than England!"

"It is sure to be very different; but all the same, you will like it, I
think."

"I hope so"--doubtfully.

Just then came an interruption in the shape of a tall girl of fifteen or
sixteen, with a sweet, childish face who came running down the deck
accompanied by a maid, and seized the strange lady's hand.

"Mamma," she began, "the first officer says that if you are willing he
will take me across to the bows to see the rainbows on the foam. May I
go? He says Anne can go too."

"Yes, certainly, if Mr. Graves will take charge of you. But first speak
to this young lady, who is the sister of Mr. Young, who was so kind
about playing ship-coil with you yesterday, and tell her you are glad
she is able to be on deck. Then you can go, Amy."

Amy turned a pair of beautiful, long-lashed, gray eyes on Imogen.

"I'm glad you're better, Miss Young. Mamma and I were sorry you were so
sick," she said, with a frank politeness that was charming. "It must be
very disagreeable."

"Haven't you been sick, then?" said Imogen, holding fast the little hand
that was put in hers.

"No, I'm never sick _now_. I was, though, the first time we came over,
and I behaved _awfully_. Do you recollect, mamma?"

"Only too well," said her mother, laughing. "You were like a caged bird,
beating yourself against the bars in desperation."

Amy lingered a moment, while a dimple played in her pink cheek as if she
were moved by some amusing remembrance.

"Ah, there's Mr. Graves," she said. "I must go. I'll come back presently
and tell you about the rainbows, mamma."

"I suppose most of these people on board are Americans," said Imogen
after a little pause. "It's always easy to tell them, don't you think?"

"Not always. Yes, I suppose a good many of them are--or call themselves
so."

"What do you mean by 'call themselves so'? That girl is one, I am sure,"
indicating a pretty, stylish young person, who was talking rather too
loudly for good taste with the ship's doctor.

"Yes, I imagine she is."

"And those people over there," pointing to a large, red-bearded man who
lay back in a sea-chair reading a novel, by the side of a fat wife who
read another, while their little boy raced up and down the deck quite
unheeded, and amused himself by pulling the rugs off the knees of the
sicker passengers. "They are Americans, I know! Did you ever see such
creatures? The idea of letting that child make a nuisance of hims