or fail, and the seriousness of her task came
over her, leaning with clasped hands against the railing of the boat.
Among that busy host what place would be made for her? How easy it
seemed to be lost in the legion of workers; to be crushed in the
swaying crowd! It was as though she were entering a room filled with
strangers, and stood hesitating on the threshold. But youth's
assurance soon set aside this gloomy picture; the shadow of a smile
lighted her face and her glance grew bright. At twenty the world is
rosy and in the perspective are many castles.

Near by the soldier also leaned against the rail, looking not,
however, at New Orleans but at her, while all unconscious of his
regard she continued to gaze cityward. His face, too, was thoughtful.
The haphazard journey was approaching its end, and with it, in all
likelihood, the bond of union, the alliance of close comradeship
associated with the wilderness. She was keenly alive to honor, fame,
renown. What meaning had those words to him--save for her? He smiled
bitterly, as a sudden revulsion of dark thoughts crowded upon him. He
had had his bout; the sands of the arena that once had shone golden
now were dust.

Drawing up to the levee, they became a part of the general bustle and
confusion; hurriedly disembarked, rushed about for their luggage,
because every one else was rushing; hastily entered carriages of which
there was a limited supply, and were whisked off over the rough
cobblestones which constituted the principal pavements of the city;
catching momentary glimpses, between oscillations, of oyster saloons,
fruit and old clothes' shops, and coffee stands, where the people ate
in the open air. In every block were _cafes_ or restaurants, and the
sign "Furnished Rooms" appearing at frequent intervals along the
thoroughfare through which they drove at headlong pace, bore evidence
to the fact that the city harbored many strangers.

The hotel was finally reached--and what a unique hostelry it was! "Set
the St. Charles down in St. Petersburg," commented a chronicler in
1846, "and you would think it a palace; in Boston, and ten to one, you
would christen it a college; in London, and it would remind you of an
exchange." It represented at that day the evolution of the American
tavern, the primitive inn, instituted for passengers and wayfaring
men; the development of the pot-house to the metropolitan hotel, of
the rural ale-room to the palatial saloon.

"What a chan