eneath my
door-guarding drapery, and with this brief assurance I was fain to rest
content.

At all events, I was reassured on one subject--those honest eyes, that
frank if ugly mouth had no acquaintance with lies, or the father of
them, I saw at once; and the voice of the ship's doctor had for the
nonce deceived my practised ear, overstrung by suspicion--enfeebled by
suffering.

So I rested calmly until the afternoon, with Mrs. Clayton sewing
silently by my side, when with a little tap Lady Anastasia (or Mrs.
Raymond, as she declared she preferred to be called by "Americans")
entered, bearing a basket in her hand, and wearing on her head a
Dunstable bonnet simply trimmed, which she came, she said, to place,
along with other articles of dress, at my disposal.

It had not occurred to me before that, in order to go on shore
respectably clad, some attire very different from a bed-gown would be
essential, and I could but feel grateful for such proofs of unselfish
consideration on the part of strangers, pitying both my indigence and
imbecility, and so expressed myself.

In accordance with their generous intentions, I submitted myself to be
arrayed by Mrs. Clayton and her mistress: first, in the flimsy black
silk gown now completed, on which I had seen my attendant working when I
first unclosed my eyes after long unconsciousness, and the measure of
which she had taken, while I lay in this condition, as coolly in all
probability as an undertaker measures a corpse for its shroud; secondly,
in a cardinal of the same material, a wrapping cut in the shape in vogue
at that period; thirdly, in certain loosely-fitting boots and gloves
with which I was fain to cover up my naked feet and blistered hands _in
forma pauperis_; and, lastly, in the collarette and cuffs provided by
the economic and considerate Lady Anastasia, composed of cotton lace!
The Dunstable bonnet was hung upon a peg in readiness, and I was kindly
counseled to lie still, "accoutred as I was," and exhausted by means of
such accoutrement as I felt, until evening should find us riding in our
harbor.

Then there was a little, low consulting at the door with the renowned
"ship's doctor," who positively refused to approach me because he had
just come from a case of ship-fever in the steerage, which he feared to
communicate to one in my precarious state, but who sent in his
imperative orders that I should have soup and sherry-cobbler forthwith,
and try and build up my