Everybody seemed provided with similar anecdotes, and yarn succeeded yarn
till late in the evening, when a message from the captain that Ireland
was in sight brought them all on deck. The moon was shining softly over
the beautiful mountains and valleys of ----. A more exquisite little
picture could hardly have been presented to the eye wearied of perpetual
gazing on the pathless ocean. Exclamations of delight were heard on all
sides, while some prosaically remarked it was almost as fine as scenes in
"Peep o' Day" or "The Colleen Bawn." To Bluebell it was fairy-land. To
begin with, she had never seen a mountain, and the picturesque in Canada
is on too large a scale for the little details that give beauty to
scenery. Her conception of the Emerald Isle, founded on Lover's ballads
and Lever's romances, was completely realized.

"How haunting!" said she, in a hushed whisper. "What a pity to go any
further, and be disenchanted, perhaps!"

"I wish," said Mr. Dutton, "you would think you might go further and fare
worse in another case,"--which ambiguous speech, it must be supposed, was
not intended to be taken literally; for, though youthful susceptibility
and propinquity had given birth to a hasty passion, and he was savage
enough at the prospect of parting, to a young man dependent on an uncle
and residing chiefly at sea a penniless wife might have its
embarrassments.

Bluebell had glided down the companion again. The mails were landed, the
pilot came on board, and next morning they were steaming into the Mersey.
Many of the passengers had got letters, and were talking of their plans
and fussing about luggage.

"How refreshing it is to see some one without that business look!" cried
Mr. Dutton to Bluebell, who was leisurely reading in the saloon. "But
have you no goods or chattels, Miss Leigh? And ought not you to have a
letter with sailing orders?"

"I have two boxes somewhere in the hold. No, I didn't expect a letter, I
was to telegraph at Liverpool, and come right off. This is the address:--

"Mrs. Leighton,
"Leighton Court
"Calmshire."

"Why, that is my line!" said the sailor, mendaciously. "I can travel with
you as far as Calmshire."

"Can you really? How very strange! But I suppose England _is_ a small
place," said Bluebell, _naively_.

"Oh, extremely insignificant! I shall be able to see you safely to your
journey's end. So that's all settled. Now I will go and look if your
luggage is coming up, for