guished smile. _She_ had crossed the
ocean twice, and was a wiser, sadder woman for it. At eight she turned
in, and ten minutes later Amanda came aboard with a flock of gay
friends. But no temptations of the flesh could lure the wary spinster
from her den; for the night was rough and cold, and the steamer a Babel
of confusion.

'It's perfectly delightful! I wish you'd been there, Livy. We had
supper, and songs, and funny stories, and all sorts of larks. There are
quantities of nice people aboard, and we shall have a perfectly splendid
trip. I shall be up bright and early, put on my scarlet stockings, my
new boots, and pretty sea-suit, and go in for a jolly day,' said the
ardent Matilda, as she came skipping down at midnight and fell asleep
full of rosy visions of the joys of a

Life on the ocean wave.

'Deluded child!' sighed Lavinia, closing her dizzy eyes upon the swaying
garments on the wall, and feebly wishing she had hung herself along with
them.

In the gray dawn she was awakened by sounds of woe, and peering forth
beheld the festive Matilda with one red stocking on and one off, her
blonde locks wildly dishevelled, her face of a pale green, and her hands
clasping lemons, cologne, and salts, as she lay with her brow upon the
cool marble of the toilet-table.

'How do you like it, dear?' asked the unfeeling Lavinia.

'Oh, what is it? I feel as if I was dying. If somebody would only stop
the swing _one_ minute. Is it sea-sickness? It's awful, but it will do
me good. Oh, yes! I hope so. I've tried everything, and feel worse and
worse. Hold me! save me! Oh, I wish I hadn't come!'

'Shipmates ahoy! how are you, my loves?' and Amanda appeared, rosy,
calm, and gay, with her pea-jacket on, skirts close reefed, hat well to
windward, and everything taut and ship-shape; for she was a fine sailor,
and never missed a meal.

Wails greeted her, and faint inquiries as to the state of things in the
upper world.

'Blowing a gale; rain, hail, and snow,--very dirty weather; and we are
flying off the coast in fine style,' was the cheerful reply.

'Have we split any sails?' asked Lavinia, not daring to open her eyes.

'Dozens, I dare say. Shipping seas every five minutes. All the
passengers ill but me, and every prospect of a north-easter all the way
over,' continued the lively Amanda, lurching briskly about the passage
with her hands in her pockets.

Matilda dropped her lemons and her bottles to wring her hands,