cenes they passed
through, the wretched hovels, the half-clad people, the lean cattle,
and all the evidences of abject poverty, amid dreadful bogs under a
gloomy sky, got hold of her and weighed upon her spirits, until at
last she shrunk into her corner, pale and still, and sat with her eyes
closed, and great tears running slowly down her cheeks. These were her
last impressions of Ireland, and they afterwards coloured all her
recollections of the country and the people.

But the travellers came to a railway station at last, and left the
coach. There was a long crowded train just about to start; and Mrs.
Caldwell, dragging Beth after her by the hand, because she knew she
would stand still and stare about her the moment she let her go,
hurried from carriage to carriage, trying to find seats.

"I saw some," Beth said. "You've passed them."

Mrs. Caldwell turned, and, some distance back, found a carriage with
only two people in it, a gentleman whom Beth did not notice
particularly, and a lady, doubtless a bride, dressed in light
garments, and a white bonnet, very high in front, the space between
the forehead and the top being filled with roses. She sat upright in
the middle of the compartment, and looked superciliously at the weary,
worried widow, and her helpless children, in their shabby black, when
they stopped at the carriage door. It was her cold indifference that
impressed Beth. She could not understand why, seeing how worn they all
were and the fix they were in, she did not jump up instantly and open
the door, overjoyed to be able to help them. There were just four
seats in the carriage, but she never moved. Beth had looked up
confidently into her face, expecting sympathy and help, but was
repelled by a disdainful glance. It was Beth's first experience of the
wealthy world that does not care, and she never forgot it.

"That carriage is engaged," her mother exclaimed, and dragged her
impatiently away.

In the hotel in Dublin where they slept a night, they had the use of a
long narrow sitting-room, with one large window at the end, hung with
handsome, heavy, dark green curtains, quite new. The valance at the
top ended in a deep fringe of thick cords, and at the end of each cord
there was a bright ornamental thing made of wood covered with silks of
various colours. Beth had never seen anything so lovely, and on the
instant she determined to have one. They were high out of her reach;
but that was nothing if only sh