ELIZABETH FINDS FRIENDS.
He who has suffered knows the pain,
That other sufferers bear;
And from the torn and bleeding heart,
Flows balm for every care.
The first day at sea was fair and uneventful, but on the second day a
curious episode occurred upon the deck.
An under-officer, young and with a frank, boyish face, came quietly, hat
in hand, to where Mrs. Sinclair, Sir Frederic and Stella were sitting,
and in a respectful manner requested permission to address the ladies in
behalf of a poor woman and her child who had shipped in the steerage.
The woman, he said, was refined in her appearance, and was very
seriously ill while her sufferings were necessarily aggravated by her
incommodious surroundings.
With a modest blush he went on to say that ever since he discovered her
wretched condition he had been scanning the faces of the passengers in
search of a kindly heart and had finally decided upon their party as the
one most liable to assist him in his humane undertaking.
She was being cared for, in a measure, by a kind hearted Mongolian, but
his sympathies were won, not so much by the woman as by the baby, who
seemed almost entirely neglected.
He had learned that the woman was a victim of intended murder, and the
Chinaman whose name was registered among the steerage lists as Sam Hop
Lee, had taken both woman and child and gone forth unaided and unasked,
in search of the murderer whose face he knew and who he had good reason
to believe, was now in New York.
The story seemed plausible, and the memory of their own bitter sorrows
fresh in their minds, made their hearts ache with sympathy in the poor
woman's behalf, still, quite naturally, the ladies hesitated before
taking upon themselves so great a responsibility.
But the young officer, with a shrewd knowledge of women's hearts, ran
forward, and as quickly returned with one of the "sweetest, cunningest
babies in the world."
At least, that was the verdict of both ladies on the very instant of the
little girl's appearance.
The baby settled the matter, as the young officer almost knew she would.
She looked into Stella's lovely face and smiled, but she opened her
little arms to Mrs. Sinclair and nestled her curly head in her motherly
arms and no coaxing or inducements could alter her decision.
Fortunately, a berth was secured for the invalid, but no one ever
guessed that it was the young officer's own stateroom that was so
promptly offered for her acceptance.
Sir Frederic made many attempts to gain more information regarding the
unfortunate woman and her child from Sam Hop Lee, but his limited
English so confused and muddled him that there was little satisfaction
to be gained.
The young officer succeeded better through a slight knowledge of the
Chinese tongue, but whether Sam Lee did not sufficiently understand or
whether he had some reason for remaining silent it was difficult to
determine.
However it was, nothing definite was learned through repeated
conversations with him, and he gradually slipped back to his position in
the steerage and the ladies saw no more of him during the voyage. The
woman was suffering, not only from an incisive cut in the side, just
over the lower rib, but also from an obstinate attack of pleurisy from
exposure and lack of care, so that conversation with her was, at the
time, impossible.
The little girl was sweet and affectionate and soon made friends with
all on deck, much to the satisfaction of the young officer who,
apparently, looked upon her as a sort of protégé.
Little did Stella and Mrs. Sinclair dream of the disclosures that time
was destined to reveal regarding this innocent child and her unhappy
young mother.
But before another day had passed, a story was brought to their
wondering ears that made them forget for a time the sorrows of others in
the extraordinary development of their own life tragedy.