"and that would be much better than to, carry the bills, for we can sell the gold pieces in Liverpool to the brokers there, for nearly as much as they are worth."

"That will be the best thing that we can do," said Mrs. Morelle.

So Grimkie took the money and went to the bar of the hotel, and the barkeeper said he could change it into gold just as well as not. He accordingly gave Grimkie eight half-eagles, and Grimkie, after wrapping them up carefully in a paper by themselves, put them into the top of his money bag, with the rest of the coin, and then put the whole carefully away in his aunt's trunk.

The next morning, at half-past seven, a coach which Grimkie had ordered the night before, came to the private door of the Tremont House, in Tremont Place, and took the whole party in, with their luggage, and conveyed them to East Boston, where the steamer was lying.

As soon as they arrived upon the pier, they found themselves in the midst of a scene of great bustle and excitement.

Carriages were arriving in rapid succession, bringing passengers to the ship. Piles of trunks and carpet-bags were lying upon the pier, and a line of sailorlike-looking men were engaged in

taking them on board. As soon as Grimkie's baggage-for from this time he called it all his, since he had now the exclusive charge of it-was set down, Grimkie paid the fare, and the coachman, mounting upon the box, wheeled his carriage round, and drove away. Very soon one of the porters from the ship came and took up one of the trunks to carry it on board.

"Johnnie," said Grimkie, "you go with Aunt and Florence on board, after this man, and see where he puts this trunk, and then come back here. I'll stay in the meantime, and watch the rest."

So John led the way in following the porter over the plank, while his mother and Florence followed him. As soon as he got on board, he saw the porter put down the trunk in a sort of open space in the middle of the deck, with a great many others, and in a moment afterward several more were piled up upon it and around it, so that it rapidly disappeared from view.

John found a place near by where Mrs. Morelle could stand, a little out of the way of the crowd, and then immediately hastened back over the plank to where he had left Grimkie on the pier.

"Grimkie," said he, "they have covered our

trunk all up with fifty others, and I don't see how we shall ever get it again."

"Never mind," said Grimkie; "we'll wait and see how the other passengers get theirs."

Just at this moment some porters came and took up the two remaining trunks, and heaving them up upon their shoulders, began to walk with them on board. Grimkie and John followed, bringing with them the valise and several other similar things. When they arrived on board they saw the two trunks deposited with the other baggage, and where they soon began rapidly to disappear from view.

"Now," said Grimkie, "we will go down and put the valise in our state-room.”

The deck and all the passages leading below, were crowded with people going and coming. A large proportion of these people were friends of the passengers, who had come to accompany them on board, in order to see the ship and the state-rooms which their friends were to occupy. Grimkie led the way through this crowd, working forward slowly, as well as he could, and followed by the rest of his party. Indeed there were two lines of people moving in contrary directions, and Grimkie supposed that by following the one that was going on, he should sooner or later find his way below.

He was

He was right in this calculation. soon conducted to a door which led into a narrow but very elegant passage-way. In the middle of this passage-way was a door to the right, leading into a magnificent saloon, with a walk up and down the middle of it, and rows of long tables on each side. The aspect of this room was very brilliant, but Grimkie had only time to glance at it, for opposite to it, on the other side of the passage-way were three other openings, the center one opening into a most spacious and elegant china closet, and each of the two side ones leading down a flight of winding stairs, with very bright brass hand-rails on the sides to take hold of in descending.

On reaching the foot of the stair-case, the party entered a bewildering mass of passages and open spaces, all elegantly finished, with highly polished woods, and handsomely carpeted, and lighted moreover with strangely placed skylights and panes of glass placed in rows near the ceiling. Grimkie thought that he knew from the plan exactly where to look for his aunt's state-room, but he found himself completely bewildered and lost. There were various stateroom doors opening all around him. He went into one or two of them and looked at the num

bers inscribed upon the berths, but they were not the right ones.

At length he met a very respectable middle aged woman, who seemed to belong on board. She was in fact the stewardess. Grimkie asked her if she would show him state-room number twenty-three and twenty-four.

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"Ah yes," said she, with a great deal of pleasure. This is it. It is one of the three best state-rooms in the ship."

Grimkie stood back and allowed his aunt to go into the state-room first, and then the other children and finally he himself, followed.

The state-room was in size like what in a house on land would be called a large closet, being about seven feet wide and eight feet long. Across the end of it, and against the side of the ship, were two berths one above another, with pretty curtains before them, and a space underneath the lowermost berth, where trunks might be placed. Along one of the sides there extended a wide settee, covered with a hair-cloth cushion, and on the other side two wash-stands in the two corners, with a short and narrow seat, also covered with a haircloth cushion, between them. There was a looking-glass over the settee, and various little shelves, with ledges upon the outer edge of them, to prevent the things