Gloria

by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

What I, the child of rank and wealth,

Am I the wretch that wears this chain?

G. M. L.

The sky was gray, the wind high, and the sea rough, yet David and Gloria remained on deck. He had led her to a bench behind the wheel-house, and there they sat, partly sheltered from the blast.

As the old flagman had truly said, there were not many travelers by the steamboat at this inclement season of the year—only a few country tradesmen, picked up at different points along the shores of the bay, who were taking time by the forelock and going to the Northern cities to purchase their spring goods.

All these were total strangers to Gloria and David; and as they lounged or sauntered, talking politics or smoking pipes, to and fro from stem to stern, on the deck, they scarcely bestowed a glance upon the young pair, seated behind the wheel-house, who, indeed, kept themselves aloof from all their fellow-passengers, until the ringing of the tea-bell brought them all down together into the ill-lighted saloon.

Here Gloria found herself the only lady at the table, with a dozen or more men, officers and passengers all counted; but as the motion of the steamboat was now very rough, she took it for granted that all the other ladies who might be on board were confined to their berths by sea-sickness.

After tea the young couple returned to the deck, but found the weather too blustering for the girl; so they went again to the saloon, but found that the table had been cleared of the tea-service and the men had gathered about it in parties of four to play cards, smoke and drink; so finally they went to the companion-way leading below, and there David Lindsay bid Gloria good-night, for there was no admittance for him in the Ladies’ Cabin.

When she reached this sanctuary she found that she was the only woman on board the steamer, with the exception of the stewardess.

This latter came to proffer her services to the young lady. She was a wonderfully tall, black and spare specimen of the negro race. A striped gown and a high turban added to her unusual altitude.