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............