It was not till the family landed at Bordeaux that they discovered the absence of Agamemnon.  Every day there had been some of the family unable to come on deck,—­sea-sick below.  Mrs. Peterkin never left her berth, and constantly sent messages to the others to follow her example, as she was afraid some one of them would be lost overboard.  Those who were on deck from time to time were always different ones, and the passage was remarkably quick; while, from the tossing of the ship, as they met rough weather, they were all too miserable to compare notes or count their numbers.  Elizabeth Eliza especially had been exhausted by the voyage.  She had not been many days seasick, but the incessant singing of the birds had deprived her of sleep.  Then the necessity of talking French had been a great tax upon her.  The other passengers were mostly French, and the rest of the family constantly appealed to her to interpret their wants, and explain them to the garcon once every day at dinner.  She felt as if she never wished to speak another word in French; and the necessity of being interpreter at the hotel at Bordeaux, on their arrival, seemed almost too much for her.  She had even forgotten to let her canary-birds fly when off shore in the Bay of Biscay, and they were still with her, singing incessantly, as if they were rejoicing over an approach to their native shores.  She thought now she must keep them till their return, which they were already planning.

The little boys, indeed, would like to have gone back on the return trip of the steamer.  A son of the steward told them that the return cargo consisted of dried fruits and raisins; that every stateroom, except those occupied with passengers, would be filled with boxes of raisins and jars of grapes; that these often broke open in the passage, giving a great opportunity for boys.

But the family held to their Egypt plan, and were cheered by making the acquaintance of an English party.  At the table d’hote Elizabeth Eliza by chance dropped her fork into her neighbor’s lap.  She apologized in French; her neighbor answered in the same language, which Elizabeth Eliza understood so well that she concluded she had at last met with a true Parisian, and ventured on more conversation, when suddenly they both found they were talking in English, and Elizabeth Eliza exclaimed, “I am so glad to meet an American,” at the moment that her companion was saying, “Then you are an Englishwoman!”

From this moment Elizabeth Eliza was at ease, and indeed both parties were mutually pleased.  Elizabeth Eliza’s new friend was one of a large party, and she was delighted to find that they too were planning a winter in Egypt.  They were waiting till a friend should have completed her “cure” at Pau, and the Peterkins were glad also to wait for the appearance of Agamemnon, who might arrive in the next steamer.