The next three days were miserable. On the first day I was sick, I managed not to vomit. The two days after that, I was not as lucky. Vivian stayed by my side almost the entire time and had her maid running around, fetching me more water and re-soaking washcloths to lay on my head. She left only to deal with her own matters and to order meals for the two of us. I could see her growing slightly green herself every time I reached for the bucket next to my bed, yet she merely turned away and then handed me a glass of water when I was finished. I was incredibly grateful to her for attending to me.

By the fourth day I was feeling much better and was even up and walking around the room. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I realized that my stomach was staying in place. But then, on the fifth turn about the room, the ship lurched slightly and back to the bucket I went.

On the fifth day, however, I felt that I had mastered the rocking of the ship well enough to risk a trip to the dining hall for dinner. We went slowly and the waiter found us a table immediately because it was only the two of us. Vivian seemed to be quite the accomplished nurse while she had cared for me the past four days. This evening was no different as she proceeded to caution me against the lamb that I wanted to order, and instead steered me toward a light chicken broth.

I glared at her accordingly, for I was not in the mood for more chicken broth. It was the only thing I had been allowed to eat the entire time. I felt that I would surely become sick again if I had to settle for chicken broth one more time, and I made my feelings quite clear to Vivian. The poor waiter stood there, waiting for my order as we bickered. We eventually settled on a truce: I would force down the broth, but I would also have actual chicken to go with it, as well as a helping of mashed potatoes. Satisfied, I sat back and enjoyed my meal.

That evening, Vivian was finally able to retire to her own bed in her own room, and I knew that she was happy to be rid of me for the night. I sat in my bed reading for the first time in what felt like forever. It was one of the several books that Darcy had given to me and I felt almost honored to be allowed to read it. Darcy had finally admitted, before we parted ways, that it had belonged to his sister, Georgiana. As I read it, I realized that she had had very good taste. It was a book of fiction, but it was by no means scandalous and was very well-written. I relished reading it, for it was the first time I could sit and read quietly without any interruptions.

But as I read, I realized that I rather missed those distractions. Georgie crying from her crib or Darcy walking in and tending to the fire. Everytime Darcy wandered in, he would sit and we would begin talking. I set the book aside and leaned my head back against the wall behind the bed. My heart felt heavy as I remembered, once again, that it would surely be months before I would see either of them again. And with this rather depressing thought, I blew out the lamp next to my bed.

After I officially acquired my "sea legs," as the crew referred to them, the trip became much more pleasant. I didn't even bother trying to make friends with any of the passengers, and neither did Vivian. We shared many tastes and opinions, ranging from clothing to politics and social classes to literature. I found her to be well educated and a good conversationalist, and we got along fabulously. We did bicker over some things, but they were lighter topics and easily resolved. Vivian was much more practical than I was, and even though she wasn't keen on marrying someone twice her age, the idea of marriage for convenience was not sickening to her. As she put it, any marriage was better than becoming an old spinster. I looked her right in the eye and told her that becoming a spinster was much more agreeable than marrying someone you didn't love. As soon as the words left my mouth, I froze as I realized that I was married,and that Darcy and I were most definitely not in love when we got married.

Vivian must have seen something in my eye because she gave me a look that told me that she knew I wasn't telling her everything. I flushed slightly and stared at my lap.

"You said before that you were recently married and that your family wouldn't approve. Would you care to tell me anymore about that?" Vivian hedged, trying to weasel an answer from me.

I looked at her for a long time, and then sighed in defeat. I proceeded to tell her... most of the story. I omitted some parts obviously, such as why Darcy was in America in the first place. And I didn't tell her about Georgie at all. Because I left these details out, it left several holes in my story. I also refrained from mentioning Darcy's name, as well as many of the details of my life as a servant. In fact, I brushed over everything that had happened previous to my living with Darcy. I think that my telling her as much as I did only served to make her even more curious. But thankfully, she took what I offered and didn't ask for any more details.

I was relieved, however, with what she did comment on: "So that explains why you always wear the same two dresses! Do you have any other dresses?"

"No," I said simply, for the repetitiveness of my outfits had not bothered me before. But now that Vivan pointed it out, I realized that people would probably begin to notice sooner or later.

"Well then! We are about the same size, you shall wear some of my dresses." Vivian's tone was matter-of-fact, and clearly stated that I was not to argue. I opened my mouth anyway, but she shot me a stern look and then proceeded to pull several dresses out of her closet for me to try on.

By the twelfth day, things were getting quite boring. Vivian and I spent our days walking about the boat deck, walking to the dining hall and walking from the dining hall. Conversation came easily, but after being trapped on that ship for twelve days, everyone's mood and attitude began to simmer. Even Vivian, who was usually very easy going, began to snip.

I found myself wanting to throw myself off of the boat deck if I had to walk around it one more time. And it was obvious from the irritated looks of the rest of the passengers that we were not alone in our "cabin fever". The worst part if it was was that we had nearly ten more days of this to endure.

It was a miserable feeling, being trapped on that boat. Finally, I could stand it no more. I marched determinedly to Vivian's room and knocked on her door. Her maid answered and said that Vivian was lying down with a headache. I pushed past her anyway and stood at the foot of Vivian's bed. She took the cloth off of her eyes and glared up at me.

"I have a headache, and if you make me walk around that wretched boat deck again, I will throw you to the sharks," she said irritably, and then fell back on her pillow with a huff.

"I propose an adventure," I announced dramatically. "I propose, that we not walk around that deck again, but instead go everywhere else. Especially where we do not belong."

Vivian once again removed the cloth from her eyes and sat up, and I could see the hopeful curiosity in her eyes, "Where exactly would we go?" she asked.

"Belowdecks!" I said with a flourish, and then plopped down on the bed next to her, pulling my legs up like an excited school girl. "Everywhere that it is not suitable or proper or advisable for first class young ladies to go, we will go!"

I had her full attention now, "Could we go down to steerage? And... and, the boiler rooms! This is a steam ship after all. And perhaps even the kitchens or the servants quarters, the cargo room."

"Exactly," I said, getting very excited about the idea now, "Everywhere we aren't supposed to go!"

"But what will we wear?" Vivian asked, "We surely can't just go down there dressed the way we usually are. People would notice."

"Do not fret," I assured her, "I have a solution." I then opened the bag that I had brought with me and pulled out the two dresses that I made for myself when I had first come to live with Darcy.

"You have provided the first class clothing, and now I will provide the third class." I handed her one of the dresses.

She gave a happy laugh and immediately bounced up and darted behind her changing screen. She emerged wearing the dress and I had to admit that it possibly fit her better than it had ever fit me.

"I love it!" she cried, "It feels so light and stretchy, and I can move! Loosen the stays of my corset, will you please?" she asked and turned around so I could do so.

After we were both dressed, and our hair was piled up in plain buns, we were ready to go. Shoes were a bit more difficult though, for I only had one old pair. Vivian decided to just settle for a worn out pair of slippers, and we were off.

We had to slip through the first-class halls quickly so no one would recognize us, and we made it safely to the stairs that led down, below the decks. We followed them, giggling madly with every step. We decided to just wander around, figuring that we had all day and if we got lost we would eventually find our way back up, for even though the ship was of good size, it was still just a ship.

We quickly realized that we were in the second class halls, and deemed them not exciting enough. So down the stairs we went again, and this time were satisfied to find ourselves in the steerage halls.

We went all over the ship that day, up and down stairs, down hallways, around corners, and through doors. Vivian squealed and shrieked when we encountered a rat, and I merely rolled my eyes and pulled her scared stiff body in the direction we were trying to achieve. We managed to get through the entire steerage area, which was nothing but long corridors filled with doors and people. I felt the different atmosphere almost immediately though. These people were not wrapped up in every little scandal, nor did they have their noses in everyone else's business. People were much calmer, and they even smiled at one another, and at us as we passed. I found myself relaxing and noticed that Vivian was, too.

One person stood out from the others though. He was young, handsome, and a crewmember. I don't think that anyone missed the glances that he and Vivian were sharing. She would look at him and then flush and quickly look away. He looked smitten, and simply stared at her before his friend, another crewmember, punched his arm.

I smiled to myself, and grabbed Vivian's arm, "You don't have time to flirt, now come on!" I whispered to her, and was satisfied when she turned beet-red.

We eventually managed to find the cargo bay. But, at the same time, we found a clock and realized that it was growing late. As we were attempting to find the stairs, we realized that we were lost. Instead of it being frightening, though, it just made the whole adventure even more exciting. We found them eventually, after walking down endless hallways and turning about a hundred times, and scrambled up them.

Once again, we ducked and darted through the halls to get back to our rooms, but were not so successful this time. It was dinner time and I realized stupidly that if we had just waited five more minutes, we would have avoiding the entire dinner rush! We were forced into a small closet to avoid being seen by the masses, and waited until everything quieted down before walking calmly back to Vivian's room.

Once there, we both collapsed on the bed in laughter. We lay there laughing, giggling, and eventually sobbing for what felt like forever, and it felt wonderful. Vivian's maid didn't even try to hide her look of amusement as she watched us.

The next day, we continued with our adventures. This time we thoroughly explored the cargo bay. It was huge, with luggage and boxes piled up in every corner. We had great fun as we read every label we could, and even played a very childish game of hide-and-go-seek among the boxes But like all things, this eventually grew boring and we set off again. We finally discovered the door that led even farther down, to the boiler room. This door was locked, however, and a crewman came along and shooed us away.

As we were wandering down random hallways, we realized that the boat was rocking much more than it had before. Curious, we followed the stairs all the way the lower class boat deck, and discovered what was happening. A massive gale had come up and it was bringing with it the meanest looking storm clouds I had ever seen. The waves were growing higher by the minute and it was quite clear that we were in for a storm.

We hurried back to Vivian's room, and changed out of my dresses and back into some of Vivian's simpler frocks. There was a knock on the door, and Vivian's maid answered. The steward told her that a storm was blowing in and that we needed to close all drawers and closet doors, and that it would be a good idea to place anything breakable in a safe place so it wouldn't roll around. He then moved on to the next door and we could hear him repeating the same message. The three of us hastily scrambled around to follow his directions, and then Vivian and I hurried to my room to do the same there.

We stood there in my room for some time before curiosity got the best of us. We opened the door and walked down the hall, up the stairs, and onto the deck. It was ferocious. The clouds were not directly overhead, but the wind was terrible and the waves seemed to be twice as large as they had been before. It was not raining yet but the dark thunderheads seemed almost bursting, so we knew it wouldn't be long.

We ran to the rail as the ship rocked and dipped with waves. There were a few other people out, but most everyone was in the safety of their cabins. Crewmen were running all over the deck, making sure everything was tied down.

The wind whipped at our skirts and I felt myself gripping the rail tightly. Vivian turned to me. "Let's go back inside!" she yelled.

I nodded in agreement, and we turned to go back in when suddenly, we heard a roaring behind us. We turned around and saw a massive wave curling up toward the boat. I screamed as it hit, spilling water over the deck and knocking everyone off their feet. The ship lurched, and for a few horrible seconds, seemed as though it was about to capsize. Everyone froze, terrified, but then it righted itself.

The clouds then opened and dumped great torrents of rain upon us. This, combined with the wind and the waves, made it almost impossible to see. I began looking around frantically for Vivian and felt someone touch my hand. I whirled around to see her. She grabbed my arm and we ran to the center of the deck, to a bench that was nailed down. We huddled on the bench, afraid that we would soon be washed right into the water.

The storm raged around us and I became aware of one of the crewmembers hanging on to the same bench. I looked at him, and he at me, and then I suddenly realized where I knew him from. He was the crewmember who had had Vivian in a blushing mess the other day. I could see recognition in his eyes. He leaned around to look at Vivian and then he seemed to grow angry.

"What on earth are the two of you doing up here in this storm?" he yelled at us, and I could hear him clearly, despite the wind.

"It was an accident," I shouted back, "We didn't mean to get stuck here."

Another wave swept over the deck and over us, and I almost lost my grip on the slippery bench. He noticed and scooted over. Before I could comprehend what he was doing, he had wrapped his long arms around the both of us and was holding us to the bench.

Under normal circumstances, we probably would have fought him, but as the wind threatened to blow us into the water, we hung on to both him and the bench for our lives.

After what seemed like forever, the waves grew smaller and the rain lighter. We could finally see again. The young man let go of us and leaned back.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Vivian was shaking like a leaf and I realized just how icy the ocean water had been.

"No," Vivian sputtered.

"Let me escort you back to your room," the man said, "I'm Albert, by the way."

"Lizzy," I replied, "And this is Vivian."

"Pleased to meet you," Albert said with a smile, even under the circumstances.

He then stood and helped Vivian to her feet. She leaned heavily on him as he led us across the deck and back into our hall. I'm fairly sure Vivian would have been blushing again if she weren't so cold.

I told him my room number, because it was closest, and he escorted us all the way there. The farther we walked, the colder I became. Wonderful, I thought to myself, now I'm probably going to get sick again.

As soon as we were safely in our room, and I had thanked Albert, I turned and began to peel my sopping dress off. Vivian did the same and we wrapped ourselves in every blanket and towel we could find, shaking uncontrollably.

As we slowly began to warm back up, the events of the day crashed over me. I realized that we could have very easily been swept overboard up there, and almost had been! Exhausted suddenly, I slumped over onto the floor and my cocoon of blankets, and drifted off to sleep.

Hi, everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, things have been pretty hectic. But now it's break and I have time to update! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
From Edelmira and myself: Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American readers!