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sisters were overjoyed to be together again, and Zipporah and her husband moved into an apartment right next door to Hepzibah’s.
    Now there were only two more whose turn was to come: first it would be Bena, and finally, when the money was saved, the youngest sister, Rebecca. Adam had already spoken to a cousin about Bena, how good she was, how capable, how pretty. This cousin had a good job as a foreman in a factory, and he seemed interested in an arranged marriage, although he insisted on meeting the bride first. That didn’t bother Adam. It was better that two people should be compatible. He wrote to his mother, explaining his plans for Bena, and enclosed the ticket for the boat. It would be good timing, for it was spring, and Lucy had finally given him his first son, a fine lively boy.
    Lucy seemed to have more and more trouble breathing. At first she had thought it was from carrying the child, who was a large one, but after the birth she was no better. One doctor said it was her lungs, another her heart. Neither seemed sure, but both agreed she should have rest and not have to care for her children until she was stronger. Bena could help with the baby, and in this family setting she could meet the young man who was intended for her, and he would be sure to be pleased. There was nothing like the sight of a pretty young woman with a child in her arms to inspire a man who was thinking of marrying; Adam knew that as well as anyone. He hadn’t seen Bena for a long time, but his mother wrote that she had grown up to be the prettiest girl in the family, and his mother was a wise and critical woman whom Adam trusted.

FIVE
    It was not a very long journey from their town to where the ships would leave, but long enough so that Papa couldn’t go with them because he would miss four days of work. Rebecca helped her Mama pack Bena’s things, while Bena hurried to finish the tiny stitches on the fine new woolen dress she would wear on the ship. It would do for the cool days at sea, and would not be too hot for the nights below in steerage, for the girls had heard frightening stories of how crowded it was.
    “Is it true people bring their goats with them?” Bena asked. She was not happy, and had not eaten anything for two days. She was nervous about the adventure. Becky envied her; if it were she who was going she would be singing with happiness.
    “Goats?” her Mama said. “Of course not. Who would bring a goat on the ship with people?”
    “Well, that’s what Fanny told me,” Bena said, looking near tears. “She said her brother wrote her that there were goats and chickens on the ship and it wasn’t fit for pigs.”
    “And how would Fanny’s brother know about a pig?” Mama said. That was her way, to talk sideways, always to get out of things. She often said that it was her brains that had made Adam become such a success in America.
    “You could bring your cat then!” Becky said. “Couldn’t she, Mama? It would be company for her and she wouldn’t get homesick.”
    “She will bring no cat,” Mama said.
    Becky knew that was true; there would hardly be enough room for the hamper of clothes and personal things Bena was bringing with her to America. It was hard to believe that once there she would never come back, and Papa and Mama would probably never see her again. In a few years, maybe sooner, Becky herself would be joining her, and then she would never see her parents again. She didn’t want to think about that. Mama and Papa could go to America if they wanted to, but they were too old and they didn’t want to. Her oldest brother Isaac had come back with a long face, saying the new land was no place for people of their age, and if he had not been able to adjust there then certainly their parents could not. Isaac the old bachelor lived with them, and helped Papa out in the store. Isaac and Papa liked to sit and read, and talk for hours about things which Becky couldn’t understand, like the philosophy of the