DIARY OF A PILGRIMAGE.
23
She says she shall stop till I come back, as she wants to see me again before she goes. I told her I might not be back for a month. She said it didn't matter; she had plenty of time, and would wait for me.
The family entreat me to hurry home.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Diary_of_a_Pilgrimage_-_Jerome_%281891%29_-_025.jpg/400px-Diary_of_a_Pilgrimage_-_Jerome_%281891%29_-_025.jpg)
I ate a very fair dinner—"laid in a good stock of ballast," as my seafaring friend would have said; wished "Good-bye!" to everybody, and kissed Aunt Emma; promised to take care of myself—a promise which, please Heaven, I will faithfully keep, cost me what it may—hailed a cab and started.