Two weeks before the ship in which Edward Marvel sailed reached her
destination, Agnes was in New York. Before her departure, she had
sought, but in vain, to discover the name of the vessel in which her
husband had embarked. On arriving in the New World, she was
therefore uncertain whether he had preceded her in a steamer, or was
still lingering on the way.
The friends to whom Agnes brought letters received her with great
kindness, and gave her all the advice and assistance needed under
the circumstances. But two weeks went by without a word of
intelligence on the one subject that absorbed all her thoughts.
Sadly was her health beginning to suffer. Sunken eyes and pale
cheeks attested the weight of suffering that was on her.
One day it was announced that a Liverpool packet had arrived with
the ship fever on board, and that several of the passengers had been
removed to the hospital.
A thrill of fear went through the heart of the anxious wife. It was
soon ascertained that Marvel had been a passenger on board of this
vessel; but, from some cause, nothing in regard to him beyond this
fact could she learn. Against all persuasion, she started for the
hospital, her heart oppressed with a fearful presentiment that he
was either dead or struggling in the grasp of a fatal malady.
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