Saturday at 9:40 A.M.
Her mother had died , and Christine still unmarried , controlled both her time and a goodly inheritance . She resolved to visit her sister Fredrika , whose husband was agent in New York of a famous German line of vessels . En route from Holland to New York she spent two weeks with friends in London , and on Regent Street replenished her wardrobe , enjoyed Irving and Terry in their latest play , attended an exciting Cambridge-Oxford boat-race on the Thames , and with a great crowd went wild with delight at the English races at Epsom Downs . Saturday at 9:40 A.M. at the Waterloo Station several friends saw Christine off for America on the special train , the Eagle Express , of the South Western Railway , which makes the journey of 79 miles to Southampton in one hour and forty minutes . At Southampton the passengers were transferred on the new express dock , direct from the train to the steamers , which are berthed alongside . By this route passengers escape exposure to weather on tenders and landing stage , and avoid all delays at ports of call , and waiting for the tides to cross the bar . Promptly at 12 o'clock , hawsers and gangways vanishing , the great steamer moved down the bay , the fertile Isle of Wight in sight .