'
"'And if the devil sent him back to curse you anew--'
"'Shame, Richard! I would say, God, who layeth out for each his way, has
pointed mine.'
"'And I?'
"'Thee would continue in goodness, loving me as a sister hardly tried.'
"'By God! I should go away to sea.'
"'Richard!'
"Which is the last word of this scene," added Schmidt. "You mayhap have
about you punk and flint and steel."
I struck alight in silence, feeling moved by the story of the hurt
hearts of these good people, and wondering at the man and his tale. Then
I said, "Was that all?"
"Could you, if not a boy, ask me to say more of it? Light thy pipe and
hold thy peace. Happy those who think not of women. I, who have for a
hearth-side only the fire of an honest pipe--'Way there, my lad! pull us
in and forget what a loose tongue and a soft summer night have given
thee to hear from a silly old German who is grown weak of head and sore
at soul. How the lights twinkle!"
Had I felt any doubt at all of the truth of his narration I should have
ceased to do so when for the next few days I watched Mr. Wholesome, and
saw him, while off his guard, looking at Mistress White askance with a
certain wistful sadness, as of a great honest dog somehow hurt and
stricken.
When an India ship came in, the great casks of madeira, southside, grape
juice, bual and what not were rolled away into the deep cellars of the
India houses on the wharves, and left to purge their vinous consciences
of such perilous stuff as was shaken up from their depths during the
long homeward voyage.
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