The Company will never forgive him for deserting his
ship. His career is blighted, and all for one that never cared a straw
for him. Oh, Miss Fountain, it was an evil day for my poor brother
when first he saw your face!" Eve would have said more, for her heart
was burning with wrath and bitterness, but she was interrupted.
Lucy raised both her hands to Heaven, and then, bowing her head, wept
tenderly and humbly.
A woman's tears do not always affect another woman; but one reason is,
they are very often no sign of grief or of any worthy feeling. The
sex, accustomed to read the nicer shades of emotion, distinguishes
tears of pique, tears of disappointment, tears of spite, tears
various, from tears of grief. But Lucy's was a burst of regret so
sincere, of sorrow and pity so tender and innocent that it fell on
Eve's hot heart like the dew.
"Ah! well," she cried, "it was to be, it was to be; and I suppose I
oughtn't to blame you. But all he does for you tells against himself,
and that does seem hard. It isn't as if he and you were anything to
one another; then I shouldn't grudge it so much. He has lost his
character as a seaman."
"Oh dear!"
"He valued it a deal more than his life. He was always ready to throw
THAT away for you or anybody else. He has lost his standing in the
_service."_
"Oh!"
"You see he has no interest, like some of them; he only got on by
being better and cleverer than all the rest; so the Company won't
listen to any excuses from him, and, indeed, he is too proud to make
them.
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