n, wondering which of them is right;
and then there is nothing but the clouds and sea. Still, when it is
over, and I have cried about it, it does me a little good every time. I
seem to be nearer to Charley, as my heart falls quietly into the will of
the Lord."

"No doubt of it whatever. I can thoroughly understand it, although there
is not a bit of resignation in me. I felt that sort of thing, to some
extent, when I lost my angelic wife, ma'am, though naturally departed
to a sphere more suited for her. And I often seem to think that still
I hear her voice when a coal comes to table in a well-dish. Life, Mrs.
Carroway, is no joke to bandy back, but trouble to be shared. And none
share it fairly but the husband and the wife, ma'am."

"You make it very hard for me to get my words," she said, without
minding that her tears ran down, so long as she spoke clearly. "I am not
of the lofty sort, and understand no laws of things; though my husband
was remarkable for doing so. He took all the trouble of the taxes off,
though my part was to pay for them. And in every other way he was a
wonder, sir; not at all because now he is gone above. That would be my
last motive."

"He was a wonder, a genuine wonder," Mordacks replied, without irony.
"He did his duty, ma'am, with zeal and ardor; a shining example upon
very little pay. I fear that it was his integrity and zeal, truly
British character and striking sense of discipline, that have so sadly
brought him to--to the condition of an example."

"Yes, Mr. Mordacks, it was all that. He never could put up with a lazy
man, as anybody, to live, must have to do. He kept all his men, as I
used to do our children, to word of command, and no answer. Honest men
like it; but wicked men fly out. And all along we had a very wicked man
here."

"So I have heard from other good authority--a deceiver of women, a
skulk, a dog. I have met with many villains; and I am not hot. But
my tendency is to take that fellow by the throat with both hands, and
throttle him. Having thoroughly accomplished that, I should prepare to
sift the evidence. Unscientific, illogical, brutal, are such desires,
as you need not tell me. And yet, madam, they are manly. I hate slow
justice; I like it quick--quick, or none at all, I say, so long as it
is justice. Creeping justice is, to my mind, little better than slow
revenge. My opinions are not orthodox, but I hope they do not frighten
you."

"They do indeed, sir; or at le