and hope should feed each other.

This saved her from being a trouble to any one, or damping anybody's
cheerfulness, or diminishing the gaiety around her. She took a lively
interest in the affairs of other people, which a "blighted being"
declines to do; and their pleasures ministered to her own good cheer
without, or at any rate beyond, her knowledge. Therefore she was liked
by everybody, and beloved by all who had any heart for a brave and
pitiful story. Thus a sweet flower, half closed by the storm, continues
to breathe forth its sweetness.

However, there were times when even Faith was lost in sad remembrance,
and her bright young spirit became depressed by the hope deferred that
maketh sick the heart. As time grew longer, hope grew less; and even the
cheerful Admiral, well versed in perils of the deep, and acquainted with
many a wandering story, had made up his mind that Erle Twemlow was
dead, and would never more be heard of. The rector also, the young man's
father, could hold out no longer against that conclusion; and even the
mother, disdaining the mention, yet understood the meaning, of despair.
And so among those to whom the subject was the most interesting in the
world, it was now the strict rule to avoid it with the lips, though the
eyes were often filled with it.

Faith Darling at first scorned this hard law. "It does seem so unkind,"
she used to say, "that even his name should be interdicted, as if he had
disgraced himself. If he is dead, he has died with honour. None who ever
saw him can doubt that. But he is not dead. He will come back to us,
perhaps next week, perhaps to-morrow, perhaps even while we are afraid
to speak of him. If it is for my sake that you behave thus, I am not
quite so weak as to require it."

The peculiar circumstances of the case had not only baffled enquiry,
but from the very beginning precluded it. The man with the keenest eyes,
sharpest nose, biggest ears, and longest head, of all the many sneaks
who now conduct what they call "special enquiries," could have done
nothing with a case like this, because there was no beginning it. Even
now, in fair peace, and with large knowledge added, the matter would
not have been easy; but in war universal, and blank ignorance, there was
nothing to be done but to sit down and think. And the story invited a
good deal of thinking, because of its disappointing turn.

During the negotiations for peace in 1801, and before any articles were
signe