's true; I have always remarked that where the markets were good,
and fish especially abundant, people were less censorious. In small
localities, where one eats kid every day, the tendency to tear your
neighbor becomes irresistible. I 'm convinced that the bad tongue of
boarding-house people may be ascribed to the bad diet."

"Perfectly true, papa; and when you dine with us, you shall have no
excuse for malevolence. There," said she, throwing away the end of her
cigar, "I can't afford to light another one this evening, I have got
so few of those delicious Cubans. Oh dear," sighed she, "what a strange
destiny is mine! Whenever I enter the marriage state, it must always be
with a connection where there are no small vices, and _I_ fond of them!"

And so saying, she drew her shawl around her, and strolled lazily
towards the house, while the Captain, selecting another cheroot, sat
himself down in a snug spot in the arbor to muse, and meditate, and
moralize after his fashion. Had any one been there to mark him as he
gazed upwards at the starry sky, he might readily have deemed him one
lost in heavenly contemplation, deep in that speculative wisdom that
leaves the frontier of this narrow life far, far behind, and soars to
realms nobler, vaster, grander. But not so were his thoughts; they were
earthy of the earthiest, craft and subtlety crossed and recrossed them,
and in all their complex web not one chord was to be found which could
vibrate with an honest wish or a generous aspiration. There was not,
nevertheless, a ruddier complexion, a brighter eye, a merrier voice, or
a better digestion than his in Christendom.

CHAPTER XXXIX. FROM CLARA

It was just as Alfred Layton stepped into the boat to row out to the
"Asia," bound for New York, that a letter from Clara was placed in his
hands. He read it as they rowed along,--read it twice, thrice over. It
was a strange letter--at least, he thought so--from one so very young.
There was a tone of frankness almost sisterly, but there was, in
alluding to the happy past, a something of tenderness half shadowed
forth that thrilled strangely through his heart. How she seemed to love
those lessons he had once thought she felt to be mere tasks! How many
words he had uttered at random,--words of praise or blame, as it might
be; she had treasured all up, just as she had hoarded the flowers he
had given her. What a wondrous sensation it is to feel that a chance
expression we have used,