"grumbling" for want of tobacco, if I could help it.






CHAPTER IV.

THE COFFIN.





On the way back, my thoughts were still occupied with the woman I
had seen in the little shop. The old man-of-war's man was probably
the nobler being of the two; and if I had had to choose between
them, I should no doubt have chosen him. But I had not to choose
between them; I had only to think about them; and I thought a great
deal more about the one I could not understand than the one I could
understand. For Old Rogers wanted little help from me; whereas the
other was evidently a soul in pain, and therefore belonged to me in
peculiar right of my office; while the readiest way in which I could
justify to myself the possession of that office was to make it a
shepherding of the sheep. So I resolved to find out what I could
about her, as one having a right to know, that I might see whether I
could not help her. From herself it was evident that her secret, if
she had one, was not to be easily gained; but even the common
reports of the village would be some enlightenment to the darkness I