sat watching, silent, all.... And I felt bad, too, because of the maid
at Whooping Harbor--a rolling waste of rock, with the moonlight lying on
it, stretching from the whispering mystery of the sea to the greater
desolation beyond; and an uncomely maid, wishing, without hope, for that
which the hearts of women must ever desire....

"Ay," Tumm drawled, "it made me feel bad t' think o' what she'd been
wantin' all them years; an' then I wished I'd been kinder t' Liz....
An', 'Tumm,' thinks I, 'you went an' come ashore t' stop this here
thing; but you better let the skipper have his little joke, for t'will
on'y s'prise him, an' it won't do nobody else no hurt. Here's this
fool,' thinks I, 'wantin' a wife; an' he won't never have another
chance. An' here's this maid,' thinks I, 'wantin' a baby; an' _she_
won't never have another chance. 'Tis plain t' see,' thinks I, 'that God
A'mighty, who made un, crossed their courses; an' I 'low, ecod!' thinks
I, 'that 'twasn't a bad idea He had. If He's got to get out of it
somehow,' thinks I, 'why, _I_ don't know no better way. Tumm,' thinks I,
'you sheer off. Let Nature,' thinks I, 'have doo course an' be
glorified.' So I looks Liz in the eye--an' says nothin'.

"'Tumm,' says she, 'doth you think he--'

"'Don't you be scared o' nothin',' says I. 'He's a lad o' good
feelin's,' says I, 'an' he'll treat you the best he knows how. Is you
goin' t' take un?'

"'I wathn't thinkin' o' that,' says she. 'I wathn't thinkin' o' _not_. I
wath jutht,' says she, 'wonderin'.'

"'They isn't no sense in that, Liz,' says I. 'You just wait an' find