Not but that it's a plague, a horrible
plague!" went on Amyas, with a ludicrously doleful visage; "but so
are other things too, by the dozen; it's all in the day's work, as the
huntsman said when the lion ate him. One would never get through the
furze-croft if one stopped to pull out the prickles. The pig didn't
scramble out of the ditch by squeaking; and the less said the sooner
mended; nobody was sent into the world only to suck honey-pots. What
must be must, man is but dust; if you can't get crumb, you must fain
eat crust. So I'll go and join the army in Ireland, and get it out of
my head, for cannon balls fright away love as well as poverty does; and
that's all I've got to say." Wherewith Amyas sat down, and returned to
the beer; while Mrs. Leigh wept tears of joy.
"Amyas! Amyas!" said Frank; "you must not throw away the hopes of years,
and for me, too! Oh, how just was your parable! Ah! mother mine! to
what use is all my scholarship and my philosophy, when this dear simple
sailor-lad outdoes me at the first trial of courtesy!"
"My children, my children, which of you shall I love best? Which of you
is the more noble? I thanked God this morning for having given me one
such son; but to have found that I possess two!" And Mrs. Leigh laid her
head on the table, and buried her face in her hands, while the generous
battle went on.
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