My darling knows nothing of death; I could not
tell her.'
'And those wrecks,' said Waring; 'how do you make them balance with
your scheme of expiation?'
The old man sat silent a moment; then he brought his hand down
violently on the table by his side. 'I will not have them brought up
in that way, I tell you I will not! Have I not explained that I was
desperate?' he said in an excited voice. 'What are one or two
miserable crews to the delicate life of my beautiful child? And the
men had their chances, too, in spite of my lure. Does not every storm
threaten them with deathly force? Wait until you are tempted, before
you judge me, boy. But shall I tell you the whole? Listen, then.
Those wrecks were the greatest sacrifices, the most bitter tasks of my
hard life, the nearest approach I have yet made to the expiation. Do
you suppose I wished to drown the men? Do you suppose I did not know
the greatness of the crime? Ah, I knew it only too well, and yet I
sailed out and did the deed! It was for her,--to keep her from
suffering; so I sacrificed myself unflinchingly. I would murder a
thousand men in cold blood, and bear the thousand additional
punishments without a murmur throughout a thousand ages of eternity,
to keep my darling safe and warm.
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