It must be remembered, however,
that I had not seen Lucy, now, for near two years; and two of the most
important years of a young female's life, as respected her personal
appearance.
As relates to character, I will not now speak as plainly as I shall be
called on to do, hereafter. A youth of twenty is not the best judge of
such things, and I shall leave events to tell their own story, in this
particular.
We had been at sea a fortnight, when happening to allude to the pearl
fishery, I bethought me of my own prizes. A ship that carries a
numerous crew, is a sort of _omnium gatherum_, of human
employments. For ordinarily manned craft, seamen are necessary; but
ships of war, privateers and letters-of-marque, can afford, as poor
Marble would express it, to generalize. We had several tradesmen in
the Crisis--mechanics, who found the restraints of a ship necessary
for their own good--and, among others, we happened to have a
goldsmith. This man had offered to perforate my pearls, and to string
them; an operation to which I consented. The fellow had performed his
task as well as could be desired, and supplying from his own stores a
pair of suitable clasps, had formed the whole into a simple, but as
beautiful a necklace, as I ever laid eyes on. He had put the largest
pearl of all directly in the centre, and then arranged the remainder,
by placing several of the smaller together separated by one of the
second size, until the whole formed a row that would much more than
encircle my own neck, and which, of course, would drop gracefully
round that of a female.
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