I saw him, as I was going away, standing in the door and looking out upon
the bay. I held out my hand to him, in passing. "I congratulate you, Mr.
Barlow," I said. Lovell put his hand to his mouth and coughed slightly
several times, as though he were striving to think of the polite thing to
say. Then he replied: "I--I--ahem! I wish you the same, Miss Hungerford,
_I_ do, certainly."
Lovell was not so pale as he had been, but looked very serious and
pensive with his eyes fixed on the mysterious depths of the ocean. Lovell
had propounded riddles to me, but never before had I caught such a
glimpse of the deeply philosophical workings of his mind.
"When you come to think of it, life--ahem--life is very uncertain, Miss
Hungerford."
I replied that it was very uncertain.
"And short, too, when you come to think of it. It's very short, too, Miss
Hungerford."
"Oh, yes," I answered, "very."
"Ahem! It was--it was dreadful sudden, somehow," said Lovell.
"I suppose so, Mr. Barlow," I replied gravely; "great and unexpected joys
are sometimes said to be as benumbing in their first effects as griefs
coming in the same way."
"_I_ think so," said Lovell.
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