This had happened to him once forty years ago, and his own
poor dead and gone mother had had a mass said for his soul. The
_Leopoldine_ was such a good boat,--next to new,--and her crew were
such able-bodied seamen.
Granny Moan stood by them shaking her head: the distress of her
granddaughter had almost given her back her own strength and reason.
She tidied up the place, glancing from time to time at the faded
portrait of Sylvestre, which hung upon the granite wall with its anchor
emblems and mourning-wreath of black bead-work. Ever since the sea had
robbed her of her own last offspring, she believed no longer in safe
returns; she only prayed through fear, bearing Heaven a grudge in the
bottom of her heart.
But Gaud listened eagerly to these consoling reasonings; her large
sunken eyes looked with deep tenderness out upon this old sire, who so
much resembled her beloved one; merely to have him near her was like a
hostage against death having taken the younger Gaos; and she felt
reassured, nearer to her Yann. Her tears fell softly and silently, and
she repeated again her passionate prayers to the Star of the Sea.
A delay out at those Islands to repair damages was a very likely event.
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