"Ah! but did the world seem like an empty husk? and did you want to sit down and cry your eyes out?"
This was much worse than the Admiral had anticipated. He must try to make her laugh.
"Well, ye see, I could only have cried one out, was it ever-so!"
"Then what did you do? How did you cure yourself?"
"Why, with a jorum of rum, to be sure!"
Marjolaine was disappointed. "Oh!—I can't do that!"
Sir Peter came closer. "What? Are you broken-hearted?"
Good heavens! What had she been saying? Had she given away her precious secret?
"Certainly not!" she answered, with flaming cheeks. "Of course not. It's nothing. Only somebody—somebody has broken their word."
"Look-a-that, now!" cried the Admiral, puzzled. "But I'll cure you! I'll tell you a story. Something funny. How I lost my eye—what?" He drew her down beside him on the seat under the elm. "Ye see, it was on board o' the Termagant—"