With a sympathetic shudder the little woman replied, "The shark was doubly cruel—who could—who could take out of the world so—so fine a young man!"
"Ah! I wish he had!"
"Wish he had?"
"Yes,—his teeth wouldn't have been half so sharp as the teeth biting away at my heart now!"
"Dear!"
"Have you ever had a lover?"
Here the little woman laughed outright. A lover! She could have honestly answered, "Yes," if the handsome sailor had asked her if she had had several score. A lover, indeed!
"Ah! well, suppose you only had one, when you were a poor girl, and he left you, what then?"
"Oh, I'd kill him first, and cry myself dead afterwards."
"Well, my sweetheart has gone from me."