"But he is a genius!" cried I, enthusiastically.
"A great, a splendid genius!" said my friend, quietly.
"And a fisherman?"
"Yes, and shoemaker."
"What a magnificent career he might make! Why don't you help him? What a pity to bury such a man in fish-boots and cod-livers!"
"My dear——," said Captain Eastwick, "you are a goose. The highest genius lives above the littleness of making a career. This man needs no Academy prizes or praises. To my mind, his is the noblest, happiest life of all."
Whereupon he told me the story which I have endeavored to relate.
* * * * *
MAGDALENA.
I would have killed you, if a breath
Freighted with some insensate death,
Magdalena,