"But what brought you here, man, to offer your services?" said Charlton;--"most ungallantly leaving so many pairs of bright eyes to shine upon your absence."
"Mr. Thorn will not find himself in darkness here, Capt. Rossitur," said Mrs. Decatur.
"It's my opinion he ought, ma'am," said Charlton.
"It is my opinion every man ought, who makes his dependance on gleams of sunshine," said Mr. Thorn rather cynically. "I cannot say I was thinking of brightness before or behind me."
"I should think not," said Charlton;--"you don't look as if you had seen any in a good while."
"A light goes out every now and then," said Thorn, "and it takes one's eyes some time to get accustomed to it. What a singular world we live in, Mrs. Decatur!"
"That is so new an idea," said the lady laughing, "that I must request an explanation."
"What new experience of its singularity has your wisdom made?" sid his friend. "I thought you and the world knew each other's faces pretty well before."
"Then you have not heard the news?"
"What news?"