"It is nothing," I answered, "unless it be that I have not yet
recovered from Black George's fist; it is nothing!" And so the
meal drew to an end, and though, feeling my thoughts base, I sat
with my head on my hand and my eyes upon the cloth, yet I knew
she watched me, and more than once I heard her sigh. A man who
acts on impulse may sometimes be laughed at for his mistakes, but
he will frequently attain to higher things, and be much better
loved by his fellows than the colder, more calculating logician
who rarely makes a blunder; and Simon Peter was a man of impulse.
Supper being over and done, Charmian must needs take my coat,
despite my protests, and fall to work upon its threadbare
shabbiness, mending a great rent in the sleeve. And, watching
her through the smoke of my pipe, noting the high mould of her
features, the proud poise of her head, the slender elegance of
her hands, I was struck sharply by her contrast to the rough,
bare walls that were my home, and the toil-worn, unlovely garment
beneath her fingers. As I looked, she seemed to be suddenly
removed from me--far above and beyond my reach.
"That is the fourth time, Peter."
"What, Charmian?"
"That is the fourth time you have sighed since you lighted your
pipe, and it is out, and you never noticed it!"
"Yes" said I, and laid the pipe upon the table and sighed again,
before I could stop myself. Charmian raised her head, and looked
at me with a laugh in her eyes.
"Oh, most philosophical, dreamy blacksmith! where be your
thoughts?"
"I was thinking how old and worn and disreputable my coat looked."
"Indeed, sir," said Charmian, holding it up and regarding it with
a little frown, "forsooth it is ancient, and hath seen better
days."
"Like its wearer!" said I, and sighed again.
"Hark to this ancient man!" she laughed, "this hoary-headed
blacksmith of ours, who sighs, and forever sighs; if it could
possibly be that he had met any one sufficiently worthy--I should
think that he had fallen--philosophically--in love; how think
you, Sir Knight of the Rueful Countenance?"
"I remember," said I, "that, among other things, you once called
me 'Superior Mr. Smith.'" Charmian laughed and nodded her head
at me.
"You had been describing to me some quite impossible, idealistic
creature, alone worthy of your regard, sir."