SHIANA
105
Kate.—How well the Yellow Pensioner married when he was married already.
Abbie.—The rascal! Remember what happened to him, though.
Sheila.—What happened to him, Abbie?
Kate.—The thing he deserved, Sheila. He was transported.
Abbie.—I heard he was very near being hanged.
Kate.—Yes, because it was said that he was married three times, and that he had killed the first wife, but he was not convicted of it.
Sheila.—Why, he couldn't be married three times and the three wives be living.
Abbie.—Couldn't he pretend to each of them that he was married to nobody but herself?
Sheila.—Oh, the thief! Wouldn't it be a great wrong and a great lie for him to do such a thing?
Abbie.—I dare say such a man as he would think little of telling a great lie, and he would think lightly of doing a heavy wrong.
Kate.—It's no great harm that he's gone over the water.
Abbie.—No; and it's no great harm that he left very few of his sort behind him.
Sheila.—But listen, Peg; I wonder what power there was in that jewel that the barefooted woman gave to Shiana, so that the great grief left him so suddenly. What a pity that everybody who is in trouble has not one like it.
Peg.—So far as I understand the thing, Sheila dear, I think there are a great many people who do possess that jewel, and that it does soften and soothe grief for them.
