Jess

Chapter 27

SILAS IS CONVINCED

At first Bessie was utterly prostrated by the blow that had fallen on

her, but as time went on she revived a little, for hers was an elastic

and a sanguine nature. Troubles sink into the souls of some like water

into a sponge, and weight them down almost to the grave. From others

they run off as the water does if poured upon marble, merely wetting the

surface.

Bessie belonged to neither of these classes, but was of a substance

between the two--a healthy, happy-hearted woman, full of beauty and

vigour, made to bloom in the sunshine, not to languish in the shadow

of some old grief. Women of her stamp do not die of broken hearts or

condemn themselves to life-long celibacy as a sacrifice to the shade of

the departed. If unfortunately No. 1 is removed, as a genera