When the inevitable hour approached that was to dethrone her she took
to reading the papers, and one day she read of a disastrous wreck, the
_Carbrea Castle_--only seven saved out of a crew of twenty-three. She
read the details carefully, and two days afterward she received a
letter written by a shipmate of Mr. Gosport's, in a handwriting not
very unlike her own, relating the sad wreck of the _Carbrea Castle,_
and the loss of several good sailors, James Gosport for one.
Then the house was filled with the wailing and weeping of the bereaved
widow; and at last came consolers and raised doubts; but then somebody
remembered to have seen the loss of that very ship in the paper. The
paper was found, and the fatal truth was at once established.
Upon this Mr. Bassett was weaned as quickly as possible, and the widow
clothed in black at Lady Bassett's expense, and everything in reason
done to pet her and console her.
But she cried bitterly, and said she would throw herself into the sea
and follow her husband.
Huntercombe was nowhere near the coast.
At last, however, she relented, and concluded to remain on earth as
dry-nurse to Mr. Bassett.
Sir Charles did not approve this: it seemed unreasonable to turn a
wet-nurse into a dry-nurse when that office was already occupied by a
person her senior and more experienced.
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