Most of 'em, as you know, have stopped short; and
the few that are left are going further on. What matters that! More room
there for us, sir.'
'Oh, to be sure!' said Martin. 'But I was thinking--' and there he
paused.
'Yes, sir?' observed Mark.
'How odd it was that the people should have arranged to try their
fortune at a wretched hole like that, for instance, when there is such
a much better, and such a very different kind of place, near at hand, as
one may say.'
He spoke in a tone so very different from his usual confidence, and with
such an obvious dread of Mark's reply, that the good-natured fellow was
full of pity.
'Why, you know, sir,' said Mark, as gently as he could by any means
insinuate the observation, 'we must guard against being too sanguine.
There's no occasion for it, either, because we're determined to make the
best of everything, after we know the worst of it. Ain't we, sir?'
Martin looked at him, but answered not a word.
'Even Eden, you know, ain't all built,' said Mark.
'In the name of Heaven, man,' cried Martin angrily, 'don't talk of Eden
in the same breath with that place.
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