Then my reflections came. What a sin-cursed world this is, I thought. When there is so much sublime beauty in the heavens above us, and in the pure sea around us, and on land, so much in nature to charm the eye and delight the ear, yet one cannot go anywhere, even far away at sea, from the wretched abodes of mankind, without being afflicted with the knowledge of the filthy deeds of men. The earth may be cursed with briars and thorns, and man may have to toil and live by the sweat of his brow, but what is all this compared with the degrading sins of men? What a virtue is the chastity of brutes in comparison to the lusts of those who are said to have been created in the image of God? Blessed is the innocent, ignorant man who knoweth none of these things. Surely, it is folly to be wise when ignorance is bliss. Far better and happier for my heathen villagers to live, and toil, and die in their ignorant simplicity, than to have their souls scarred by the vices and knowledge of a corrupt world and of society. “And bitter shame hath spoiled the sweet world’s taste, That it yields nought but shame and bitterness.” As everything comes to an end some time, so did my voyage. The only regret of it was in parting from my American friend, for without him I would have been alone and my trip most monotonous. CHAPTER XXIX. I soon found Leadenhall street, and sure enough, the warmest kind of a letter, just as I had expected and was so sure of, bidding me come at once to her home in the country. Delays are dangerous, so I delayed not, and soon the object of my voyage was accomplished. If I were writing a novel, and wished to make it a two or three volumed one, I would enter into the details, but the story I can tell is so simple and well known that it is better to save time, as the captain saved his coal, by not using it. To be sure, after the first greetings were over, and the serious part of our business was settled, we told to each other the story of our lives since we parted. Mine I have related. She had objected to marriage, though she had had a number of offers, for her heart had been given away and had not returned. During our conversation she quoted these lines from some author, “A woman may marry this man or that man; her affections may shift and alter, but she never forgets the man she loved with all the wonder and idealism and devotion of a girl’s early love.”