16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
in a ship, unless he is a sailor.
Yet I remember him in earlier commissions,
in much the same circumstances,
rejoicing in the distant whale, the stinkpot
petrel, his face aglow and his one
eye sparkling with satisfaction. He was
quite penniless then, apart from his
miserable pay; and at those times when
cause and effect seem childishly evident
I am inclined to blame his prosperity.
He now possesses, but has never enjoyed,
two livings and what might be
called a fair provision in prize-money:
from a worldly point of view he is a
much more considerable man than he
ever has been before; although this
makes no difference to his importance
aboard it will do so by land, and I think
it likely that he exaggerates the happiness
which ease and consequence may