him by creeping into the worst calf’s skin that ever was made into a knapsack, I would do it there—said Trim —but that is nature.
⸺Nature is nature, said Jonathan .—And that is the reason, cried Susannah , I so much pity my mistress.—She will never get the better of it.—Now I pity the captain the most of anyone in the family, answered Trim .⸺Madam will get ease of heart in weeping,—and the Squire in talking about it,—but my poor master will keep it all in silence to himself,—I shall hear him sigh in his bed for a whole month together, as he did for lieutenant Le Fever .—An’ please your honour, do not sigh so piteously, I would say to him as I laid besides him. I cannot help it, Trim , my master would say,⸺’tis so melancholy an accident—I cannot get it off my heart.—Your honour fears not death yourself.—I hope, Trim , I fear nothing, he would say, but the doing a wrong thing.⸺Well, he would add, whatever betides, I will take care of Le Fever’s boy.—And with that, like a quieting draught, his honour would fall asleep.
I like to hear Trim’s stories about the captain, said Susannah .—He is a kindly-hearted gentleman, said Obadiah , as ever lived.—Aye, and as brave a one too, said the corporal, as ever stepped before a platoon.—There never was a better officer in the king’s army,—or a better man in God’s world; for he would march up to the mouth of a cannon, though he saw the lighted match at the very touch-hole,—and yet, for all that, he has a heart as soft as a child for other people.⸺He would not hurt a chicken.⸺I would sooner, quoth Jonathan , drive such a gentleman for seven pounds a year—than some for eight.—Thank thee, Jonathan! for thy twenty shillings,—as much, Jonathan , said the corporal, shaking him by the hand, as if thou hadst put the money into my own pocket.⸺I would serve him to the day of my death out of love. He is a friend and a brother to me,—and could I be sure my poor brother Tom was dead,—continued the corporal, taking out his handkerchief,—was I worth ten thousand pounds, I would leave every shilling of it to the captain.⸺ Trim could not refrain from tears at this testamentary