"Is he not to be pitied?
Surely it is a cruel fate to have none to love in all the wide world.

Nothing can be more cruel!" Gueldmar surveyed her humorously.

"Hear her!" he said.

"She talks as if she knew all about such things; and if ever a child was ignorant of sorrow, surely it is my Thelma! Every flower and bird in the place loves her.

Yes; I have thought sometimes the very sea loves her.