Like a fine fruit with a worm at the core, a single thought gnawed her heart.

She lost both appetite and color.

The first time her godfather asked her what she felt, she replied:-- "I want to see the ocean." "It is difficult to take you to a sea-port in the depth of winter," answered the old man.
"Shall I really go ?" she said.
If the wind was high, Ursula was inwardly convulsed, certain, in spite of the learned assurances of the doctor and the abbe, that Savinien was being tossed about in a whirlwind.

Monsieur Bongrand made her happy for days with the gift of an engraving representing a midshipman in uniform.
She read the newspapers, imagining that they would give news of the cruiser on which her lover sailed.

She devoured Cooper's sea-tales and learned to use sea-terms.