"We will try to amend that for thee."
William seemed not to hear him, loudly as he spake and pointedly
unto the youngster, who wiped his eyes, crying, -
"Commit me, sir! in mercy commit me! Master Ephraim! Oh, Master
Ephraim! A guiltless man may feel all the pangs of the guilty! Is
it you who are to make out the commitment? Dispatch! dispatch. I
am a-weary of my life. If I dared to lie, I would plead guilty."
SIR THOMAS.
"Heyday! No wonder, Master Ephraim, thy entrails are moved and
wamble. Dost weep, lad? Nay, nay; thou bearest up bravely. Silas,
I now find, although the example come before me from humble life,
that what my mother said was true--'t was upon my father's demise--
'In great grief there are few tears.'"
Upon which did the youth, Willy Shakspeare, jog himself by the
memory, and repeat these short verses, not wide from the same
purport:
"There are, alas, some depths of woe
Too vast for tears to overflow."
SIR THOMAS.
"Let those who are sadly vexed in spirit mind that notion, whoever
indited it, and be men. I always was; but some little griefs have
pinched me woundily."
Master Silas grew impatient, for he had ridden hard that morning,
and had no cushion upon his seat, as Sir Thomas had.
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