16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
They sat comfortably together – very old
friends and shipmates – sipping their port,
pushing the decanter to and fro. Dundas told
the servants to turn in, and presently he said,
'You have had a rough time of it, Jack: and so
I think has Maturin.'
'Yes, I have: pretty rough. And he has, too.
Then again we have both been away a terrible
long time, you know, with very little news, and
that adds to the ordinary battering of a distant
voyage: not that it was so ordinary on this occasion.
Tell me, how are things at home?'
'I was at Ashgrove last July, and they were all
blooming – Sophie in splendid looks – her
mother is living there with a friend, a Mrs Morris
– children very well indeed, and the girls so
pretty, modest and kind. Well, fairly modest,
and very kind. I did not see Diana, though her
horses do famously: she was in Ireland during
my short leave. But when I called I did see