And on her stern there was her name painted white, the 'Fleur d'Epine,' of Brussels, as plain as name could be; and that was all we ever knew: what evil had struck her, or how they had perished, nobody ever told.

Only the coaster brought that bit of beam away, with the 'Fleur d'Epine' writ clear upon it.

But you see I never _know_ my man is dead.

Any day--who can say ?--any one of those ships may bring him aboard of her, and he may leap out on the wharf there, and come running up the stairs as he used to do, and cry, in his merry voice, 'Annemie, Annemie, here is more flax to spin, here is more hose to weave!' For that was always his homeward word; no matter whether he had had fair weather or foul, he always knotted the flax to his masthead.

So you see, dear, I could not leave here.