They secluded themselves in their staterooms
during the greater part of the passage, and absolutely refused,
although I repeatedly urged them, to hold communication with any
person on board.
Mrs. Wyatt herself was far more agreeable. That is to say, she was
CHATTY; and to be chatty is no slight recommendation at sea. She
became EXCESSIVELY intimate with most of the ladies; and, to my
profound astonishment, evinced no equivocal disposition to coquet
with the men. She amused us all very much. I say "amused"--and
scarcely know how to explain myself. The truth is, I soon found
that Mrs. W. was far oftener laughed AT than WITH. The gentlemen
said little about her; but the ladies, in a little while,
pronounced her "a good-hearted thing, rather indifferent looking,
totally uneducated, and decidedly vulgar." The great wonder was,
how Wyatt had been entrapped into such a match. Wealth was the
general solution--but this I knew to be no solution at all; for
Wyatt had told me that she neither brought him a dollar nor had any
expectations from any source whatever. "He had married," he said,
"for love, and for love only; and his bride was far more than
worthy of his love.
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