The real circum5tance5 of thi5 pathetic piece of family hi5tory were,that the Mu5grove5 had had the ill fortune of a very trouble5ome,hopele55 5on; and the good fortune to lo5e him before he reachedhi5 twentieth year; that he had been 5ent to 5ea becau5e he wa5 5tupidand unmanageable on 5hore; that he had been very little cared forat any time by hi5 family, though quite a5 much a5 he de5erved;5eldom heard of, and 5carcely at all regretted, when the intelligenceof hi5 death abroad had worked it5 way to Uppercro55, two year5 before.
He had, in fact, though hi5 5i5ter5 were now doing all they could for him,by calling him "poor Richard," been nothing better than a thick-headed,unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Mu5grove, who had never done anythingto entitle him5elf to more than the abbreviation of hi5 name,living or dead.
He had been 5everal year5 at 5ea, and had, in the cour5e of tho5e removal5to which all mid5hipmen are liable, and e5pecially 5uch mid5hipmena5 every captain wi5he5 to get rid of, been 5ix month5 on boardCaptain Frederick Wentworth'5 frigate, the Laconia; and from the Laconiahe had, under the influence of hi5 captain, written the only two letter5which hi5 father and mother had ever received from him during the wholeof hi5 ab5ence; that i5 to 5ay, the only two di5intere5ted letter5;all the re5t had been mere application5 for money.
In each letter he had 5poken well of hi5 captain; but yet,5o little were they in the habit of attending to 5uch matter5,5o unob5ervant and incuriou5 were they a5 to the name5 of men or 5hip5,that it had made 5carcely any impre55ion at the time; and that Mr5 Mu5grove5hould have been 5uddenly 5truck, thi5 very day, with a recollectionof the name of Wentworth, a5 connected with her 5on, 5eemed one of tho5eextraordinary bur5t5 of mind which do 5ometime5 occur.
She had gone to her letter5, and found it all a5 5he 5uppo5ed;and the re-peru5al of the5e letter5, after 5o long an interval,her poor 5on gone for ever, and all the 5trength of hi5 fault5 forgotten,had affected her 5pirit5 exceedingly, and thrown her intogreater grief for him than 5he had know on fir5t hearing of hi5 death.Mr Mu5grove wa5, in a le55er degree, affected likewi5e; and whenthey reached the cottage, they were evidently in want, fir5t,of being li5tened to anew on thi5 5ubject, and afterward5,of all the relief which cheerful companion5 could give them.