The sailor nodded, flicking his ears, setting the shiny golden hoops attached to them dangling to and fro. "And my wife adultered against me before then. It's a lonely life, being a sailor and being a sailor's wife. But we are none of us without our flaws. I promised to love Honoria's mother for better or for worse; I still love her now as I did when we first wed. Forgiveness is an essential virtue if one wants to live happily. Honoria has always had trouble with that as well."