Sentence:  It is the way of the world.  It is just as well Polly is faithless.  If it were otherwise, she would very likely break her heart for him.¶  And deep down in his muddled mind he knows that stately ship as the symbol of his first love, a love more cruel in her way than this poor <WSD>Blowsabella</WSD> of Paradise Street, a love whose gifts are hardship, and cold, and peril in great waters—yet to whom, while breath is in his body, he will continually return. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A promiscuous woman or prostitute.