I must go now,--
my steward is waiting for me at the victualling office. Just brush my
hat a little, Medea, the wind has raised the nap, and then I'll be off."

I walked very softly from the window; a new light had burst upon me.
Young as I was, I also could put that and that together. I called to
mind the conduct of my mother towards her husband Ben; the dislike of my
grandmother to Captain Delmar; the occasional conversations I had
overheard; the question of my mother checked before it was finished--"If
I knew who it was that I had been playing the trick to;" the visits my
mother received from Captain Delmar, who was so haughty and distant to
everybody; his promise to provide for me, and my mother's injunctions to
me to be obedient and look up to him as a father, and the remarks of the
coxswain, Bob Cross,--"If I were not of the Delmar breed:" all this,
added to what I had just overheard, satisfied me that they were not
wrong in their conjectures, and that I really was the son of the
honourable captain.

My mother had gone; I would have given worlds to have gained this
information before, that I might have questioned her, and obtained the
truth from her; but that was now impossible, and I felt convinced that
writing was of no use. I recollected the conversation between her and
the Captain, in which she promised to keep the secret, and the answer
she gave me when I questioned her; nothing, then, but my tears and
entreaties could have any effect, and those, I knew, were powerful over
her; neither would it be of any use to ask Aunt Milly, for she would not
tell her sister's secrets, so I resolved to say nothing about it for the
present; and I did not forget that Mr Culpepper had said that Captain
Delmar would be annoyed if it was supposed that I was his son; I
resolved, therefore, that I would not let him imagine that I knew
anything about it, or had any idea of it.

I remained more than an hour in deep thought, and it was strange what a
tumult there was in my young heart at this discovery. I hardly
comprehended the nature of my position, yet I felt pleased on the whole;
I felt as if I were of more importance; nay, that I was more capable of
thinking and acting than I was twenty-four hours before.

My reveries were, however, disturbed by Miss Medea, who came to the
back-door and asked me if I was not tired of walking, and if I would not
like to come in.

"Are you not hungry, Master Keene? Would you like to have