urniture, the neat
table, the many comforts which it clearly astonished him to find on
this forsaken island. Also he as clearly approved of the food and of
my wine of Malmsey. Now and then he would steal a look at my wife
Beatrix, or at one or the other of my three daughters, and again gaze
out at the sea beyond the open window, as though trying to piece it
all together into one picture.

But it was not until the womenfolk had risen and retired that he
unlocked his thoughts to me. And I hold even now that his first
question was a curious one.

"Dom Bartholomew Perestrello, are you a happy man?"

Had it come from his own lips it might have found me better prepared:
but popped at me through the mouth of an interpreter, a servant who
(for all his face told) might have been handing it on a dish, his
question threw me out of my bearings.

"Well, Sir," I found myself answering, "I hope you see that I have
much to thank God for." And while this was being reported to him I
recalled with a twinge my dejected thoughts of the morning. "I have
made many mistakes," I began again.

But without seeming to hear, Master d'Arfet began to dictate to
Martin, who, after a polite pause to give me time to finish if I cared
to, translated in his turn.

"I have told you my name. It is Thomas d'Arfet, and I come from
Bristol. You have heard my name before?"

I nodded, keeping my eyes on his.

"I also have heard of you, and of the two captains in whose company
you discovered these islands."

I nodded again. "Their names," said I, "are John Gonsalvez Zarco
and Tristram Vaz. You may visit them, if you please, on the greater
island, which they govern between them."

He bent his head. "The fame of your discovery, Sir, reached England
some years ago. I heard at the time, and paid it just so much heed as
one does pay to the like news--just so much and no more. The _manner_
of your discovery of the greater island came to my ears less than a
twelvemonth ago, and then but in rumours and broken hints. Yet here
am I, close on my eightieth year, voyaging more than half across the
world to put those broken hints together and resolve my doubts.
Tell me"--he leaned forward over the table, peering eagerly into my
eyes--"there was a tale concerning the island--concerning a former
discovery--"

"Yes," said I, as he broke off, his eyes still searching mine, "there
was a tale concerning the island."

"Brought to you by a Spanish pilot, who had picke