nothing; though I stopped, unwilling to go nearer to Neb until my
companion had regained his composure. This he did, sufficiently to speak,
in the course of a minute or two.

"It's all like a dream-to me, Miles," Moses at length muttered--"more out
of natur' like, than setting up for a hermit."

"You'll soon get accustomed to the change, Marble; then everything will
seem in the ordinary way, and natural."

"To think of my being a son, and having a real, living mother!"

"You must have known that you had parents once, though you are fortunate
in finding one of them alive at your time of life."

"And she an honest woman! A mother the President of the United States, or
the first commodore in the navy, needn't be ashamed of!"

"All that is fortunate, certainly; especially the first."

"She's a bloody good-looking old woman in the bargain. I'll have her
dressed up and carry her down to town, the first opportunity."

"What would you give an old woman that trouble for? You'll think better of
these matters, in the long run."

"Better! Yes, I'll take her to Philadelphia, and perhaps to Baltimore.
There's the gardens, and the theatres, and the museums, and lots of things
that I dare say the dear old soul never laid eyes on."