recollect--not of your life at your aunt's, but before that.'

'And then,' said the boy, 'in return you promise to tell me of my
parentage?'

'You shall know all.'

The boy paced the floor for a few moments. His figure was slender, but
lithe and active, of medium stature; and there was a restlessness about
his movements that told of a wild spirit within. His face was remarkably
handsome; features chiselled in a form that would have served a Grecian
sculptor for a model--and his long dark hair fell in glossy locks even
over his shoulders. He stood holding the back of a chair, and looking
more to seaward than at his companion, began:

'It was not in this country, I am sure, that I first recollect myself,
in a handsome house, but built different from these. There were
cocoa-nut trees growing near it; and other trees that do not grow here;
but I have seen something like them in the Earl's green house. There
were luscious fruits, but not English ones--oranges and bananas I am
sure. The people around us too were black. I remember I was frightened
when I came here first at seeing so many white people and no blacks.'

Walter regarded him steadily--but the young man's eye was seaward. He
seemed to see before him the scenes he was depicting.

'There was a piazza round the house, where I used to play, and a sweet
lady, very like poor Mary, but dark-haired, whom I used to call mother.'
There was powerful emotion depicted on the listener's face, but he said
nothing. 'I remember a handsome gentleman, but he was not there often.