have told her whatever I had seen or heard, but my terror of the
Captain and the awful consequences of saying too much now flashed
upon me with hideous force. I had heard about the _Mary Jane_ from
the unhappy John. What if I had already said too much? I bent over
my breakfast in confusion.

After a dreadful pause, during which I felt, though I could not see,
the astonishment in my mother's eyes, she said--

"You don't quite know?"

"No; I think it must have been the _Mary Jane_, but there was a
strange sailor picked up. Uncle Loveday found him, and he seemed to
be a foreigner, and he said--I mean--I thought--it was the name,
but--"

This was worse and worse. Again at my wits' end, I tried to go on
with my breakfast. After awhile I looked up, and saw my mother
watching me with a look of mingled surprise and reproach.

"Was this sailor the only one saved?"

"No--that is, I mean--yes; they only found one."

I had never lied to my mother before, and almost broke down with the
effort. Words seemed to choke me, and her saddening eyes filled me
with torment.

"Jasper dear, what is the matter with you? Why are you so strange?"