"Indeed! indeed I am rejoiced to hear you say so," was the earnest
reply, while the countenance of the fair creature by his side was
lighted up by tenderness and hope.

"You look pleased, Helen," he continued; "but supposing the gap in my
story, which is now filled up, had better for my own credit have
remained blank!"

"That cannot be--I feel that it cannot be," she said, almost eagerly.

"Supposing that it is now ascertained that the parents of the sailor
boy, whose story you have heard, deserted him because of necessity;
supposing they were poor, very humble, but not dishonest, would such
facts rob me of your continued kind feelings?"

"You know, Captain Ratlin, that you need not ask such a question," she
replied, as she looked into his face with her whole gentle soul open
through her eyes.

"You are too kind, too trusting in your confidence in me, Helen," he
said.

The only reply was from her downcast eyes, and a still warmer blush
which covered the delicate surface of her temples even, and glowed in
silent beauty upon her cheek.

"Helen," continued he by her side in tones of tenderness that were
momentarily becoming more and more gentle, more and more expressive of
the deepest feeling; "Helen, do you remember the days of your childhood,
at home, in far-off England, at home near Bramble Park?"