I'll not
complain of Sawney, who was kind enough to me as a shipwrecked
mariner; for that was the character I sailed under, hermits being no
way fashionable among us Protestants, though it's very different among
them Catholic chaps, I can tell you. I happened to mention to a
landlady on the road, that I was a sort of a hermit on his travels;
when I thought the poor woman would have gone down on her knees and
worshipped me."
Here then was the history of Moses Marble, and the end of the colony
of Marble Land, pigs and poultry excepted. It was now my turn to be
examined. I had to answer fifty curious inquiries, some of which I
found sufficiently embarrassing. When, in answer to his
interrogatories, Marble learned that the Major and Miss Merton had
actually been left at Clawbonny, I saw the ex-mate wink at Talcott,
who smiled in reply. Then, where was Rupert, and how came on the law?
The farm and mills were not forgotten; and, as for Neb, he was
actually ordered up into the top, in order that there might be another
shake of the hand, and that he might answer for himself. In a word,
nothing could be more apparent than the delight of Marble at finding
himself among us once more. I believed even then, that the man really
loved me; and the reader will remember how long we had sailed
together, and how much we had seen in company.
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