"You have your
answer."
"Not quite yet, I fancy. Captain Barker, you told me you took this
lad from his dead mother. She was a Mistress Salt, I believe."
"Excuse me if I fail to see--"
"You will see in a moment. I am not wrong, perhaps, in supposing
that lady to have been the wife of Roderick Salt, sometime my comrade
in the Foot Guards. He married in Harwich, I remember; and in many
respects the resemblance which this lad bears to him is remarkable."
"There is no likeness in their characters, my lord."
"I daresay not; indeed, I hope not. But suppose now I inform you
that Roderick Salt is still alive--"
The Earl broke off and looked at the two captains narrowly.
"Did you know that?" he asked.
There was no answer.
"I seem to remember an expression which you, Captain Runacles, let
fall this afternoon. You told his Majesty that Tristram Salt owned
large estates. Is the boy's father aware of this?"
Again he paused for an answer, but none came.
"These estates are administered under trust, I presume. Who are the
legal trustees?"
"I am," Captain Jemmy replied, with a sudden effort.
"You alone?"
Captain Jemmy, after struggling for a moment with the wrath in his
throat, answered:
"I refuse to say.
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