As the party returned, Dudley lingered a moment, alone, with his former
master. The face of the honest-meaning Ensign was charged with more than
its usual significance; and he even paused a little, after all were beyond
hearing, ere he could muster resolution to propose the subject that was so
evidently uppermost in his mind.
"Captain Content Heathcote," he at length commenced, "evil or good comes
not alone in this life. Thou hast found her that we sought with so much
pain and danger, but thou hast found with her more than a Christian
gentleman can desire. I am a man of humble station, but I may make bold to
know what should be the feelings of a father, whose child is restored,
replenished by such an over-bountiful gift."
"Speak plainer," said Content, firmly.
"Then I would say, that it may not be grateful to one who taketh his place
among the best in this Colony, to have an offspring with an Indian cross
of blood, and over whose birth no rite of Christian marriage hath been
said. Here is Abundance, a woman of exceeding usefulness in a
newly-settled region, hath made Reuben a gift of three noble boys this
very morning.
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