'Yes, Bryan.'
'And you knew my family--my father and mother?'
'Yes.'
'They are not alive?'
I could scarcely restrain an exclamation of surprise at such a question from the lips of a son concerning his parents. My mother's tone was soft and pitiful as she replied,
'They have been dead many years, Bryan. They died within a year of my marriage with your brother.'
'During the time you and my brother courted, and afterwards indeed, my name must have been occasionally mentioned.'
'It was, Bryan.'
'In what terms?'
He paused for a reply, but my mother held her tongue.