The Lieutenant enters, and with extended hands approaches his father.
My dear father! How do you do?
How do I do? What do you care how I do? It seems that I am the last one you think of. I learn sir, that you passed by me—that you called on Lord Wallace—my most inveterate enemy!
You are mistaken, father, he is not your enemy.
Zounds! boy! You must be drunk or crazy! You would make me believe that he is my friend?
Such is the case, father. He wishes to bury the past. He desires a reconciliation between the families of Powers and Wallace. He wishes, before he closes his eyes in death, to forgive and be forgiven.
That shows that he is a craven coward. Scared at the prospect of hell, of which he had a slight view this morning while under water. That is the cause of this sudden repentance, and will last as long as his clothes are wet. No longer, boy—no longer. Have you no other reason why you believe this repentance genuine?
I have, father, the best of reasons why I believe him sincere. Remorse, on the one hand, and the hope of reward on the other, are the causes that lead him to seek this reconciliation. Remorse for driving his children from his home—Reward in receiving them back.
Receiving who back? exclaimed the Admiral, attempting to rise from his chair.