“Cap'n Whittaker,” she cried, “please don't waste time. I didn't come here to talk about the weather nor Emily's reason for not attending school. I don't care why she was absent. But I have just heard of what happened at that meeting. Is it true that—” She hesitated.
“That Emmie's dad is alive and here? Yes, it's true.”
“But—but that man last night? Was he THAT man?”
The captain nodded.
“That's the man,” he said briefly.
Miss Dawes shuddered.
“Cap'n Whittaker,” she asked earnestly, “are you sure he is really her father? Absolutely sure?”
“Sure and sartin.”
“Then she belongs to him, doesn't she? Legally, I mean?”
“Maybe so.”