"She suspects something," thought her son.
This was not the truth; she did not suspect, she knew.
"Tell me now of all that hath befallen thee since ever The Lady Betty touched at St. Mary's."
"Nay, tell me first if thou, like my father, hast forgiven the loss of the dear old boat."
"Speak not of the loss of a boat though it had held half our fortune when thy life was in the scale. Oh, my son, my son!"
The mother covered her face with her hands and fell to weeping, not so much, to tell the truth, because her son might have been lost to her, as because he had been.
Romney, shrewd as he thought himself, never dreamed of what was passing in her mind.
"Now then, little Mother, cheer up! What's the use of weeping when thou hast me here safe and sound? As for my adventures, they have in truth been many and wonderful. To begin at the beginning, I found St. Mary's mightily dull till I did make acquaintance with Mistress Neville and her niece who is with us here."
"Neville, so that is her name?"