"And will you take the money for the little girl?"
"Yes, but I wish I could convince you that it would be better for you to go to Mr. Catt—"
"Not yet, not yet! I can't meet him yet. He mustn't know who I am yet. When I have righted the wrong, then I will come back; but for the present I would ask you to keep my secret and see that the little girl is sent to school. You will do this?"
"To the best of my ability."
They shook hands and out into the darkness the hermit went.
CHAPTER XIII
AUNT MARIA DECIDES THE QUESTION
"Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said: 'Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone;
Speak, Admiral, what shall I say?'
'Why say, sail on! and on!'
There goes another cup. I am always forgetting and letting my hands fly when I speak. Yes, Aunt Maria, I am coming."