"What?" said Jason.
"Why, he has gone. Didn't you know, love?" said the old woman.
"How gone?" said Jason. "Dead?"
"Worse—disgraced—driven out of Iceland," said the old man.
Then an ugly smile crossed Jason's face. "It is the beginning," he thought.
"But the old mother is dead, is she not?" he said aloud.
"Your father's mother? Old Mother Orryson?" said the old woman.
"No such luck," the old man muttered. "Comes to service every morning, the old sinner."
"But there's another family living in her house," said Jason.
"Oh, that's because she's past her work, and the new Governor keeps her," said the old man. "No news of your father, though," he added, with a shrug, and then there was a silence for some minutes.