"I thought I had found her," he said, very simply, "my poor young wife that once was; it was she that I lost so long ago, and did such wrong by."
Jason's throat was choking him, but he stammered out, "Lie still, sir, lie still and rest."
But Stephen Orry talked on in the same simple way: "Ah, how silly I am! I forgot you didn't know."
"Lie still and rest," said Jason again.
"There was someone with her, too. I thought I was her son—her child and mine, that was to come when I left her. And, only think, I looked again, and it seemed to be you. Yes, you—for it was the face of him that fetched me out of the sea. I thought you were my son indeed."
Then Jason could bear up no longer. He flung himself down on his knees by the bedside, and buried his face in the dying man's breast.
"Father," he sobbed, "I am your son."
But Stephen Orry only smiled, and answered very quietly, "Ah, yes, I remember—that was part of our bargain, my good lad. Well, God bless you, my son. God bless and speed you."
And that was the end of Orry.