A respectable man's house was in disgrace. His step-daughter had run away. Been carried off by a scoundrel—there couldn't be a doubt of it. A month gone and not the whisper of a word from her. The mother was broken-hearted, so he had been traipsing the island over to find the girl.
"I belave I'm on the track of her at last though. She's down Castletown way, and the man that's been the cause of her trouble isn't far off, I'm thinking."
"And whom do you say it is, Mr. Collister?"
"Somebody that's middling close to yourself, sir—Mr. Alick Gell, the son of the Spaker."
"No, no, no!"
"Who else then?"
Stowell tried to speak but could not.
"Wasn't he the cause of her disgrace at the High Bailiff's? And hasn't he been keeping up his bad character ever since—standing by the side of disorderly walkers in the Douglas Coorts, they're saying?"
He must have promised to marry the girl. But he hadn't. He (Dan) had been to the Registrar's at Douglas and found that out.
"The toot! The boght! The booby! I was warning her enough. The man that takes advantage of a dacent girl isn't much for marrying her afterwards."