“No, you ain’t. You ain’t the only person that’s ben snaked down wrongfully out’n a high place.”
“Alas!”
“No, you ain’t the only person that’s had a secret of his birth.” And by jings, he begins to cry.
“Hold! What do you mean?”
“Bilgewater, kin I trust you?” says the old man, still sort of sobbing.
“To the bitter death!” He took the old man by the hand and squeezed it, and says, “The secret of your being: speak!”
“‘BILGEWATER, I AM THE LATE DAUPHIN!’”
“Bilgewater, I am the late Dauphin!”
You bet you Jim and me stared, this time. Then the duke says—