"Yes," replied Ralph. "I lived with him after—after——" he hesitated, conscious of speaking too frankly.
"After a Vaughn killed him!" interposed the captain with emphasis, then added: "Did you know my mother was a Vaughn, boy? And that a brother of hers was killed in a duel by a cousin of your father's?"
"So—I have—heard," faltered Ralph, feeling that he was by no means beyond the reach of that wretched feud yet.
"Finally, did you know that this brother of my mother was the man who shot your father?"
"I—never knew until Aunt Dopples told me. I call her aunt."
"Yet, knowing this, they sent you to me. I like Dopples; would do nearly anything for him I could. His wife was always rather distant. If she is a Granger that accounts for it."
"She told me you might not like me if you knew who I was, but I—I am so sick of that useless old feud, that I thought you might not remember it against me. Down here it seems as if you have too much else to think of to be always wanting to shoot somebody."
"Right you are, my boy." Captain Shard now shook Ralph's hand cordially, though his eye held a rather sinister gleam. "What is the use of forever brooding over old scores? Come round and see me. Perhaps I can put you in the way of earning a living."
The captain patted Ralph on the shoulder, started off, but called back: "If my uncle and your great uncle made fools of themselves by carving each other up, that is no reason you and I should keep up the folly. We are not in the mountains now—thank goodness!"
Though much relieved at Shard's apparently amicable way of taking things, Ralph was not altogether comfortable.