I did." "What about ?" It was the captain's turn now to look searchingly into his companion's face.

The doctor's back was toward the lamp, throwing his face into shadow, but the captain could read its expression plainly.
"You mean to tell me, doctor, you don't know what's goin' on up at Yardley?
You do, of course, but you won't say--that's like you doctors!" "Yes, everything.

But what has your son Bart got to do with it ?" "Got to do with it! Ain't Jane Cobden motherin' his child ?" The doctor lunged forward in his seat, his eyes staring straight at the captain.

Had the old sailor struck him in the face he could not have been more astounded.
"His child!" he cried savagely.
"Certainly! Whose else is it?
You knew, didn't ye ?" The doctor settled back in his chair with the movement of an ox felled by a sudden blow.

With the appalling news there rang in his ears the tones of his mother's voice retailing the gossip of the village.