He dropped his head on his arms and his chin on his knees, shutting out the sound and sobbing quietly.
Yesterday his mother had been buried; to-night his father's door had been closed in his face.

He scarcely knew whether his being locked out was an accident or whether it was intended.

He thought of the time when his father had ill-treated his mother and himself.

That, however, had stopped at last, for the woman had threatened the Royal Court, and the man, having no wish to face its summary convictions, thereafter conducted himself towards them both with a morose indifference.
The boy was called Ranulph, a name which had passed to him through several generations of Jersey forebears--Ranulph Delagarde.

He was being taught the trade of ship-building in St.Aubin's Bay.