Judge by my words," said David gravely.
"Has repentance come to thee?
Is it thy will to suffer that which we may decide for thy correction ?" It was Elder Fairley who spoke.

He was determined to control the meeting and to influence its judgment.

He loved the young man.
David made no reply; he seemed lost in thought.

"Let the discipline proceed--he hath an evil spirit," said the shrill Elder.
"His childhood lacked in much," said Elder Fairley patiently.
To most minds present the words carried home--to every woman who had a child, to every man who had lost a wife and had a motherless son.

This much they knew of David's real history, that Mercy Claridge, his mother, on a visit to the house of an uncle at Portsmouth, her mother's brother, had eloped with and was duly married to the captain of a merchant ship.
They also knew that, after some months, Luke Claridge had brought her home; and that before her child was born news came that the ship her husband sailed had gone down with all on board.