Mrs.Hazen was only a slip of a gal when she married him, and as he didn't live but a couple o' months folks have sort o' forgiven her and forgotten him.

To us Mrs.Hazen was always Mrs.Hazen; and Alf--well, he was just Alf Hazen too; a lad with too much good in him to perish in them murderous waters a thousand miles from home." So they still believed Hazen dead! No intimation of his return had as yet reached Sitford.

This was what Ransom wanted to know.

But there was still much to learn.

Should he venture an additional question?
No, that would show more than a stranger's interest in a topic so purely local.