“Yes,” replied Ayrton, without the least hesitation.
But as if conscious that a certain feeling of mistrust, however slight, had prompted the inquiry, he added, “I have my shipping papers with me; I saved them from the wreck.”
He left the room immediately to fetch his official document, and, though hardly absent a minute, Paddy O’Moore managed to say, “My Lord, you may trust Ayrton; I vouch for his being an honest man. He has been two months now in my service, and I have never had once to find fault with him. I knew all this story of his shipwreck and his captivity. He is a true man, worthy of your entire confidence.”
Glenarvan was on the point of replying that he had never doubted his good faith, when the man came in and brought his engagement written out in due form. It was a paper si
