"How?"
"She was murdered by some enemy of her husband. The man escaped, but left his name behind him. It was Patricksen."
"Patricksen?"
"Yes. That must be fourteen years ago, and since then he has lived alone at Port Erin. Do you wish to go there?"
"Ay—that is, so I intended."
"Why?"
"To look for someone."
"Who is it?"
"My father."
For a moment Greeba was silent, and then she said with her eyes down:
"Why look for him if he wronged your mother?"
"That's why I meant to do so."
She looked up into his face, and stammered, "But why?"
He did not appear to hear her: his eyes were fixed on the man on the bed; and hardly had she asked the question when she covered her ears with her hands as though to shut out his answer.
"Was that why you came?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "If we
