Miles Wallingford - 1873 Author:James Fenimore Cooper Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. " I charge you by the lae, "Whereof you arc a well-deserving pillar, Proceed to judgment; by my soul I swear There is no power in the tongue of m... more »an To alter me: I stay here on my bond." Siiylock. It is not easy to describe the immediate effect of this discovery on either of the parties most concerned. Not a doubt remained on the mind of cither, after the facts were explained, of the reality of the relationship ; for that was so simply proved, as to place the circumstance beyond all dispute. Mrs. Wetmore thought of her lost son as of an innocent, smiling babe ; and here she found him a red-faced, hard-featured, weather-beaten tar, already verging toward age, and a man of manners that were rough, if not rude. She could not at first possess any knowledge of the better points in his character, and was compelled to receive this boon from Providence as it was offered. Nevertheless, a mother's love is not easily dissatisfied, or smothered; and ere I left the house, I could see the old woman's eyes fixed on Marble with an expression of interest and tenderness they had not manifested previously to the revelations. As for the mate himself, now that the fondest wish of his life was so unexpectedly gratified, he was taken so much by surprise that he appeared to think something was wanting. He found his mother the reputable widow of a reputable man, of a class in life quite equal to his own, living on a property that was small, certainly, and involved, but property that had been long in her family. The truth was, Marble felt so much at this unlooked-for appeal to his gentler feelings, that one of his stemnature did not know how to answer it on the emergency; and the obstinacy of his temperament rather induced him to resist, than to yield to such unwonted sentiments. I...« less