You kept the lad hid away
from the people that belonged to him, you kept him out of his own, and
let others take his birthright. You put a shame upon him, hiding who his
father and his father's people were, and you put a shame upon her that
lies in the graveyard--as sweet a lass, as good, as ever lived on earth.
Ay, a shame and a scandal! For your eyes were shut always to the sidelong
looks, your ears never heard the things people said--'A good-for-nothing
ship-captain, a scamp and a ne'er-do-weel, one that had a lass at every
port, and, maybe, wives too; one that none knew or ever had seen--a
pirate maybe, or a slave-dealer, or a jail-bird, for all they knew!
Married--oh yes, married right enough, but nothing else--not even a home.
Just a ring on the finger, and then, beyond and away!' Around her life
that brought into the world our lad yonder you let a cloud draw down; and
you let it draw round his, too, for he didn't even bear his father's
name--much less knew who his father was--or live in his father's home, or
come by his own in the end.
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