Chapter 3

I charge you by the law,
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me: I stay here on my bond.

Shylock.

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
either, 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 towards 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 stern nature
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 could see he was satisfied with his mother, while he was
scarcely satisfied with himself; and, with a view to place both parties in
truer positions, I desired Moses to walk down and look at the boat, while
I remained alone with his new-found parent. This was not done, however,
until all the explanations had been made, and the mother had both blessed
and wept over her child. It was done, indeed, principally to relieve
Marble from the oppression of feeling created by this very scene.

As soon as alone with Mrs. Wetmore, I explained to her my own connection
with Marble, and gave her a sort of apologetic account of his life and
character, keeping down the weak points, and dwelling on the strong. I set
her mind at ease, at once, on the subject of the farm; for, should the
worst happen, her son had double the amount of money that would be
necessary to discharge the mortgage.

"The debt was incurred, my dear Mrs. Wetmore, in his behalf;