“What was the name of your brother-in-law’s ship?”

“Morgianna!”

Captain Lane did not start, for he expected this.

“Was he a free mason?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you describe how he looked then?”

“He was about thirty-five years of age, a little above middle height, with a broad forehead, over which fine brown hair fell in careless folds; he wore his beard and mustache long, the beard extending in a point two or three inches below the throat.  His eyes were brown, large and full of expression while in conversation.  He was brave, noble, and all that goes to make up a grand man.”

“And your wife, can you describe her?”

“She was an exact counterpart of your daughter.”

Captain Lane rose and with considerable emotion grasped the hand of St. Mark, and said: 

“My daughter is your daughter.”

Then came the serious task of breaking the intelligence to Morgianna.

It was done deliberately and quietly, without any sensational scene.  Yet her joy at discovering her father increased her happiness almost to overflowing.  “I am more blest than most girls,” she declared.  “I have two fathers, and while I will learn to love my new father, I will not forget to love my old father.”

The marriage of Fernando and Morgianna was celebrated the following autumn at the new church which had been erected over the Ashes of the former one.  Both of Morgianna’s fathers were present; but to her real father was consigned the honor of giving away the bride.

Terrence and Sukey were present.  The Irishman declared the matter might have been consummated long ago if they had only left it to him.

The wedding day was made a public holiday in the village.  Never in all its existence was the little hamlet so gay.  Bands played, choruses sang, and the old cannon, still left at the tumble-down fort, fired a salute, while American flags waved from every house.  The local orator, who still entertained hopes of the legislature, delivered a stirring address.

Job, who heard of the happy event, came all the way from Baltimore to shake the hand of “Massa Stevens” and wish him much joy.

“I iz all right now, massa,” he declared.  “I iz found my own sure enough massa agin, an’ I’m goin’ back to work for him all de time.  No more goin’ to sea fer me; I iz no Britisher.”

Fernando and his father-in-law, soon after his marriage, engaged in manufacturing enterprises in New England, with Captain Lane as the silent partner and moneyed man of the enterprise.  Home industries having been fostered by the war, American manufactures promised a bright future.

Sukey was for many years a prominent minister of the Gospel in Ohio.  Terrence studied law and became a leading member of the Philadelphia bar.