"Why do you talk as if I belonged to you?" Then seeing the
trouble in Mrs. Morton's face, she added, "I _will_ love you, truly
I will, and I will call you Aunt Isabel; but I cannot belong to
different people, 'cause I'm only just one. Just Captain January's
Star."
She looked up in the old man's face with shining eyes, but no tender,
confident look returned her glance. The brown hand trembled between
her two little white palms; the keen blue eyes were still bent fixedly
upon the old woollen cap, as if studying its texture; but it was in
a quiet and soothing tone that the Captain murmured:
"Easy, Jewel Bright! Easy, now! Helm steady, and stand by!"
There was a moment of troubled silence; and then the old minister,
clearing his throat, spoke in his gentle, tranquil voice. "My dear
child," he said, "a very strange thing has come to pass; but what
seems strange to us is doubtless clear and simple to the Infinite
Wisdom above us. You have been a faithful and loving child, little
Star, to your beloved guardian and friend here, and no father could
have cared for you more tenderly than he has done. But the tie of
blood is a strong one, my dear, and should not be lightly set aside.
This lady is your own near relation, the sister of your dear dead
mother.
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