As soon as the ceremony was over , Captain Harmon had to sail in his vessel . He was going to China . Father and I came back home . Nobody knew -- not even Emily . He said we must not tell Mother until she was better . But she was never better . She only lived three months more -- she lived them happily and at rest . When I think of that , I am not sorry for what I did . Captain Harmon said he would be back in the fall to claim me . I waited , sick at heart . But he did not come -- he has never come . We have never heard a word of or about him since . Sometimes I feel sure he can not be still living . But never a day dawns that I do n't say to myself , ` Perhaps he will come today ' -- and , oh -- '' She broke down again , sobbing bitterly . Amid all the daze of his own pain Alan realized that , at any cost , he must not make it harder for her by showing his suffering . He tried to speak calmly , wisely , as a disinterested friend . `` Could it not be discovered whether your -- this man -- is or is not living ? Surely your father could find out . '' Lynde shook her head . `` No , he says he has no way of doing so .
We do not know if Captain Harmon had any relatives or even where his home was , and it was his own ship XXXXX which he sailed .
Amid about as at by for in of since whether