I took him to mean that he couldn't be certain of her death till he had seen her disembodied spirit; a theory that seemed by no means fantastic to me; for it was part of my conception of ghosts that they would haunt their murderers. And that closed the subject. Except that I was puzzled and disturbed; firstly because I didn't quite understand my father's reference to ghosts, and secondly because he had spoken of the old witch as he. Was he thinking of Shadow-of-Fear, or was it indeed a man that we had killed? However, we set off again on our wanderings, and I eagerly looked out for signs of the return to the Dolphin Inn, for I loved the place above all others that I knew, and I wanted to find what the secret was which my father was trying to unravel. Now the signs of the return to the _Dolphin_ were two. One was the approach of summer, and the other was that my father would begin to grow a beard. For elsewhere he went clean-shaven, but to the _Dolphin_ he always masked his face in a thick black barbous growth which I suppose was his particular disguise for that corner of the world. So when I saw the razor had been laid aside, and my father's face changed from white to blue, and gradually sank concealed beneath a stubbly brush of beard and whisker, I knew we should soon be tramping back to the beloved _Dolphin_. And I was more excited than usual at the prospect. Perhaps my spirit could scent the coming adventures from afar; or perhaps merely I was beginning to delight in my precocious strength of body; for though barely turned thirteen I had the girth of a boy of fifteen. And with the summer we were there again, and I took up the thread of my life where I had laid it down, initiating what was to be a memorable season by scoring the second stroke of the three that were to win me my knife. We had one room at the _Dolphin_, up a flight of stairs and below us was the great kitchen which served as bar for the few odd fishermen who formed almost the only patrons of the inn. Occasionally rougher men from over-sea would break the sleepy quiet of the place. Where they hailed from I didn't know, and didn't seek to enquire. They seemed fierce folk, but kindly enough, tossing huge jests at each other which I didn't understand, but which were always greeted by immense bursts of throaty laughter. We could hear them through the floor of our room if we lay with our ears to the boards; and I remember that whenever they came my father used to vanish during the day, leaving me to my own devices.