"
"Was he born a deaf mute?" asked Christy.
"I did not think to ask him that question; but I judged from the
language he used and his rapid writing that he was well educated. There
is character in his handwriting too; and that is hardly to be expected
from a deaf mute," replied Flint.
"Being a deaf mute, he can not have been shipped as a seaman, or even as
an ordinary steward," suggested the captain.
"Of course not; he was employed as a sort of scullion to be worked
wherever he could make himself useful. Mr. Nawood engaged him on the
recommendation of Mr. Lillyworth," added Flint, with something like a
frown on his brow, as though he had just sounded a new idea.
"Have you asked Mr. Lillyworth anything about him?"
"I have not; for somehow Mr. Lillyworth and I don't seem to be very
affectionate towards each other, though we get along very well together.
But Mulgrum wrote out for me that he was born in Cherryfield, Maine, and
obtained his education as a deaf mute in Hartford. I learned the deaf
and dumb alphabet when I was a schoolmaster, as a pastime, and I had
some practice with it in the house where I boarded.
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