A day or two after this his Uncle Mortimer departed. Bobby was very unhappy at losing him, for uncle and nephew were close friends, and not a day passed without their spending some of it together. The uncle promised to look for Bobby's father and send him to him as quickly as possible, and the child's hopes rose high, and he firmly believed that his father's return home would be hastened.
Upon the morning that his uncle left, Bobby's grandmother called him to her when she came into the nursery for her usual visit.
'I want to speak to you,' she said, putting on her gold spectacles and sitting down in Nurse's easy chair.
Bobby stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back.
'Are you not happy with us?' was the question put to him next, a little sharply.
'Yes, gran'ma.'
'Who has been talking to you about your father?'
Bobby was silent.
'Answer me, child.'
'I dunno—Master Mortimer.'