“Certainly,” said Brice. “I brought it for you.”
“Is that all ye came for?” said Hiram, with sudden suspicion.
“No,” said the young man frankly. Yet he hesitated a moment as he added, “I would like to see Miss Flora.”
His hesitation and heightened color were more disarming to suspicion than the most elaborate and carefully prepared indifference. With their knowledge and pride in their relative's fascinations they felt it could have but one meaning! Hiram wiped his mouth with his hand, assumed a demure expression, glanced at his wife, and answered:—
“She ain't here now.”
Mr. Brice's face displayed his disappointment. But the true lover holds a talisman potent with old and young. Mrs. Tarbox felt a sneaking maternal pity for this suddenly stricken Strephon.
“She's gone home,” she added more gently—“went at sun-up this mornin'.”
“Home,” repeated Brice. “Where's that?”
Mrs. Tarbox looked at her husband and hesitated. Then she said—a little in her old manner—“Her uncle's.”
“Can you direct me the way there?” asked Brice simply.