"I am so sorry I was not here," said Quincy.
"It wouldn't have done any good," said Waters. "He didn't know what was going on after two o'clock, and you couldn't have been of any use if you'd been here. If 't had been daytime I should have sent over for you. He only spoke once after I went upstairs and that was to say that you would see to buryin' him."
"Yes," said Quincy, "I will take charge of the remains."
"Well," remarked Mr. Waters, "I called in the town undertaker and he has got him all ready."
"When does the next train leave for Boston?" asked Quincy, taking out his watch.
"In just twenty minutes," Waters replied, looking up at the clock.
"I will be back from Boston at the earliest possible moment," said Quincy; and before the astonished Waters could recover himself, the young man had left the room.
Quincy jumped into the team, grasped the reins, and started off at full speed for Eastborough Centre.
"My uncle died this morning," said he, turning to Huldy, "I must go to Boston at once to make the necessary arrangements for his funeral He is to be buried at Amesbury with his wife and children, so please get word to Mr. Pettengill that I shall not be home for several days. I will get some one at the hotel to drive you home, Miss Mason. Only stern necessity compels me to leave you in this way."