Box 298, New York.
"It's a nice letter," Margaret reluctantly owned; "but you mustn't go."
"Why not?"
"There are five hundred and forty reasons why."
"Tell me one."
"Why should you, who can speak to thousands through your books, be pinned down to one disorderly family?"
"Oh, that's no argument at all. If I were sitting on a pedestal, and had to climb down in order to help my brother, my sister, it might be a different thing. But I am not. My advantage over these younger people is, that I have longer experience of life than they have, and that's all."
Margaret smiled.
"I believe if the whole world knelt at your feet you wouldn't know it," she said.
"I don't think I should, for I wouldn't know it. And, Margaret, I think I shall go and have a long talk with these people; to do it, I may have to stay with them one night, as I suppose Mr. Thayer will only be accessible in the evening."