These thoughts made him more impatient; and Mrs. Milner had to yield to his entreaties, and write the letter to her lawyer at once, asking him to make enquiries about this family through the schoolmistress who had sent this letter.
While his mother wrote the letter, Herbert copied the address of the school, that he might take it with him when he went away; for if he did not hear soon the result of Mr. Capon's enquiries, he resolved to write himself, and say that he believed these people were relatives. Mr. Capon would not do this, he felt sure; and it was very likely that these enquiries would be like the other he had made. He had no faith in Mr. Capon, and what he was likely to do, because it was only about a hundred pounds that had been left for his aunt, and such a small sum as that would not be worth their great lawyer making a fuss about.
He saw that Mr. Capon's letter was sent to the post; and he half hoped that some sort of answer would come before he went away the next day. They got through their task of looking over Mr. Ramsay's papers, many of which proved to be circulars and begging letters of various sorts. For Mr. Ramsay, having no children of his own, was known to be a charitable gentleman; and this was probably why the letter from the school had been sent to him.
It might be that he had enquired, and helped this girl and her mother; but he hoped he had not, if it should prove that it was his very own cousin. The rest of the papers were soon disposed of, no others proving to be of any interest to anybody; and after tea, Herbert took the bag and his memoranda back to Mrs. Ramsay. But he said nothing of the letter they had found, which proved to be of so much interest to themselves.
Mrs. Milner said she would talk the matter over with her old friend when they met, and Herbert had better not say anything about it.
The next day the lad went back to school; and though the-meeting again with old school-fellows, after the holidays, was pleasant enough, he did not forget Elsie Winn and her scholarship: for in the very first letter he wrote home, he asked if his mother had heard from Mr. Capon, and begged her to tell him as soon as ever she had any news from the lawyer.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
ENQUIRIES.
HERBERT MILNER kept to his resolution of making enquiries on his own account, if those made by Mr. Capon did not prove satisfactory.
A week after he returned to school, he received a letter from his mother, telling him that Mr. Capon had not only written, but sent a messenger to enquire about the girl named Elsie Winn. But he found that they had moved away from the neighbourhood, and no one seemed to know where they had gone, or cared to talk about them.