“He lives in New York, and such news could readily travel that far. Old Touron keeps a sharp lookout on his debtors. I never met his son, but I know he has spent most of his life in France, where, of late, he has been acting as his father’s business agent. I’ve no doubt he is a sharp fellow.”
“I know he is,” said Philip. “He is in town now. He left us yesterday.”
“Then I believe I saw him,” said Mr. Welford. “Has he dark hair and eyes, and a very small moustache? And is he rather taller than you?”
“That’s like him,” said Phil.
“Then I saw him in Mr. Markle’s office, where I stopped for a moment this morning. He is probably engaging Markle to attend to the matter.”
“That looks very badly, does it not, sir?” said Phil, with a little huskiness in his voice.
Mr. Welford had much more sympathy for his visitor than when he came to him in regard to the trouble with Susan. This was something of an entirely different nature.
“It does look badly, my boy,” he said, “but you must not despair. I have no authority to attend to this affair; but your uncle is my friend, and I’ll take it upon myself to see a lawyer, and have the property protected, if possible. One thing you must remember. If you can in any way find out where your uncle is, you must do it, and let him know how things are going on. His presence here is more important than anything else.”
“I do wish that I had the slightest idea where he is!” exclaimed Phil. “All that I can find out is that he walked away with a knapsack on his back.”
“In that way he has travelled long distances,” said Mr. Welford. “But he may be crossing the Atlantic now for all we know. Of one thing we may be certain, your uncle has not run away from his debts. He is an honorable man.”