“Yes,” reluctantly replied the young man.
It is not hard to recognize in this lad the youth who had fallen in love with Annie when he was but a mere child. He had gone to college and graduated. It had been a proud day when he was installed in the bank as one of its employees, and now he was telling his benefactor how willing he was to work hard and climb to the top.
“I wish, too, that you could find Annie,” said the lad, after a time of silence. “It seems as if she would be willing to forgive you, even if for nothing else, for what you could do for them. Have you ever thought, uncle, that she might not have gotten your letters?”
“I have not thought of that, but probably that is it. Could you try and find out for me now?”
“Indeed I could and gladly would,” cried Tom, “and maybe I shall bring her back. Now, where was she when you last heard from her?”
The address was looked up and the old man said:
“Now, if you find them, Tom, bring the whole family back with you.”
Neither the old nor the young man knew that there was a listener at the door, and that a strangely handsome face was peering in with a look of scorn upon the graceful, well-moulded lips.
“So he is going to find her, is he, and make my chances of a fortune not worth a picayune? Well, his time is short in this mansion.”
He stole away, and Tom, with an affectionate embrace, left his uncle.