"—been to see your father yet?"
"No, sir, I'm on the way there now ... just arrived this minute, on the train from New York."
"I'm glad I caught sight of you, then, to prepare you." A longer pause ... mysteriously embarrassing, on his part.
"I have something to tell you about him ...—guess you're old enough to stand plain talk ... sit down!"
I took a chair.
"You see, it's this way," and he leaned forward and put his hand on my knee.. "it's women—a woman" ... he paused, I nodded to him to go on, feeling very dramatic and important....
"It's Mrs. Jenkins, the widow, that has her hooks in him ... around where he boards ... and, to be frank with you, he's going it so strong with her that he's sick and rundown ... and not so right, at times, up here!" and Hartman tapped his forehead with his forefinger significantly....
"Now, you're the nearest one to him around here," he went on, "and I'll tell you what we were going to do ... his lodge, of which I'm a member, was going to give him a trip, to separate him from her, and cure him ... you come back just pat....
"Has your daddy any relatives that can afford to entertain him, out in the West, where you came from?"
"Yes, one of my uncles, his brother, is very well off, and would be glad to take him in ... in fact any of the folks back home would," my voice sounded hollow and far off as I answered.