CHAPTER XVI
A DESPERATE TASK
WHEN Ian reached Carlisle he secured himself a room at the old hostelry near the Cathedral, sent a message into Scotland that he had arrived, and then spent some days in general enquiries as to the possibility of getting work. In this he was not very successful, but was more so in the case of Wilfred Johnstone, whom on the fourth day of his arrival he met at the Market Cross.
Ian was sitting watching the people, when the boy came up. He had a stick over his shoulder with a small bundle containing his belongings.
“How long have you been in Carlisle?” asked Ian.
“I have only just arrived,” said the boy.
“Come along then; we must see what we can do for you. I suppose there is no likelihood of Farmer Harrington coming to look for you.”
“I do not know,” said the boy, “and I do not know whether he could compel me to come back, but he might. I am an orphan and all my folk are dead. I lived with my Aunt Louisa Johnstone until she died this winter; she had no children of her own.”
“Then she was really only your Uncle’s wife.”
“No, she was my mother’s sister. My name is not really Johnstone, but I was always called that because I lived with her.”