Evan wrote letters home, one to his mother and one to Frankie Arling. Then he packed his trunk and bade good-bye to Mt. Alban. Within four hours after receiving notice from head office he was on the train bound for Creek Bend.
Mrs. Nelson cried over her son's letter, and went to her husband for consolation.
"Carrie," he said, "it will do the boy good."
"But why didn't they let him say good-bye to us?" she cried.
"Well," answered George Nelson, "business is business, you know."
In his store-office the father used profanity. Men swear. He voiced a wish that all banks were made of sand and situated in the neighborhood of Newfoundland.
Frankie swallowed something in her throat as she read her letter. There was one grain of comfort in it, though, prompting the utterance:
"That ends Julia!"