"But, Admiral——"
"But me no buts, my dear boy. I assure you that if it weren't for my humiliation at having been a thoughtless old donkey I'd enjoy the job almost as well as if I were in active service and in chase of an enemy. A chase will do me good—keep me from rusting, you know."
"But, Admiral, you were having a delightful time at the Point; there was a host of your friends and old comrades there, and they will soon be going away. I've three days' leave of absence, and no farther use to make of it here. Still more, I'm the party most at interest, you know."
"But I'm the one most at fault," persisted the Admiral. It was finally agreed that there should be a division of labor, the Admiral returning to Old Point, where he might learn from some one the destination of the supposed custodian of the letter, while Jermyn should hurry to New York, where it would not be very hard to find the wanted man if he were there.
The Lieutenant had not been long in the metropolis before he learned that even a man known throughout the nation could not easily be found in a city as large as New York. He first went to a club where some old acquaintances were so glad to see him that he had hard work in getting away from them. They all knew by name and reputation the man he was looking for and congratulated Jermyn on having any excuse for seeing a man who had made the fortunes of a dozen other men while making his own, but of the man's whereabouts they were as ignorant as Jermyn himself. Then Jermyn made the rounds of the principal hotels, but he found that their number had trebled since his own period of duty near New York, ten years earlier, and he began to think seriously of applying for an additional leave of absence for three days, on the ground of urgent and unexpected personal business.
He was so weary at the end of a single day's search, that he had not the heart to go to club or theatre, so he dined dismally and alone at Delmonico's, and then sauntered over to Madison Square, dropped upon a bench, and blamed the trees for not being as fully in leaf as those he had left in the South, three hundred miles away.
Suddenly a gentleman arose from a bench near by, walked to and fro two or three times, stopped in front of the lonely officer, and said:
"I beg your pardon, sir, but aren't you Lieutenant Jermyn, of the artillery service?"
"Mr. Highwood!" exclaimed Jermyn, springing to his feet, and extending his hand, "this is rare good fortune for me."
"And for me," replied Phil; "for you are the only person I know who has seen my family within a week, and I'm as lonesome without that family as you can ever have been at the smallest post you ever served at. Take pity on a poor fellow, and tell me all you can."