“Ben has gone away.”

“Gone away? Where?”

“He’s run away, I expect.”

“What’s he run away for?”

“Well, he didn’t like the idee of goin’ to work in a shoe-shop.”

“He was over here and had a talk with me yesterday. He didn’t seem to like the idee, but I thought it was only a boy’s notion. You don’t mean to say he’s run away on that account?”

“When I went up this mornin’ to call him I couldn’t find any trace of him.”

“Hadn’t the bed been slept in?”

“No.”

“Then he must have gone away last night.”