“You don’t look like a boy who would run away from school.”
“I shouldn’t if I had not had good cause.”
“Suppose you tell me why you did it.”
Bernard, upon this, told the story already familiar to the reader.
“Do you blame me for leaving Mr. Snowdon?” he asked, at the conclusion of his tale.
“No, I do not. By George, I would have done the same if I had been in your place. Does Mr. McCracken want you to go back?”
“No; he is going to find a place for me.”
“If I were in business I would give you a position in a minute. I am sure that your father’s son would suit me.”
“Thank you, sir. Are you still traveling?”
“No. Four years since an old uncle died and left me a good sum of money, so that I have since been able to live at ease without working. I am not an old man, still I am fully ten years older than your father would have been, and it is pleasant to think I can do as I please.”