Curious to know how the boy came to know so much of Mr. Craven's movements, the stranger said:
"Do you know him?"
"Yes, sir; he is my step-father."
It was the first time he had ever made the statement, and, true as he knew it to be, he made it with rising color and a strange reluctance.
"Oh, indeed!" returned the stranger, looking very much surprised. "He is your step-father?"
"Yes; he married my mother," said Frank, hurriedly.
"Then you think he may not have come to the office yet?"
"There he is, just opening the door," said Ben, pointing to Mr. Craven, who, unaware of the interest his appearance excited, was just opening the door of the office, in which he was really beginning to do a little business. His marriage to a woman of property, and the reports which had leaked out that he had a competence of his own, had inspired a degree of confidence in him which before had not existed.
"Thank you," said the stranger. "As he is in, I will call upon him."