“Then your father does not propose to send you to college?” It was Mrs. Clifton who said this.
“He wishes me to go, but I think I ought to go to work to help him. He has two other children besides me.”
“Is either one a girl?” asked Carrie.
“Yes; I have a sister of thirteen, named Mary.”
“I wish you would bring her here to see me,” said Carrie. “I haven't got acquainted with any girls yet.”
Mrs. Clifton seconded the invitation, and Grant promised that he would do so. In fact, he was pleased at the opportunity it would give him of improving his acquaintance with the young lady from New York. He returned home very well pleased with his trip to Somerset, though he had failed in the object of his expedition.
CHAPTER V — MRS. THORNTON'S PEARLS
The next Sunday Mrs. Clifton and her daughter appeared at church, and Grant had the pleasure of greeting them. He was invited with his sister to take supper with them on the next Monday afternoon, and accepted the invitation. About sunset he met his new friends walking, with the addition of the husband and father, who, coming Saturday evening from New York, had felt too fatigued to attend church. Mr. Clifton, to whom he was introduced, was a portly man in middle life, who received Grant quite graciously, and made for himself acknowledgment of the service which our hero had rendered his daughter.
“If I ever have the opportunity of doing you a favor, Master Thornton, you may call upon me with confidence,” he said.