"Yes; I will go to Arnold & Constable's next week on the same day and at the same hour. I wish I could invite you to my house, but you know how matters stand."
"Yes I know. Mr. Talbot appears to have increased his property."
"Yes, I judge so, though I receive no larger allowance. But he tells me very little of his affairs. He is more confidential with Edgar than myself."
"I have seen Edgar. He came to my rooms with his father some time since. He is about the age of Mark."
"Yes; there is not over a month's difference between them."
"If Mr. Talbot was different they would be company for each other. I believe Mark meets Edgar occasionally in the street. I hope Edgar is a comfort to you."
"He is my son, and of course I love him; but, Ellen, I fear his father is not exercising a good influence upon him. He is making him proud and arrogant. I would not mention this except to you."
At this moment Mark, going up-town on an errand in a Sixth Avenue car, saw his mother and his aunt together on the sidewalk. He instantly left the car and joined them.
"How do you do, Aunt Lucy?" he said, his face lighting up.
"And this is Mark!" said Mrs. Talbot equally pleased. "How you have grown and how well you look!"