“How are you to-day, Mr. Talbot?” he asked.
“I am better,” said the sick man. “I hope I shall soon be well enough to go to work again.”
“I think you will,” said Gilbert, cheerfully. “I must try to see what I can find for you to do, among my business friends.”
“Thank you; do you know many business men?”
“No,” answered Gilbert. “I wonder,” he said, half to himself, “whether my guardian couldn’t give you work.”
“Your guardian!” repeated Mr. Talbot, in surprise.
“Yes,” said Gilbert, smiling; “but you mustn’t think because I have a guardian that I have any property.”
“Who is your guardian?”
“Mr. Richard Briggs, a New York merchant. He only got home from Europe yesterday.”
“Richard Briggs!” exclaimed the sick man in evident excitement.