“With great pleasure, sir,” said Gilbert; and he spoke sincerely.
“Do you live in the city?” asked Mr. Vivian.
“I have been at a boarding-school hitherto, but I have now come to the city to live.”
“Do your parents reside here?”
Gilbert looked sober.
“I have no parents,” he said.
“Indeed!” said Mr. Vivian, in a voice of sympathy.
“Indeed I have no relatives that I am aware of; Mr. Richard Briggs, a merchant of this city, is my guardian.”
“Richard Briggs? I know of him.”
“I ought to say, however,” added Gilbert, who did not wish to sail under false colors, “that I can hardly continue to call him my guardian, as he informs me that my little property has been all expended on my education, and that I am now penniless, and must work for my living.”