“How do you happen to be back so soon, sir?” asked Phil, when they were seated. “I thought you were going to Florida for a couple of months.”
“I started with that intention, but on reaching Charleston I changed my mind. I expected to find some friends at St. Augustine, but I learned that they were already returning to the North, and I felt that I should be lonely and decided to return. I am very glad I did, now. Did you receive my letter?”
“Your letter?” queried Philip, looking at Mr. Carter in surprise.
“Certainly. I gave Alonzo a letter for you, which I had directed to your boarding-house, and requested him to mail it. It contained a ten-dollar bill.”
“I never received any such letter, sir. It would have been of great service to me—the money, I mean; for I have found it hard to live on five dollars a week. Now I have not even that.”
“Is it possible that Alonzo could have suppressed the letter?” said Mr. Carter to himself.
“At any rate I never received it.”
“Here is something else to inquire into,” said Mr. Carter. “If Alonzo has tampered with my letter, perhaps appropriated the money, it will be the worse for him.”
“I hardly think he would do that, sir; though I don't like him.”
“You are generous; but I know the boy better than you do. He is fond of money, not for the sake of spending it, but for the sake of hoarding it. Tell me, then, how did you learn that I had gone to Florida?”