"In about six weeks."
"Squire Davenport will foreclose—I know him well enough for that."
"So I suppose," said Ben, soberly.
"Is there no friend who will oblige you with the money?"
"I don't know of anyone I should feel at liberty to call on."
It came into his mind that Mrs. Hamilton was abundantly able to help them, but she did not know his mother, and it would savor of presumption for him to ask so great a favor. True, he had effected a most profitable sale for her, but that was only in the line of his faithful duty, and gave him no claim upon his employer.
"I thought, perhaps, the gentlemen you were traveling with—the one who has gone info the smoking-car—might—"
"He is only a business acquaintance; I have known him less than a week."
"To be sure, that alters matters. He is not your employer, then?"
"No."