If the unannounced visit of Uncle Obed may be thought to need an excuse, it can easily be found. For years, when Mrs. Ross was a girl, she and her mother were mainly supported by the now despised uncle, without whom they might have become dependent upon charity.
It was not a time that Mrs. Ross, in her present luxury, liked to think about, and for years she had not communicated with the uncle to whom she owed so much.
Full of charity himself, he was unconscious of her lack of gratitude, and supposed that her failure to write was owing to lack of time. He had come in good faith, when bereft of his daughter, to renew acquaintance with his niece, never dreaming how unwelcome he would be. Philip’s rudeness impressed him unpleasantly, but, then, the boy had never seen him before, and that was some excuse.
CHAPTER VII — AN UNWELCOME GUEST
“I don’t believe that old tramp’s my great-uncle,” said Philip Ross to himself, but he felt uneasy, nevertheless.
It hurt his pride to think that he should have such a shabby relation, and he resolved to ascertain by inquiry from his mother whether there were any grounds for the old man’s claim.
He came into the house just after Uncle Obed had been shown upstairs by the servant, not to the spare room, but to a small, inconvenient bedroom on the third floor, next to the one occupied by the two servants.
“Mother,” asked Philip, “is it really true?”
“Is what really true?”