"On a little business."
"I am glad you are well off. I think pa was afraid you were a poor relation."
"Your father is rich?"
"Yes, ever so rich. We've got a fine place near Elmira. If pa wasn't so cranky I would invite you there to visit me."
"Thank you all the same," said Ernest, smiling.
Later in the evening, when Stephen Ray came in, Ernest noticed that he looked at him critically. He, too, examined the man who, he had reason to believe, was enjoying the estates that should be his, and was not attracted towards him.
"What will he say," thought Ernest, "when I make a formal demand for the property?"
"What in the name of all that's unlucky can have brought that boy here at this time?" Stephen Ray was saying to himself.
He never for an instant doubted Ernest's identity--in fact, he could not well have done so, for he bore a strong resemblance to Dudley Ray, who had been a strikingly handsome man, very much the superior of Stephen in personal attractions.
Stephen Ray's curiosity was excited. Ernest did not appear like the average poor relation. He was quite as well dressed as Clarence. Besides, he had registered at a high-priced hotel, and this alone showed that he was not cramped for means.