If his mother had been living, probably the boy would never have made such an escapade, but his father, being engrossed by business cares, was able to give very little attention to his son, and this accounts in part for the folly of which he had been guilty.
“Have you got any brothers or sisters?” he asked.
“I have one sister, about three years younger than I. Her name is Jennie.”
“I wish I were as well off as you,” said Philip.
“How do you mean?”
“I mean I wish I had a father and sister.”
“Haven’t you?”
“My father is dead,” said Philip gravely, “and I never had a sister.”
“Oh, well, I don’t know as I’m so lucky,” said Henry. “Sisters are a bother. They want you to go round with them, and the old man is always finding fault.”
Philip’s relations with his father had always been so affectionate that he could not understand how Henry could talk in such a way of his.