“Did your mother send you here?” demanded the rich man, with a frown of displeasure.
“No, sir; she does not know that I have come.”
“It is very singular that you should come to me on such an errand,” said Simpson, in a tone of displeasure.
“Is it surprising that I should wish to know something of my father, sir?” returned Tom, not at all abashed by his reception.
“I told your mother, years ago, all that I had to tell.”
“I was too young then to take any part in the inquiry. Have you any objection to tell a son something of his father’s last years?”
The rich man hesitated a moment, and then, with an ill grace, replied:
“What is it you wish to know?”
“How long did you leave my father before his death?”
“How should I know. I don’t know when he died, or whether he died at all.”