“But where is your horse, Mr. Holden?” asked Captain Ross. “I think you were walking when you came to my house.”
“I sent it back to the village by a man I met on the road, my buggy being disabled.”
“Your carriage wasn't much injured, I hope.”
“Oh, no, not much.”
“I don't see exactly how it could happen,” said Captain Ross. “I thought the road from here to the mill village was broad enough at any point for carriages to pass each other.”
“I didn't dream,” said Mr. Holden, not noticing this remark, “that the young man I had engaged was my young acquaintance of the morning.”
Herbert looked at him, puzzled by his entire change of manner—a change so sudden that he suspected its genuineness.
The more he thought of it, the more unwilling he felt to live with Mr. Holden. But could it be avoided? He resolved to try. He accordingly told the doctor and Captain Ross of the promise that Mr. Keyes had made him.
“It would be a good place,” said the captain; “but it ain't certain. Now, here's Mr. Holden, ready to take you at once.”
“If I was in the mill village I could come over and see my friends here now and then. Besides, I think I should like being in a store.”