"I am a lonely man, Benjamin; I have never had many friends, and I have outlived nearly all of those."
"You ought to have married, Mr. Benton; then you would have children and grandchildren to comfort you in your old age."
"I wish I had, Benjamin; but it is too late now."
"It is never too late to mend, Mr. Benton," said Ben. "Men older than you have married."
"Then they were fools," said Mr. Benton bluntly.
"Suppose you should be sick, sir?"
"I would hire a nurse. I am not rich, but I have enough to provide for the few years I have remaining."
"I must ask you to excuse me now, sir," said Ben. "I must buy a few things which I shall need."
Ben wrote briefly to his aunt, to let her know that he was about to start for Montreal. Mrs. Bradford was not a little discomposed.
"It's tempting Providence to send a child like Benjamin to a foreign country," she remarked to Mrs. Perkins, who had dropped in for a neighborly chat.