"Yes, I did."
"What? You found him? How? How was it possible?"
"I had an idea that he couldn't go farther than Rotterdam: he hadn't much money on him. I hunted and hunted until I found him."
"And you haven't brought him back with you!"
"No, I let him go."
"You let him go?"
"I think it's best: he was very anxious to go. He was angry at my finding him. I talked to him for a long time. He said that he wished to be under no more obligations, fond though he was of us, grateful though he felt...."
Constance, trembling, had taken Addie's arm; they went home on foot; the road lay in a bath of summer under the trees.
"He spoke sensibly. He had a vague idea of working his passage on a steamer as a sailor or stoker. I took a ticket for him. He will write to us regularly. I told him that Mr. Brauws, if he liked, could certainly give him some introductions in New York. He said he would see. He showed a certain decision, as if he were doing violence to something in his own character. It was rather strange.... I thought that I ought not to compel him to come back. He told me that he was certain of not passing his examination and that this was what got on his mind and upset him, that he couldn't concentrate on his books, that he would now look after himself.... There was a boat going to London; I gave him some money.... It's better this way, Mamma. Let him stand on his own legs. Here, the way things were going, he might have gone drudging on...."
She wept distractedly: