“And were they all they ought to be?” asked the girl passionately. “Did he teach you anything dishonorable?”
“No; he did not.”
“Then why did he change?” she asked with one of her eloquent gestures.
“I have told you already that I do not think he did. I do not know, but I have a clue. Some day I may clear him. I have been looking for him for years.”
Vivienne gazed at him with a swift-flushing face. “Oh, how grateful I am to you! Where do you think he is?”
“In some of the large cities of the States.”
“Why would he not stay in Canada?”
“He would be afraid of meeting some one who knew him.”
“You know everything,” she said vivaciously, “and I know nothing. Tell me more—more.”
“Come and sit beside me then,” he said; “you disturb me with your uneasiness. There, that is better. When your mother died, your father, I think, resolved to go to some large city, change his name, and work quietly at something till he died. It is very hard to find him among millions of men; but he can be found, and for this purpose I have employed different means.”