The brothers walked on for some distance in silence. Guly was the first to speak.
"Have you enjoyed your walk, Arthur, as much as you would have done, had we been left to enjoy ourselves in our own way?"
"Well, I must say, Guly, that I've had a pleasant time. I think young Clinton a charming fellow, and must confess he has enlivened the last hour exceedingly."
"And your heart and conscience are both quite as unburthened as they would have been had you not met him?"
"I'm sure I've done nothing to burden either, Gulian," returned Arthur, somewhat impatiently. "You must remember I am several years older than you are, and am expected to act differently from a mere boy like yourself."
"Did you remember that yesterday was your twenty-first birthday?" inquired Guly, quietly.
"No!" said Arthur, with a slight start; "and your sixteenth birthday was last Monday! How differently have they passed from what they used to do at home, when they were always celebrated together."
"Mother must have remembered us yesterday," remarked Guly. "How she would have loved but to look over here upon us!"
"I would not have had her seen me yesterday!" exclaimed Arthur, warmly, "for all the wealth this city ever saw. Her heart would have broken."