"Charley!"
Their hands met, and some mutual inquiries ensued. They had not seen each other since quitting Eagles' Nest.
"We thought you must be dead and buried, Frank. You might have come to see us."
"Just what I have been thinking—that you might have come to see me," returned Frank. "I can't get away. Since Brown left, and for a week before it, I have not had a moment to myself: morning, noon and night, I am tied to my post here. Your time is your own, Charley."
"I have been about at the West-end, finding out Colonel Cockburn, and doing one thing or another," said Charley, by way of excusing his laziness. "Edina left us only yesterday."
"For Trennach?"
"Yes, for Trennach. We fancy she means to take up her abode for good in the old place. She does not feel at home anywhere else, she says, as she does there. It was good of her, though, was it not, Frank, to set us up in the new home?"
"Very good—even for Edina. And I believe few people in this world are so practically good as she is. I did a little towards helping her choose the furniture; not much, because I arranged with Brown. How is the school progressing?"
"All right. It is a dreadful come-down: but it has to be put up with. Alice cries every night."
"And about yourself? Have you formed any plans?"