Section 14. Thyrsis read this letter over two or three times; and then, resisting the impulse to elaborate his exposition of the economic bases of the marriage institution, he took it in to town and mailed it. He waited eagerly for a reply the next day; but no reply came.
The morning after that, he walked down to town as he had agreed to, and called at Mr. Harding’s home. The door was opened by his housekeeper, Delia Gordon’s aunt. “Is Mr. Harding in?” asked Thyrsis.
“He’s gone up to the city,” was the reply.
“To the city,” said Thyrsis. “When did he go?”
“He left this morning.”
“And when will he be back?”
“I don’t know. He left rather suddenly, and he didn’t say.”
“I see,” said Thyrsis. “Tell him I called, please.”
And so he went home and mailed another note to Mr. Harding, asking him to make an appointment for a meeting; after which he waited for three or four days—but still there came no reply.
“Have you heard anything more from Mr. Harding?” he asked of Corydon, finally.