"Fleeing from justice?" he interrupted, laughing. "Seeking it, rather. I see you don't quite understand," he added. "Well, you shall have an explanation; but it is quite a little story, and I will not detain you this morning."
"I shall see you again?"
"I hope so, by all means; and Mrs. Gault would be most happy to meet you."
"Mrs. Gault!" I exclaimed, extending my hand,—"Mrs. Gault! Let me congratulate you. And Mrs. Gault was formerly"—
"Miss Cecilia Crabshaw," he interposed, anticipating my guess.
"I could have guessed it," I remarked. "In fact, I think I was rather more sanguine than you two years ago."
He laughed a little, with evident satisfaction. "I have been better prospered than I anticipated then. We have now been married three months. By the way, when do you return to Washington?"
"Probably a week from now,—ten days at the latest."
"Then let me make you a proposition. Besides my acquisition of which you have just learned I have been favored in other ways, and I have just purchased a house in the beautiful town of H——, where you and I met for the first time. This house I have remodelled into a summer residence; and Mrs. Gault and myself, with two or three friends, intend going up tomorrow for a two-months' stay. Now, my proposition is this: when you get ready to return, take a train on the Fitchburg Railroad, and go by the way of Albany and the Hudson river. Stop off at the little station of C——, and come up to H——, and spend a day with your old friend. I will meet you at the station myself. Nothing would give me greater pleasure, and I know the lady who was once your client would unite with me in the invitation."
"The temptation is too great to resist," I responded, after a moment's reflection, "and I accept with pleasure."