Professor Fuller I had not seen during Monday or Tuesday, but after visiting the post office Tuesday evening, I determined to take advantage of the next hour’s leisure and pay the professor a short call. As I turned from the main street into the lane which led to Professor Fuller’s house I heard a light footstep behind me, and turned quickly to see who it was. The sun had only just set, and the light was still sufficient for me to see it was Miss Nettie who was approaching, probably, like myself, returning from the post office. I stopped and greeted her.
“I am going your way,” I said. “May I accompany you?”
She nodded pleasantly.
“Are you going to see the ‘Old Governor’?” she asked with a smile.
“Yes,” I answered, laughing. “Do you call him by that name, too?”
“I might almost as well,” she said frankly. “It seems to suit father so well, and I think he likes it, too. He is at home—at least he was a half hour ago when I left him after supper. It was only this afternoon that we were talking about you and Mr. Wendell and the ball nine. In fact, I haven’t talked about anything else for the past two days.”
“We were in very hard luck,” I said.
“Indeed you were,” she said warmly. “I can’t get over it. I asked everybody I knew about it, and got all the accounts I could. You know it is very hard for me to get the news, having no brother to tell me, but I made up my mind I would know all about it, and I did. I was sure it couldn’t be your fault that the game was lost. I didn’t believe anybody could beat our nine. It was too bad about Mr. Harrison——”
“About Harrison?” I said quickly, wondering who could have told her the whole truth about Fred.
“Yes, about his being taken sick,” she answered.