"Nor I. Of course, I had no alternative, so I deposited it in the bank Thatcher suggested."
"Did you see much of the family while you were in New York?" Huntington queried.
Hamlen looked up quickly, with a return of the apprehensive expression his face had worn earlier.
"I saw them several times," he said. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he added: "Later, you must let me impose still further upon your friendship. I have no one else to counsel me."
Hamlen's voice was apologetic.
"I sha'n't consider that you accept my friendship at its par value unless you call upon me in any way I can be of service to you."
"Then perhaps you won't mind if I speak now," Hamlen responded eagerly. "It really has been preying upon me until I am unfitted for anything else. It would be a relief to share it."
After saying this Hamlen found it more difficult to continue. "You probably don't know," he said at length, "that Mrs. Thatcher and I knew each other intimately years ago."
"Yes," Huntington acknowledged frankly; "Mrs. Thatcher told me, while we were in Bermuda."
Hamlen was relieved. "It was a very close intimacy," he continued. "I feel that perhaps I ought to be guided by her judgment now, yet I find it difficult to accept for many reasons. In short, she thinks that I should marry."