'My dear,' she said, 'what you say sounds to me very like Methodist talk! They say the Methodists are spreading dreadfully.'
Pitt was silent, and then made a departure.
'How often I have wanted just the touch of these hands!' he said, giving those he held a little squeeze. 'Mother, there is nothing in all the world like them.'
It was not till the little family were seated at the dinner-table, that Pitt alluded to the object of his morning ramble.
'I went to see Colonel Gainsborough this morning,' he began; 'and to my astonishment found the house shut up. What has become of him?'
'Yes, that is plain; but where is he gone to?'
'I believe a desire to put his daughter at school. A very sensible desire.'
'To New York!' Pitt repeated. 'Why did you never mention it, mamma?'
'It never occurred to me to mention it. I did not suppose that the matter was of any great interest to you.'
Mrs. Dallas had said just a word too much. Her last sentence set Pitt to thinking.
'How long have they been gone?' he asked, after a short pause.
'Not long,' said Mr. Dallas carelessly. 'A few months, I believe.'
'A man told me you had bought the place?'
'Yes; it suited me to have it. The land is good, what there is of it.'
'But the house stands empty. What will you do with it?'
There was a little pause again, and then Pitt asked,--
'Have you Colonel Gainsborough's address, sir?'
'I suppose they have it at the post office.'
'They have not. Colonel Gainsborough was to have sent me his address, when he knew himself what it would be, but he has never done so.'
'Is he living in the city, or out of it.'
'I have explained to you why I am unable to answer that question.'
'Why do you want to know, Pitt?' his mother imprudently asked.
'Because I have got to look them up, mother; and knowing whereabouts they are would be rather a help, you see.'
'You have not got to look them up!' said his father gruffly. 'What business is it of yours? If they were here, it would be all very well for you to pay your respects to the colonel; it would be due; but as it is, there is no obligation.'
'No obligation of civility. There is another, however.'
'Nonsense. Friendship ought to keep you at home. There is no friendship like that of a man's father and mother. Do you know what a piece of time it would take for you to go to New York to look up a man who lives you do not know where?--what a piece of your vacation?'
