"How did you like my stepmother?" asked Carl, when Gilbert returned in the afternoon.
"She's a daisy!" answered Gilbert, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think I ever saw a more disagreeable woman."
"Do you blame me for leaving home?"
"I only wonder you have been able to stay so long.
I had a long conversation with your father."
"Mrs. Crawford has made a different man of him.
I should have no trouble in getting along with him if there was no one to come between us."
"He gave me this for you," said Gilbert, producing the ten-dollar bill.
"Did my stepmother know of his sending it?"
"No; she was opposed to sending your trunk, but your father said emphatically you should have it."
"I am glad he showed that much spirit."
"I have some hopes that he will make you an allowance of a few dollars a week."
"That would make me all right, but I don't expect it."
"You will probably hear from your father to-morrow or next day, so you will have to make yourself contented a little longer."
"I hope you are not very homesick, Mr. Crawford?" said Julia, coquettishly.
"I would ask nothing better than to stay here permanently," rejoined Carl, earnestly.
"This is a real home. I have met with more kindness here than in six months at my own home."
"You have one staunch friend at home," said Gilbert.
"You don't allude to Peter?"
"So far as I can judge, he hates you like poison. I mean Jane."
"Yes, Jane is a real friend. She has been in the family for ten years. She was a favorite with my own mother, and feels an interest in me."
"By the way, your stepmother's charge that you took a wallet containing money from her drawer has been disproved by Jane. She saw Peter abstracting the money, and so informed Mrs. Crawford."
"I am not at all surprised. Peter is mean enough to steal or do anything else. What did my stepmother say?"
"She was very angry, and threatened to discharge Jane; but, as no one would be left to attend to the dinner, I presume she is likely to stay."
"I ought to be forming some plan," said Carl, thoughtfully.
"Wait till you hear from home. Julia will see that your time is well filled up till then.
Dismiss all care, and enjoy yourself while you may."
This seemed to be sensible advice, and Carl followed it. In the evening some young people were invited in, and there was a round of amusements that made Carl forget that he was an exile from home, with very dubious prospects.
"You are all spoiling me," he said, as Gilbert and he went upstairs to bed. "I am beginning to understand the charms of home. To go out into the world from here will be like taking a cold shower bath."
"Never forget, Carl, that you will be welcome back, whenever you feel like coming," said Gilbert, laying his band affectionately on Carl's shoulder. "We all like you here."
"Thank you, old fellow! I appreciate the kindness I have received here; but I must strike out for myself."
"How do you feel about it, Carl?"
"I hope for the best. I am young, strong and willing to work. There must be an opening for me somewhere."
The next morning, just after breakfast, a letter arrived for Carl, mailed at Edgewood Center.
"Is it from your father?" asked Gilbert.
"No; it is in the handwriting of my stepmother. I can guess from that that it contains no good news."
He opened the letter, and as he read it his face expressed disgust and annoyance.
"Read it, Gilbert," he said, handing him the open sheet.
This was the missive:
"CARL CRAWFORD:--AS your father has a nervous attack, brought on by your misconduct, he has authorized me to write to you.
