“Is it possible that Alonzo could have suppressed the letter?” said Mr. Carter to himself.

“At any rate I never received it.”

“Here is something else to inquire into,” said Mr. Carter.  “If Alonzo has tampered with my letter, perhaps appropriated the money, it will be the worse for him.”

“I hardly think he would do that, sir; though I don’t like him.”

“You are generous; but I know the boy better than you do.  He is fond of money, not for the sake of spending it, but for the sake of hoarding it.  Tell me, then, how did you learn that I had gone to Florida?”

“I learned it at the house in Twelfth Street.”

“Then you called there?”

“Yes, sir; I called to see you.  I found it hard to get along on my salary, and I did not want Mrs. Forbush to lose by me, so I——­”

“Mrs. Forbush?” repeated the old gentleman quickly.  “That name sounds familiar to me.”

“Mrs. Forbush is your niece,” said Phil, a hope rising in his heart that he might be able to do his kind landlady a good turn.

“Did she tell you that?”

“No, sir; that is, I was ignorant of it until I met her just as I was going away from Mrs. Pitkin’s.”

“Did she call there, too—­to see me?” asked the old gentleman.

“Yes, sir; but she got a very cold reception.  Mrs. Pitkin was very rude to her, and said that you were so much prejudiced against her that she had better not call again.”

“That’s like her cold selfishness.  I understand her motives very well.  I had no idea that Mrs. Forbush was in the city.  Is she—­poor?”

“Yes, sir; she is having a hard struggle to maintain herself and her daughter.”

“And you board at her house?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How strangely things come about!  She is as nearly related to me as Lavinia—­Mrs. Pitkin.”

“She told me so.”

“She married against the wishes of her family, but I can see now that we were all unreasonably prejudiced against her.  Lavinia, however, trumped up stories against her husband, which I am now led to believe were quite destitute of foundation, and did all she could to keep alive the feud.  I feel now that I was very foolish to lend myself to her selfish ends.  Of course her object was to get my whole fortune for herself and her boy.”

Phil had no doubt of this, but he did not like to say so, for it would seem that he, too, was influenced by selfish motives.

“Then you are not so much prejudiced against Mrs. Forbush as she was told?” he allowed himself to say.

“No, no!” said Mr. Carter earnestly.  “Poor Rebecca!  She has a much better nature and disposition than Mrs. Pitkin.  And you say she is poor?”

“She had great difficulty in paying her last month’s rent,” said Philip.

“Where does she live?”

Phil told him.

“What sort of a house is it?”