end another note to his house address, asking him to see them
before their departure; but John had considered himself fortunate in
getting the house off his hands to a tenant who would assume the lease
if given possession at once, and had gone into the modest apartment
which he occupied during the rest of his life in the city, and so the
second communication failed to reach him. Perhaps it was as well. Some
weeks later he walked up to the Carlings' house one Sunday afternoon,
and saw that it was closed, as he had expected. By an impulse which was
not part of his original intention--which was, indeed, pretty nearly
aimless--he was moved to ring the doorbell; but the maid, a stranger to
him, who opened the door could tell him nothing of the family's
whereabouts, and Mr. Betts (the house man in charge) was "hout." So John
retraced his steps with a feeling of disappointment wholly
disproportionate to his hopes or expectations so far as he had defined
them to himself, and never went back again.

* * * * *

He has never had much to say of the months that followed.

It came to be the last of October. An errand from the office had sent
him to General Wolsey, of the Mutual Trust Company, of whom mention has
been made by David Harum. The general was an old friend of the elder
Lenox, and knew John well and kindly. When the latter had discharged his
errand and was about to go, the general said: "Wait a minute. Are you in
a hurry? If not, I want to have a little talk with you."

"Not specially," said John.

"Sit down," said the general, pointing to a chair. "What are your plans?
I see you are still in the Careys' office, but from what you told me
last summer I conclude that you are there because you have not found
anything more satisfactory."

"That is the case, sir," John replied. "I can't be idle, but I don't see
how I can keep on as I am going now, and I have been trying for months
to find something by which I can earn a living. I am afraid," he added,
"that it will be a longer time than I can afford to wait before I shall
be able to do that out of the law."

"If you don't mind my asking," said the general, "what are your
resources? I don't think you told me more than to give me to understand
that your father's affairs were at a pretty low ebb. Of course, I do not
wish to pry into your affairs--"

"Not at all," John interposed; "I am glad to tell you, and thank you for
your interest. I have