He would have returned the
visit, but somehow or other the card with the boarding-house street and
number had been lost or mislaid, and the long list of "James Pearsons"
in the directory discouraged him. He speculated much concerning
the mystery at which the would-be novelist hinted as preventing his
accepting Caroline's invitation. Evidently Pearson had once known
Rodgers Warren well, and had been esteemed and respected by the latter.
Caroline, too, had known him, and was frankly pleased to meet him again.
Whatever the trouble might be, she, evidently, was ignorant of it. The
captain wondered and pondered, but reached no satisfactory conclusion.
It seemed the irony of fate that the one congenial person--Sylvester
excepted--whom he had met during his stay in the big city should be
scratched from his small list of acquaintances.
With Sylvester he held many familiar and enjoyable chats. The
good-natured, democratic senior member of the law firm liked to have
Captain Elisha drop in for advice or to spin yarns. Graves, who was
well again, regarded the new guardian with respect of a kind, but with
distinct disapproval. The captain was, in his opinion, altogether too
flippant and jolly. There was nothing humorous in the situation, as
Graves saw it, and to laugh when one's brother's estate is in a tangle,
indicated unfitness, if nothing worse.
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