"I know your brother very well. He is the junior partner in the firm of Bent, La Motte, & Co. Their house is doing a fine business, too. I don't think we can find your brother to-night, but we will in the morning."
"He will be very much astonished to see us here."
"No doubt of it; but your coming was a blessing to me. I have three sons, but Emily is my only daughter, and the youngest child. She is my pet. She is in delicate health, and I tremble at the thought of losing her. You cannot understand what a service you have rendered me."
He was silent for several minutes, and I saw the tears starting in his eyes again. He was thinking of her who was lost, or her who was saved--of both, more likely.
"Shall you return to Torrentville again?" he asked, after walking across the room two or three times, apparently to quiet his emotions.
"Wherever you go, young man, I shall be your friend, with my money and my influence."
"I will consult with your brother, to-morrow, in regard to what I can do to serve you best; but my gratitude shall have a substantial expression."
"O, sir, I don't ask anything for what I have done," I protested.
"You do not ask it; but that does not absolve me from doing something. But, to change the subject, I do not quite like to have you accused of robbing the mail."
"The gentleman who gave you the money ought to come forward and explain. If you didn't open the letter, you should not suffer a day for it. I will see your brother about that, too. It must be made right."
"I should be very glad to have it made right; but I can't tell who the man was that gave me the money."
He insisted, in very complimentary terms, that one who had done what I had could not be guilty of a crime, and that I must be cleared even from the suspicion of evil.
Sim and I slept on beds of down that night. The next morning Mr. Goodridge undertook to find Clarence. About the middle of the forenoon, while our raft party were all gathered in the parlor with the housekeeper, he was shown into the room. Not a word had been said to him as to the nature of the business upon which he was called, and his eyes opened almost as wide as Sim's when he saw Flora and me.
"My dear little Flora!" exclaimed Clarence, as he glanced from me to her, after he entered the room.