"I can't say now. I want time to think. Give me your address, and I will
write to Carl in your care."

"Very well, sir."

Gilbert left the house and made arrangements to have Carl's trunk called
for. It accompanied him on the next train to Warren.



CHAPTER VI.

Mrs. CRAWFORD'S LETTER.


"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."