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 think of going away on such a long journey so very unexpectedly than it is to you. It makes me your guardian in good earnest," he concluded, with a half smile.

To Touchtone, who nowadays was accustomed to only occasional winter trips to and from New York with Mr. Marcy, and who had known little change from the summer routine of his hotel duties and pleasures, this sudden episode was, truly, a little bewildering. It had all happened in a night—like Aladdin's palace. To Gerald there was only a passing surprise. Orders from that handsome, gay, idle young father of his, who seemed to think of his son very much as he did of his best horse, or brightest diamond, or any other possession that he liked because it was his own and beautiful and pleasant to have near him, or easy to leave in good hands when it was more convenient, why, to Gerald such changes were already a common story. But the boy's delight that Philip was to go with him was so keen that nearly all else was forgotten.

The next few days were rather busy ones. The telegrams and letters to Nova Scotia and New York were duly dispatched. The letters