"Father!"
"Why not? No one can comfort a hurt heart like a tender woman; and, Phil, have you ever stopped to think that you may have a duty in the Limberlost, if you are free! I don't know! I only suggest it. But for a country schoolgirl, unaccustomed to men, two months with a man like you might well awaken feelings of which you do not think. Because you were safeguarded is no sign the girl was. She might care to see you. You can soon tell. With you, she comes next to Edith, and you have made it clear to me that you appreciate her in many ways above. So I repeat it, why not go to the Limberlost?"
A long time Philip Ammon sat in deep thought. At last he raised his head.
"Well, why not!" he said. "Years could make me no surer than I am now, and life is short. Please ask Banks to get me some coffee and toast, and I will bathe and dress so I can take the early train."
"Go to your bath. I will attend to your packing and everything. And, Phil, if I were you, I would leave no addresses."
"Not an address!" said Ammon. "Not even Polly."
When the train pulled out, the elder Ammon went home to find Hart Henderson waiting.
"Where is Phil?" he demanded.
"He did not feel like facing his friends at present, and I am just back from driving him to the station. He said he might go to Siam or Patagonia. He would leave no address."
