Fred greeted him heartily and cordially, and he made no reply. At first Fred did not notice his strange silence, for the young man was bubbling over with an event of great importance which had on this morning occurred in his own career. He had received a brief in a case in which some hundreds of thousands of pounds were involved, and he was in high feather about it. With great animation he made Uncle Leth acquainted with this piece of good fortune, and went on talking and talking until Uncle Leth's singular silence and abstraction had their effect upon him, and he suddenly paused and asked Uncle Leth whether he was unwell. "Pardon me, Mr. Cornwall," said Uncle Leth humbly; "I have not understood a word of what you were saying." The "Mr." Cornwall struck strangely upon Fred's ears. It had always been Fred; but the fact was, Uncle Leth, feeling that he had lost his honoured place in the world, deemed the familiarity an act of presumption on his part. Therefore the "Mr." instead of Fred. Then Fred, bending down to look into Uncle Leth's face, saw that there were tears in his eyes. Uncle Leth was as tall as Fred, but on this morning he stooped lower than usual; if he could have hid his face from the sight of all men, he would have been glad to do so. "Uncle Leth," said Fred gently, "what is the matter?" "Don't speak to me like that," sobbed Uncle Leth, turning away; "don't speak to me like that!" "Ah, but I must," said Fred, hooking his arm in Uncle Leth's. "You are in trouble, and you want me to run. Not likely, Uncle Leth. I love you and yours too deeply. Only one word first. Has Phoebe anything to do with it?" "No, Fred." "You _are_ in trouble?" "Yes." "About money?" "Yes." "Then tell me all about it. I give you my honest word I will not leave you till you do. You have a good ten minutes to spare. You started from home earlier than usual this morning." It was a fact, but until this moment Uncle Leth had not been aware of it. "Now tell me, Uncle Leth." And so, in less than the ten minutes there were to spare, the story of the impending ruin was told. "And is that all?" cried Fred, to Uncle Leth's astonishment. Uncle Leth strove to disengage his arm from Fred's. It was cruel of the young man to make light of such a blow. But Fred held Uncle Leth's arm all the tighter, and he could not release himself. "Do they know it at home?" asked Fred. "Yes." "And you have left all of them in trouble?" "They are heart-broken," sobbed Uncle Leth; "and so am I!" "Now, Uncle Leth," said Fred, with a comfortable squeeze at Uncle Leth's arm, "just you listen to me a moment. There is nothing to be heart-broken about when you have a friend like me at your elbow." "Don't mock me, Fred."