"How long do you think you will remain away?" he next asked.
"I cannot tell, it will all depend upon circumstances."
"What circumstances, Amey?"
I coloured a little, and looked across the room. It was his privilege
as a friend to ask these questions I supposed, although I was not
quite prepared to answer them.
"Whether I like my new home and friends, and whether they like me," I
began awkwardly.
"Oh, that is what you mean?" he exclaimed gently, interrupting my
reply.
I was silent, this was not a safe subject, what else did he think I
could have meant?
"I suppose if I had not called this afternoon, you would have gone
without bidding me good-bye," he resumed, after a short pause.
"I have not said any good-byes," I answered with an effort to justify
myself. "I didn't see the use" I added, half scornfully, "I am not the
Amey Hampden to the world, now, that I used to be."
"You are to me--you will always be!"
This was a most stable friendship. How good and sincere he was!
"Thank you, Mr. Dalton, it is kind of you to say so, a friend in need,
you know, is a friend indeed."
"It is the only time I could ever feel that I was your friend, Amey,"
he said, with a half melancholy voice, "even when you were a little
child, you never took much notice of me, unless something had gone
wrong."
I liked this allusion to the past, it was timely, and brought out our
present relationship clearly and comfortably.
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