It was hard enough upon working people with five children to wash and mend and cook for, and over in the court besides, and provisions dearer than they had been these ten years.

Gilbert asked if Mr.Saltram had left any orders about his letters; but the woman told him, no; there never was such a careless gentleman about letters.

He never cared about having them sent after him, and would let them lie in the box till the dust got thick upon them.
Gilbert left a brief note for John Saltram with the woman--a note begging his friend to come to him when he was next in London; and having done this, he paid no more visits to the Temple, but waited patiently for Mr.Saltram's coming, feeling very sure that his request would not be neglected.

If anything could have intensified the gloom of his mind at this time it would have been the absence of that one friend, whom he loved better than he had ever loved any one in this world, except Marian Nowell.

He stayed in town all through the blank August and September season, working harder than he had worked since the early days of his commercial life, taking neither pleasure nor interest in anything, and keeping as much as possible out of the way of all his old acquaintance.
No answer came to Jacob Nowell's advertisement, although it appeared several times; and the old man began to despair of ever seeing his granddaughter.