Silas Bradford's Boy by Joseph C. Lincoln

Just before three Banks heard footsteps in the hall outside his door. He looked up, as the door opened, expecting to see his uncle. But it was not Captain Abijah who came in; it was Christopher Trent.

Banks would have been surprised to see him there at any time; just now he was more than surprised. Trent, at the beginning of their acquaintance, had condescendingly intimated that he might drop in at the Bradford office some day, when he happened to be in Denboro. Although he had been in the village a great many times since then, he never had called. Banks had long since ceased to expect him, nor was he in the least disappointed; the contrary, rather.