east he sailed for Europe."

"Have you heard from him?"

"No, sir."

"Do you expect to hear?"

"I think not."

"He can't feel much interest in you."

"I don't think he does," answered Frank. "Still, I can't say that he has
treated me unkindly."

"Do you suspect that your stepfather has wronged you in the matter of
the property?"

"I would rather not answer that question, sir. I might wrong Mr.
Manning, and I have no proof to offer."

"I understand you, and I applaud your discretion. It does you credit.
Some time or other the mystery may be cleared up, and the wrong, if
there is one, may be righted. I can't understand, however, how this Mr.
Manning should be willing to leave you dependent upon your own exertions
with such a scanty provision as twenty-five dollars a quarter."

"I didn't ask for any more; and, besides, Mr. Manning offered to take me
to Europe with his son Mark."

"Do you think that he was sincere in the offer?"

"I don't think he expected me to accept it, and I am sure that it would
have been very disagreeable to Mark to have me in the party."

"Have you any objections to telling me how you have succeeded in your
efforts to make a living?" asked the old gentleman, with a keen but
kindly glance.

"I have been disappointed, sir," was the candid reply.

"I am not surprised to hear it. A boy brought up as you have been cannot
rough it like a farmer's son or a street boy."

"I think I could, sir; but I should not like to."

"Precisely. Now, I am not sure that you acted wisely in undertaking a
task so difficult, since it was not necessary, and your stepfather could
hardly have refused to support you at home. However, as you have taken
the decisive step, we must consider what is best to do under the
circumstances. What work have you been doing?"

"I have been selling tea for the Great Pekin Tea Company."

"How have you succeeded?"

"I have not been able to pay expenses," Frank admitted.

"How have you made up the difference?"

"I brought about fifty dollars with me from home."

"Is it all used up?"

"I had thirty-five dollars left, sir, but a day or two since one of my
fellow boarders opened my trunk and borrowed it without leave."

"Of course you won't recover it?"

"I don't think there is much chance of it, sir."

"Then probably your money is nearly exhausted?"

Frank did not like to admit his poverty, but owned up that he had less
than two dollars.

"And yet you paid the