fer."

"It won't happen again, Mr. Gray, I assure you," said the professor
apologetically.

He endeavored to persuade Philip to renew the combination, but our
hero steadily refused. He admitted that it might be to his pecuniary
advantage, but he had lost all confidence in the eminent professor, and
he thought it better to part now than to give him another opportunity of
playing a similar trick upon him.

The professor thereupon consulted the landlord as to whether it would be
advisable for him to give another entertainment unaided, and was assured
very emphatically that it would not pay expenses.

"You make a great mistake, Mr. Gray," said Riccabocca. "It would be
a great advantage for you to have my assistance at this stage of your
professional career."

"I don't expect to have any professional career," answered Philip.

"Don't you intend to become a professional musician?" asked the
professor, surprised.

"Probably not. I have only been playing because I needed money, and my
violin helped me to a living."

"You can't make as much money in any other way."

"Not at present; but I want to get a chance to enter upon some kind of
business. I am going to New York."

"You will some time have a chance to hear me there, in the Academy of
Music," said Riccabocca pompously.

"I will go and hear you," said Philip, laughing, "if I can afford a
ticket."

"Say the word and we will appear there together, Mr. Gray."

"I think not, professor."

In fact, though Philip had found himself unexpectedly successful as a
musician, he knew very well that he was only a clever amateur, and that
years of study would be needed to make him distinguished.

He was glad that he had the means of paying his expenses for a
considerable time, and had in his violin a trusty friend upon which
he could rely in case he got into financial trouble. Directly after
breakfast he set out on his journey.

CHAPTER XXXIX. AN AMBITIOUS WAYFARER.

The large sums which Philip had received for his playing might have
dazzled a less sensible boy. He was quite conscious that he played
unusually well for a boy, but when it came to selecting music as
a profession, he felt it would not be wise to come to too hasty a
decision. To be a commonplace performer did not seem to him very
desirable, and would not have satisfied his ambition.

He had told Professor Riccabocca that he intended to go to New York.
This design had not been hastily formed. He ha