What do you charge for packing trunks, Mr. Walton?"

"I think fifty cents would be about right," answered Harry, with
perfect gravity. "Can you give me a job, Mr. Fletcher?"

"I might, if I had known it in time, though I am particular who
handles my things."

"Walton is careful, and I can vouch for his honesty," said Oscar,
carrying out the joke. "His wages in the printing office are not
large, and he would be glad to make a little extra money."

"It must be very inconvenient to be poor," said Fletcher, with a
supercilious glance at our hero, who was kneeling before Oscar's
trunk.

"It is," answered Harry, quietly, "but as long as work is to be had I
shall not complain."

"To be sure!" said Fletcher. "My father is wealthy, and I shall not
have to work."

"Suppose he should fail?" suggested Oscar.

"That is a very improbable supposition," said Fletcher, loftily.

"But not impossible?"

"Nothing is impossible."

"Of course. I say, Fitz, if such a thing should happen, you've got
something to fall back upon."

"To what do you refer?"

"Mr. Bickford could give you an interest in the tin business."

"Good-evening!" said Fletcher, not relishing the allusion.

"Good-evening! Of course I shall see you in the city."

"I suppose I ought not to tease Fitz," said Oscar, after his visitor
had departed, "but I enjoy seeing how disgusted he looks."

In due time the trunk was packed, and Harry, not without regret, took
leave of his friend for the summer.

CHAPTER XIV.

HARRY BECOMES AN AUTHOR.

The closing of the Academy made quite a difference in the life of
Centreville. The number of boarding scholars was about thirty, and
these, though few in number, were often seen in the street and at the
postoffice, and their withdrawal left a vacancy. Harry Walton felt
quite lonely at first; but there is no cure for loneliness like
occupation, and he had plenty of that. The greater part of the day
was spent in the printing office, while his evenings and early
mornings were occupied in study and reading. He had become very much
interested in French, in which he found himself advancing rapidly.
Occasionally he took tea at Mr. Ferguson's, and this he always
enjoyed; for, as I have already said, he and Ferguson held very
similar views on many important subjects. One evening, at the house
of the latter, he saw a file of weekly papers, which proved, on
examination, to be back numbers of the "Weekly Standard,"