was full of the most lovely cases of things
Frank had stuffed. There was quite a crowd looking in at the window."

"That is very satisfactory. Now, Frank, do you sit down and write a
note to your employer, asking him to send down half a dozen of the best
cases. I want to show them to a gentleman who will dine with me here
today, and who is greatly interested in such matters. When you have
written the note I will send a servant off at once in a cab to fetch
them."

"And, father," Dick continued, "if you don't mind, might Frank and I
have our dinner quietly together in my room? You've got a dinner party
on, and Frank won't enjoy it half as much as he would dining quietly
with me."

"By all means," Sir James said. "But mind he is not to run away without
seeing me.

"You are a foolish lad," he went on in a kind voice to Frank; "and it
was wrong as well as foolish to hide yourself from your friends. However
independent we may be in this world, all must, to a certain extent, rely
upon others. There is scarcely a man who can stand aloof from the rest
and say, 'I want nothing of you.' I can understand your feeling in
shrinking from asking a favor of me, or of the fathers of the other boys
who are, like myself, deeply indebted to you for the great service you
have rendered their sons. I can admire the feeling if not carried too
far; but you should have let your schoolfellows know exactly how you
were placed, and so have given us the opportunity of repaying the
obligation if we were disposed, not to have run away and hidden yourself
from us."

"I am sorry, sir," Frank said simply. "I did not like to seem to trade
upon the slight service I rendered some of my schoolfellows. Dr. Bateman
told me I was wrong, but I did not see it then. Now I think, perhaps he
was right, although I am afraid that if it happened again I should do
the same."

Sir James smiled.

"I fear you are a stiff necked one, Master Frank. However, I will not
scold you any further. Now, what will you do with yourselves till dinner
time?"

"Oh, we'll just sit and chat, father. We have got lots more things to
tell each other."

The afternoon passed in pleasant talk. Frank learned that Ruthven had
now left Dr. Parker's for good, and that he was going down after the
holidays to a clergyman who prepared six or eight boys for the army.
Before dinner the footman returned with half a dozen of the best cases
from the shop, which were brought up to Dick's room,