rge's expressed resolution of leaving his present
situation, and seeking to earn his living in some other way, caused
Mrs. Andrews much anxiety, she had not sought strongly to dissuade him
from it. No doubt it would be wiser for him to stay in his present
situation, where he was well treated and well fed, and it certainly
seemed improbable to her that he would be able to get a better living
elsewhere. Still she could not blame him for wishing at least to try.
She herself shared to some extent his prejudice against the work in
which he was employed. There is no disgrace in honest work; but she
felt that she would rather see him engaged in hard manual labor than
as a shop boy. At any rate, as he said, if he failed he could come
back again to Croydon, and, with a year's character from his present
employer, would probably be able to obtain a situation similar to that
which he now held. She was somewhat comforted, too, by a few words
the doctor had said to her during their drive.

"I think you are fortunate in your son, Mrs. Andrews. He seems to me a
fine steady boy. If I can, in any way, do him a good turn while you
are away from him, I will."

George remained for another month in his situation, for he knew that
it would never do to start on his undertaking penniless. At the end of
that time, having saved up ten shillings, and having given notice to
his employer, he left the shop for the last time, and started to walk
to London. It was not until he began to enter the crowded streets that
he felt the full magnitude of his undertaking. To be alone in London,
a solitary atom in the busy mass of humanity, is a trying situation
even for a man; to a boy of fourteen it is terrible. Buying a penny
roll, George sat down to eat it in one of the niches of a bridge over
the river, and then kneeling up watched the barges and steamers
passing below him.

Had it not been for his mother, his first thought, like that of most
English boys thrown on the world, would have been to go to sea; but
this idea he had from the first steadily set aside as out of the
question. His plan was to obtain employment as a boy in some
manufacturing work, for he thought that there, by steadiness and
perseverance, he might make his way.

On one thing he was resolved. He would make his money last as long as
possible. Three penny-worth of bread a day would, he calculated, be
sufficient for his wants. As to sleeping, he thought he might manage
to sleep anywher