me all about yourself and
the fellows at school, I shall be very, very glad to get your letter. I
suppose you will be breaking up for Christmas in a few days."

Christmas came and went. It was signalized to Frank only by the despatch
of a pretty present to Lucy, and the receipt of a letter from her
written in a round childish hand. A week afterwards he heard somebody
come into the shop. His employer was out, and he therefore went into the
shop.

"I knew it was!" shouted a voice. "My dear old Frank, how are you?" and
his hand was warmly clasped in that of Ruthven.

"My dear Ruthven," was all Frank could say.

"I had intended," Ruthven exclaimed, "to punch your head directly I
found you; but I am too glad to do it, though you deserve it fifty times
over. What a fellow you are! I wouldn't have believed it of you, running
away in that secret sort of way and letting none of us know anything
about you. Wasn't I angry, and sorry too, when I got the letter you
wrote me from Deal! When I went back to school and found that not even
Dr. Parker, not even your sister, knew where you were, I was mad. So
were all the other fellows. However, I said I would find you wherever
you had hidden yourself."

"But how did you find me?" Frank asked greatly moved at the warmth of
his schoolfellow's greeting.

"Oh! it wasn't so very difficult to find you when once I got your letter
saying what you were doing. The very day I came up to town I began
to hunt about. I found from the Directory there were not such a great
number of shops where they stuffed birds and that sort of thing. I tried
the places in Bond Street, and Piccadilly, and Wigmore Street, and so on
to begin with. Then I began to work east, and directly I saw the things
in the window here I felt sure I had found you at last. You tiresome
fellow! Here I have wasted nearly half my holidays looking for you."

"I am so sorry, Ruthven."

"Sorry! you ought to be more than sorry. You ought to be ashamed of
yourself, downright ashamed. But, there, I won't say any more now. Now,
can't you come out with me?"

"No, I can't come out now, Ruthven; but come into this room with me."

There for the next hour they chatted, Frank giving a full account of all
he had gone through since he came up to town, while Ruthven gave him the
gossip of the half year at school.

"Well," Ruthven said at last, "this old Horton of yours must be a brick.
Still, you know, you can't stop here all your life. You