A street boy, accustomed to live from hand to mouth, would not have been disconcerted on finding himself in Gilbert’s circumstances. But this was our hero’s first experience of debt which he was unable to pay, and it troubled him. He felt embarrassed at the dinner-table, knowing that he was eating a meal for which he had not the means of paying; and this thought not only interfered with his appetite, but made him unusually silent and reserved. His room-mate noticed this, and spoke of it when they had gone up to their room together.

“What made you so quiet, Gilbert?” he asked. “You scarcely uttered a word at the dinner-table.”

“The fact is, Mr. Ingalls, I am in trouble,” answered Gilbert.

“About your loss of place? You told me about 245that, and that you expected to get it back when your employer returned.”

“So I do; but there is another trouble.”

“Troubles never come singly, they say.”

“It seems to be true in my case. I am owing for a week’s board, and don’t know where I shall get the money to pay it.”

“I thought your guardian paid your board,” said Ingalls, who was acquainted with the particulars of Gilbert’s history.

“So he did; but he has sailed for Europe suddenly, without making any provision for the payment of my money.”

“How long is he to be gone?”

“Two or three months, they told me at the office.”

“That is rather inconvenient. If you were only a few years older, there would be a remedy.”

“What remedy?”

“You could marry Miss Brintnall. Mrs. White told me the other day that Miss Brintnall has saved up two or three thousand dollars from her earnings.”

246“That will be convenient for you when she becomes Mrs. Ingalls,” said Gilbert, with a smile.

“Do you think I would sacrifice myself for that paltry sum?” demanded Ingalls, with much indignation. “Ten thousand dollars is the lowest sum for which I will sacrifice my liberty. I’ll tell you who is most likely to become Miss Brintnall’s husband, that is, if she consents.”

“Who?”

“Alphonso Jones.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Alphonso lacks money to back up his gentility. He only gets twelve dollars a week, Kidder tells me, though he claims to have a thousand dollars a year. Miss Brintnall’s fortune will be a great inducement to him.”

“You forget that he has hopes of an alliance with the............