At this moment the door opened quietly again, and Fred Barkley entered. Frank leapt to his feet to see if he was the bearer of a letter.
Fred shook his head in answer to the unasked question. "I have slipped out of College to see you, Frank, and Richards has given me leave to come up. I have no news, I only came to see what you were going to do."
"You posted the letter to my uncle, Fred?" he asked.
"Yes, at once," he replied.
Frank was silent.
"What do you mean to do?" Fred went on.
"Do?" Frank asked, "what do you mean?"
"Why, I suppose you don't mean to stop here until to-morrow."
"I don't know," Frank replied, "I had not thought about it."
"I shouldn't, if I were in your place. It would be a fearful business; there hasn't been a boy expelled from Westminster for the last thirty years. I shouldn't stop for it if I were you."