Mrs. Ferguson, the good Scotch lady who kept the periodical store, would have been very much surprised if she had learned that the quiet looking boy whom she had just engaged was the son of a man worth over three hundred thousand dollars. Her mind was occupied with other matters or she would have questioned Victor more closely in regard to his history and antecedents. He was glad she did not, for he would have felt some embarrassment in confessing that he had run away from school and was a fugitive from home.
He felt obliged to accept the three dollars offered him by Arthur Grigson, since it was necessary to have money to pay for his meals in the interval that must elapse before he would receive his first week’s pay.
“I will pay you back, Arthur,” said he gratefully, as he took the money from the boy who had been the cause of his trouble.
“Oh, that’s just as you like.”
“I would prefer to do it. I don’t care to be under any further obligations to you.”
“Oh, don’t be foolish! You didn’t expect I’d strip myself of money to give you a chance to go home?”
“You would have more than money enough to get us both home. I wouldn’t have treated you as you have treated me.”
“Yes, you would, and I wouldn’t have blamed you. I may go over to Seneca and tell your father how I left you. Maybe he’ll open his heart and send you twenty dollars.”
Victor did not reply, but knowing his father as he did, he cherished no such hopes. He tried to put a good face on the matter, however, reflecting that he was at any rate safe from starving, and would be able to live.
In the afternoon he went to work, and though evidently unused to business soon learned to do what was required of him. He seemed so willing that Mrs. Ferguson felt pleased with him, and did not regret her hasty choice of a boy who had no recommendations to offer.