"Then I'll tell you what I'll do. At half-past nine Albert Frost and I will come around with a tall ladder—Mr. Frost has got one—and we'll put it up against your window. Will you dare to get out of the window, and come down?"
"Yes, I'll do anything to get away. But can you get the ladder?"
"Yes; Albert will manage it. Do you think the old man will be likely to see or hear us?"
"No; he sleeps on the other side of the house."
"All right! You can expect us. I guess I had better go now, for fear I may be seen, and they might suspect something."
"But where can I go when I leave here?"
"Come to our house. You can sleep with Rob, my little brother."
"Thank you, Arthur. I'll expect you."
Philip felt a good deal more cheerful after Arthur had gone. He knew that in Arthur's house he would be very differently treated from what he had been by Nahum Sprague. He did not feel it wrong to leave the Spragues', as they were constantly complaining that he was a burden.
"If Mr. Burks would only let me live with him," he thought, "I should be happy, and I would be willing to work hard."