The three looked at one another after the clerk had read the letter.
"Here is a responsibility for some one," said Dr. Bancroft. "I wish it were in my power to take the little boy, but I am only here as a guest, and circumstances will not permit."
"I am a bachelor, and should find it impossible to assume such a charge," said the clerk, "though I feel for the little fellow."
An inspiration had come to Rupert. His heart had gone out to the little boy so tragically deprived of his natural protector.
"I will take the little boy if you are willing," he said.
"You! A boy! What can you do with him?" asked Malcolm.
"I am boarding in a nice family," he said. "I will put him under the care of Mrs. Benton, who has a young son of her own."
"But do you realize what a responsibility you are assuming?"
"I do, and I am not afraid. I never had a little fellow, and I shall be very fond of Fred."