“How is your friend, the Count de Montmorency, Mr. Jones?” asked Mr. Kidder, the next morning.
“I believe he is well,” said Alphonso, shortly.
CHAPTER XXVII.
HARD UP.
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 that, 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.”