"What am I to do ?" A difficult question indeed, for a boy of fifteen, with but twenty-five pounds, and without a friend in the world.

Was he, indeed, without a friend?
he asked himself.

There was Dr.Parker.Should he apply to him?
But the doctor had started for a trip on the Continent the day after the school had broken up, and would not return for six weeks.

It was possible that, had he been at home, he might have offered to keep Frank for a while; but the boys seldom stayed at his school past the age of fifteen, going elsewhere to have their education completed.

What possible claim had he to quarter himself upon the doctor for the next four years, even were the offer made?
No, Frank felt; he could not live upon the doctor's charity.