CHAPTER XIV.

FRANK MAKES AN EVENING CALL.

The next day Frank chanced to meet Mrs. Vivian in the street. She recognized him at once.

"I see you are kept busy," she said, pleasantly.

"Yes," answered Frank. "Our business is pretty good just now. How is your son?"

"He slept well, and woke much refreshed this morning. He is a good boy naturally, but unable to withstand temptation. I have decided to send him to the country for a few weeks, to visit a cousin of about his own age. There he will be secure from temptation, and will have a chance to ride. I would have sent him away before, but that it would leave me alone in the house. You told me last evening that you had no boarding-place."

"My only home is at the lodging-house," said Frank.

"How would you like to occupy a room at my house while my son is away?"

"Very much," said Frank, promptly.

"I shall find it convenient to have you in the house, and shall feel safer."

"I am afraid I shouldn't be a match for an able-bodied burglar," said Frank, smiling.

"Perhaps not; but you could summon a policeman. When can you come and see me about this arrangement?"

"I am off duty to-night."

"Very well; I will expect you. Fred will not go away till to-morrow, and you will have a chance to see him under more favorable circ.u.mstances than last evening."

"Thank you very much for your kind invitation," said Frank, politely.

Mrs. Vivian bade him good-morning, very favorably impressed with his manners and deportment.

Frank looked upon the proposal made him by Mrs. Vivian as a piece of great good-fortune. In his new position, excellent as were the beds at the lodging-house, he found it inconvenient to go there to sleep. Once or twice, on account of the late hour at which he was released from duty, he was unable to secure admittance, and had to pay fifty cents for a bed at a hotel on the European system. He had for some time been thinking seriously of hiring a room; but the probable expense deterred him. At Mrs. Vivian's he would have nothing to pay.

In the evening he changed his uniform for the neat suit given him by Mr.

Bowen, and about eight o'clock rang the bell of the house in Thirty-eighth street.

He was at once ushered into the presence of Mrs. Vivian and her son.

"I am glad to see you, my young friend," said Mrs. Vivian, glancing with approval at the neat appearance of her young visitor. "Fred, this is the young man who brought you home last night."

"I am much obliged to you," said Fred Vivian, offering his hand to Frank. "I am ashamed of having been found in such a place."

"I don't think the young men with you were very much your friends," said Frank; "I detected one in cheating you."

"You mean at cards?"

"I don't mean that, though I presume they did; but you handed a ten-dollar bill to one of them, and he took it as a five."

"Are you sure of that?" asked Fred, his face flushing with indignation.

"Yes, I saw the number of the bill, though he put it away very quickly."

"And I had been treating that fellow all the afternoon! I gave him a good dinner, too."

"Are you surprised at such treatment from such a person?" asked his mother. "I should have expected it."

"I will never notice the fellow again as long as I live," said Fred, who seemed a good deal impressed by his companion's treachery. "Why, it's nothing better than robbery."

"You have given it the right name, Fred," said his mother, quietly.

"He ought to give the money back," said Fred.

"Let it go, my son. I am willing to lose it, if it severs all acquaintance between you and your unworthy companions."

"Have I ever met you before?" asked Fred, turning to Frank.

"Not before last evening."

"I thought you spoke of yourself as an old acquaintance."

"That was to induce you to come with me," explained Frank. "I hope you will excuse the deception."

"Certainly I will. I had been drinking so much that it was quite necessary to treat me as a child; but I don't mean to be caught in such a sc.r.a.pe again."

"May you keep that resolution, Fred!" said his mother, earnestly.

"I will try to, mother."

"My mother tells me that you are going to take my place while I am in the country," said Fred, turning to Frank.

"I shall be very glad to do so," said our hero. "I never had such a good home before."

"You are a telegraph boy, are you not?" asked Fred.

"Yes," answered Frank.

"Tell me about it. Is it hard work?"

"Not hard, but sometimes when I have been kept pretty busy, I get tired towards night."

"I should think it would be rather good fun," said Fred.

"Do you think you would like it?" asked his mother, with a smile.

"I might like it for about half a day, but all day would be too much for me. However, I am too old for such a position."

Fred had no false pride, and though he knew that Frank was in a social position considerably below his own, he treated him as an equal. Those who are secure of their own position are much more likely to avoid "putting on airs" than those who have recently been elevated in the social scale. Frank was destined that same evening to see the contrast between true and false gentility.