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 245that, 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.”

“I thought your guardian paid your board,” said Ingalls, who was acquainted with the particulars of Gilbert’s history.

“So he did; but he has sailed for Europe suddenly, without making any provision for the payment of my money.”

“How long is he to be gone?”

“Two or three months, they told me at the office.”

“That is rather inconvenient. If you were only a few years older, there would be a remedy.”

“What remedy?”

“You could marry Miss Brintnall. Mrs. White told me the other day that Miss Brintnall has saved up two or three thousand dollars from her earnings.”

246“That will be convenient for you when she becomes Mrs. Ingalls,” said Gilbert, with a smile.

“Do you think I would sacrifice myself for that paltry sum?” demanded Ingalls, with much indignation. “Ten thousand dollars is the lowest sum for which I will sacrifice my liberty. I’ll tell you who is most likely to become Miss Brintnall’s husband, that is, if she consents.”

“Who?”

“Alphonso Jones.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Alphonso lacks money to back up his gentility. He only gets twelve dollars a week, Kidder tells me, though he claims to have a thousand dollars a year. Miss Brintnall’s fortune will be a great inducement to him.”

“You forget that he has hopes of an alliance with the sister of the Count de Montmorency.”

“I think he had better take Miss Brintnall,” said Mr. Ingalls, dryly. “Now, to come back to your affairs. Are you quite out of money?”

“Almost. I gave four dollars to a poor family a 247day or two since, not expecting that I was to be left this way. I have about fifty cents in my pocket-book, and I owe a week’s board.”

His room-mate reflected a moment.

“I wish I were richer, for your sake, Gilbert,” he said. “As it is, I can lend you money enough to pay this week’s board bill. Before another week comes round, something may turn up.”

“Thank you,” said Gilbert, gratefully; “but I don’t like to rob you.”

“You won’t rob me, for I intend to let you repay it when you can. If I could keep it up till your guardian returns I would do so; but this I can’t do. I will tell you what I would do in your case.”

“I wish you would advise me, for I don’t know what to do. I never was in such a situation before.”

“It was understood that your guardian would pay your board for the present, was it not?”

“Yes. He offered to do it. I never would have asked him.”

“You say he left no directions at the office in regard to it?”

248“So the chief clerk told me.”

“It is clear, then, that it escaped his mind in the hurry of an unexpected departure. Probably he will set the matter right in his first letter. Wait a minute, though. His wife and son probably accompanied him to the steamer to see him off.”

“I suppose so.”

“Very likely he spoke to them about it. I advise you to call on them and inquire.”

Gilbert looked reluctant.

“It may be as you say,” said he; “but I don’t like to speak to Mrs. Briggs on the subject. She dislikes me, and so I think does Randolph, though not so much as his mother.”

“So you have told me; still I advise you to call, the sooner the better, in my opinion.”

“Suppose I get no satisfaction?”

“In that case you will know what to look forward to. If you are thrown upon your own resources, you can lay your plans accordingly.”

“I should like to know the worst, at any rate,” said Gilbert, thoughtfully.

249“Then take my advice, and call this evening on Mrs. Briggs.”

“I will,” said Gilbert; “but I would rather have a tooth out.”