in a few days."

Christmas came and went. It was signalized to Frank only by the
despatch of a pretty present to Lucy, and the receipt of a letter
from her written in a round childish hand. A week afterwards he
heard somebody come into the shop. His employer was out, and he
therefore went into the shop.

"I knew it was!" shouted a voice. "My dear old Frank, how are you?"
and his hand was warmly clasped in that of Ruthven.

"My dear Ruthven," was all Frank could say.

"I had intended," Ruthven exclaimed, "to punch your head directly
I found you; but I am too glad to do it, though you deserve it
fifty times over. What a fellow you are! I wouldn't have believed
it of you, running away in that secret sort of way and letting none
of us know anything about you. Wasn't I angry, and sorry too, when
I got the letter you wrote me from Deal! When I went back to school
and found that not even Dr. Parker, not even your sister, knew
where you were, I was mad. So were all the other fellows. However,
I said I would find you wherever you had hidden yourself."

"But how did you find me?" Frank asked greatly moved at the warmth
of his schoolfellow's greeting.

"Oh! it wasn't so very difficult to find you when once I got your
letter saying what you were doing. The very day I came up to town
I began to hunt about. I found from the Directory there were not
such a great number of shops where they stuffed birds and that