and has been almost as excited as I have over the search for you.

"You are really a foolish fellow, Frank," he went on more seriously; "I
really didn't think it of you. Here you save the lives of four or
five fellows and put all their friends under a tremendous obligation,
and then you run away and hide yourself as if you were ashamed. I
tell you you can't do it. A fellow has no more right to get rid of
obligations than he has to run away without paying his debts. It
would be a burden on your mind if you had a heavy debt you couldn't
pay, and you would have a right to be angry if, when you were
perfectly able to pay, your creditor refused to take the money.
That's just the position in which you've placed my father. Well,
anyhow, you've got to come and see him, or he's got to come and
see you. I know he has something in his mind's eye which will just
suit you, though he did not tell me what it was. For the last day
or two he has been particularly anxious about finding you. Only
yesterday when I came back and reported that I had been to half a
dozen places without success, he said, 'Confound the young rascal,
where can he be hiding? Here are the days slipping by and it will
be too late. If you don't find him in a day or two, Dick, I will
set the police after him--say he has committed a murder or broken
into a bank and offer a reward for his apprehension.' So you must
either come home with me this afternoon, or you will be having my
father down here tonight."

"Of course, Ruthven," Frank said, "I would not put your father to
such trouble. He is very kind to have taken so much interest in
me, only I hate--"

"Oh, nonsense! I hate to see such beastly stuck up pride, putting