"Look ye here, my lad," the farmer said as they parted. "I tell ye,
from what I've heerd, this London be a hard nut to crack. There be
plenty of kernel, no doubt, when you can get at it, but it be hard
work to open the shell. Now, if so be as at any time you run short
of money, just drop me a line, and there's ten pound at your service
whenever you like. Don't you think it's an obligation. Quite the
other way. It would be a real pleasure to me to lend you a helping
hand."
Two days after the sale Frank started for London. On getting out of
the train he felt strange and lonely amid the bustle and confusion
which was going on on the platform. The doctor had advised him to
ask one of the porters, or a policeman, if he could recommend him
to a quiet and respectable lodging, as expenses at an hotel would
soon make a deep hole in his money. He, therefore, as soon as the
crowd cleared away, addressed himself to one of the porters.
"What sort of lodgings do you want, sir?" the man said, looking at
him rather suspiciously, with, as Frank saw, a strong idea in his
mind that he was a runaway schoolboy.
"I only want one room," he said, "and I don't care how small it is,
so that it is clean and quiet.
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