“Yes.”

“Now I understand what made your face seem so familiar to me, when I saw it this afternoon.  By the way, I have never been into a printing office.  If I come round to yours, will you show me round?”

“I should be very glad to, Oscar, but perhaps you had better wait till I have been there a little while, and learned the ropes.  I know very little about it yet.”

“Won’t you come too, Fitz?” asked Oscar.

“You must really excuse me,” drawled Fitz.  “I have heard that a printing office is a very dirty place.  I should be afraid of soiling my clothes.”

“Especially that stunning cravat.”

“Do you like it?  I flatter myself it’s something a little extra,” said Fitz, who was always gratified by a compliment to his cravats.

“Then you won’t go?”

“I haven’t the slightest curiosity about such a place, I assure you.”

“Then I shall have to go alone.  Let me know when you are ready to receive me, Harry.”

“I won’t forget, Oscar.”

“I wonder he allows such a low fellow to call him by his first name,” thought Fitz.  “Really, he has no proper pride.”

“Well,” he said, rising, “I must be going.”

“What’s your hurry, Fitz?”

“I’ve got to write a letter home this evening.  Besides, I haven’t finished my Greek.  Good-evening, Oscar.”

“Good-evening, Fitz.”

“Good-evening, Mr. Fletcher,” said Harry.

“Evening!” ejaculated Fitz, briefly; and without a look at the low “printer-boy,” he closed the door and went down stairs.

CHAPTER VI.

OSCAR BECOMES A PROFESSOR

“I am afraid your friend won’t thank you for introducing me to him,” said Harry, after Fitz had left the room.

“Fitz is a snob,” said Oscar.  “He makes himself ridiculous by putting on airs, and assuming to be more than he is.  His father is in a good business, and may be rich—­I don’t know about that—­but that isn’t much to boast of.”

“I don’t think we shall be very intimate,” said Harry, smiling.  “Evidently a printer’s apprentice is something very low in his eyes.”

“When you are an influential editor he will be willing to recognize you.  Let that stimulate your ambition.”

“It isn’t easy for a half-educated boy to rise to such a position.  I feel that I know very little.”

“If I can help you any, Harry, I shall be very glad to do it.  I’m not much of a scholar, but I can help you a little.  For instance, if you wanted to learn French, I could hear your lessons, and correct your exercises.”

“Will you?” said Harry, eagerly.  “There is nothing I should like better.”

“Then I’ll tell you what I’ll do.  You shall buy a French grammar, and come to my room two evenings a week, and recite what you get time to study at home.”

“Won’t it give you a great deal of trouble, Oscar?”