After Philip's and Gerald’s stay with the real Mr. Hilliard, the boys run errands around Union Square in chapter 6, and they discover that they lost their tickets for the Old Province (49). The terminal for the steamer is “around the corner [from] the Bowling Green,” and they arrive just in time to board (49). As in the train to New York City, Mr. Jennison makes an appearance during this portion of their journey.

In chapter 5, fittingly titled “The Unguessed Beginning of Trouble,” Philip and Gerald encounter, on the train to New York, a man who claims to be Mr. Hilliard, but he is really the antagonist Mr. Jennison (37). In a moment that reveals Jennsion’s false identity and that anticipates how he attempts to manipulate both Philip and Gerald, he suggests that the boys are travelling to Newfoundland (38). After missing the train, they board the next train (42). However, after passing through Bergen Hill, they decide that it was good that they tell “Mr.

In chapter 4, Gerald’s father instructs Mr. Marcy, the owner of the Ossokosee House, to have someone deliver Gerald to Nova Scotia (30). Mr. Marcy decides that Philip will take Gerald from the Ossokosee House to New York and, from there, board the ship The Old Province to Nova Scotia (30-31). However, Mr. Marcy suggests that Philip and Gerald stay with his friend, Hilliard, on Madison Avenue, in New York (31). This marks the beginning of Philip and Gerald’s adventure to Halifax, but it does not go as smoothly as Mr. Marcy anticipates.

In chapter 2, Gerald and Philip encounter a German doctor while they are riding on the hotel-wagon. He “began a chat with Touchtone entirely in German“ (15). Philip reveals that he was born in Germany and that he had learned German when he lived in Hanover before moving to New York (16). This instance gives insight into Philip’s past and his character; and it confirms Gerald’s earlier assumptions regarding Philip fitting in with the boys at Murray Hill. 

According to Gerald, Murray Hill is the area where the “aristocratic lads” reside (15). However, Gerald also uses this note to characterize Philip. Philip “does not look out of place” driving the hotel-wagon, but he would look “proper in his surroundings” if he met Philip in a tennis-suit hanging out with the boys from Murray Hill (15).  

Ossokosee House is a central location in Left to Themselves. The house is a summer resort where Gerald and Philip meet after the former flees from a tramp by the name of Mr. Sip (8). There are no specifics regarding where Ossokosee is in the United States. However, following this encounter, the narrator says that Mr. Sip can be seen drinking buttermilk within the hour at a cottage (8). A farmer’s daughter gives it to him because she pities him for needing to walk from “Wheelborough Heights to Patterson, in Jersey” (9). Eric L.

In chapter 2, Gerald explains that his father is fishing and hunting in Nova Scotia (14). Gerald does not give a specific location. He only says there is no house within five miles of his father (14).