If Phil was superior to curiosity, Melvin was not and Varrell was not. Together they lay in wait for the Westerner as he came whistling upstairs, and in a trice had him in the room, with the door held tight closed behind Melvin’s square shoulders, undergoing a cross-examination.
But Tompkins proved a most unwilling witness. He declared that he had no information to give. When they threatened to choke him, he gave them a bland smile; when told he would not be let out for dinner, he averred that he wasn’t hungry; when promised imprisonment for all day, he announced himself wholly content, as he had a lot of hard problems to do in which he should be delighted to have Melvin’s assistance. At last Varrell abandoned the examination and began to talk athletics. Presently he asked Melvin whether he had found Bosworth in when he visited him the day before.
“Why, yes,” replied Dick. “Didn’t I—”
A wink from Varrell stopped him.
“Tell us about it.”
As Dick, prompted by Varrell’s shrewd questions, launched out on a detailed account of yesterday’s interview, Tompkins passed quickly from assumed indifference to open interest, and from open interest to self-forgetfulness. With the end of the story he burst into a shout.
“Well, that’s what I call rubbing it in! and the poor chap hadn’t a cent to his name!”
Varrell rose with solemnity. “Look here, Tommy, that requires explanation. Whatever he is, the man isn’t a poor chap in any good sense. He doesn’t deserve any pity unless because of the way in which he gave back the money, and that you’re bound to tell us. You’ve said too much now to keep the rest.”
Tompkins was bursting with merriment. The secret he could keep, but not the joke.
“I’ll tell you two fellows, not because you’ve made me, or because it’s any of your business, but just because it’s so blamed funny that I can’t keep it in, and you’re the safest people to trust it to. I made up to Bosworth and got him to ask me to play with him. I reluctantly consented, and before we were through I’d cleaned him all out and had the money to give back to the kids. Then the very next day Dick pounced upon him and threatened his life, and he hadn’t a dollar of his ill-gotten gains about him. That’s where the joke comes in. It’s rich!” and he burst out again in a noisy laugh.