"Where are you going?"
"To Bordell's—for a harmless little game of pool. Everybody goes, everybody but a 'Percy dear,'" replied the younger of the Sophomores with an air of superiority.
Joe's face flushed and he faced the speaker, but the other Sophomore spoke before Joe's indignant thoughts could find utterance.
"That's all you know about it, Rex," he said reprovingly. "Why, lots of splendid fellows never play billiards and they aren't mollycoddles by any means. I do think though that they are depriving themselves of innocent pleasures."
Then turning to Joe in a very conciliatory tone he again urged, "Come Smith, you'll go with us tonight," and he rested his hand persuasively on Joe's shoulder. There was something wonderfully fascinating about the older of these two Sophomores; so Joe thought. But he only said, "And after Bordell's, I suppose, will come Steinberg's?"
His four visitors laughed in hearty unison, and the one whom they called Rex exclaimed in a sarcastic tone:
"There's no harm in that, is there? A drink never hurts a gentleman."
"But it doesn't always leave them gentlemen," remarked Joe emphatically.
"Of course, Smith," replied the elder of the Sophomores assuming a persuasive tone, "we shan't urge you. We asked you because we like you, and because you like a little harmless fun. If you don't come I'm afraid you'll regret it when you are here alone. Or, by the way, won't Reydal come?"
"Yes, Reydal," and from the woe-begotten tone of his voice the happy-go-lucky visitors knew they had scored a point. Suddenly Joe's boyish laugh rang out—that laugh that won for him so many friends. "Reydal," he repeated, still laughing. "Reydal, with his philosophy of gloom, and his face as long as a gypsy's tale of woe. He will sit opposite me here by the fire; he'll spread his coat, open his book, and try to hide his mouth and chin behind his number twenty collar. Then from the depths of shining celluloid he'll quote his own views, contradicting some by-gone philosopher, until the welcome stroke of ten relieves me. Poor Reydal, how can I escape him?"