CHAPTER IV.
The Professor.
“Let the fools talk, knowledge has its value.”—La Fontaine Fables.
The tea at Freeman’s was over.
Mauney was sitting in Max Lee’s room after supper. These evening chats had become almost necessary. There was a time when they could both digest their evening meals downstairs in the dining-room in conversation with the rest. But now they neither felt ready to settle down to their studies without brief exchange of ideas and impressions.
“Anything new, my son?”
“Very new,” admitted Mauney, lighting a cigarette. “Sit down, Max. I’m going to tell you about the Freeman’s.”
“The young lady, Lorna, I suppose,” drawled Lee, as he sprawled in one of the easy chairs. “Women are always an interesting matter to me. And you’re a popular devil with women, too—”
“Hold on—”
“True. Only they all wonder. They all wonder at you.”
“At me?”