“I came up to wait for Mr. Lee,” he explained.
“Well, Mr. Lee is home on his vacation, Mr. Bard, and won’t be back till about October, you know.”
“Oh, yes, he will,” Mauney corrected. “He’ll be here to-night! I just came up on the train with him. You see he got ploughed in biochemistry, and had to come up to write the dope off. Stars and sups, you know.”
“Indeed,” she exclaimed. “Poor old Max! Well, we will be glad to have Max with us again, eh Freddie?”
“You bet. He’s sure a winner, Gertrude,” replied the man who was now introduced to Mauney as Stalton.
“Fred,” she said, “you better go up and see if Max’s room’s all right, will you?”
“Sure thing.”
“And now Mr. Bard,” said Mrs. Manton, indicating the dining-room door by a graceful gesture of her bejewelled hand. “We’ve got on a friendly game of poker, if you’d care to join with us while you wait for Max?”
“I’ve always been unlucky at poker,” prevaricated Mauney, who had never seen the game.