The day was overcast and lowery. It was not actually raining, but the raw wind from the Sound brought with it a heavy mist, damp and clogging, which was almost as bad. The crispness was taken out of everything, the sidewalks were dank and slippery, and pedestrians hurried along the streets with turned-up collars, turned-down hat brims, and a general air of shivery unpleasantness, as if they hated themselves, the people they brushed elbows with, and, above all else, the business which made it necessary for them to be out in such sloppy weather.
Dick Merriwell, who had returned to New Haven, was no exception to the general rule as he walked along Chapel Street toward the campus. His long, loose, tightly buttoned coat, with the collar turned above the ears, was covered with a multitude of tiny drips of moisture, almost like hoarfrost. The brim of his soft felt hat was pulled down over his eyes, and now and then a drop of water gathered at the point and splashed to the sidewalk.
He had been out on a rather important errand and, being anxious to get over to the dining hall on time, he did not dawdle, but strode along, gloved hands deep down in his pockets, growling under his breath maledictions on the weather which would effectually prevent any football practice on the field that afternoon.
He was walking on the inside of the sidewalk, close to the shop windows, and had almost reached the corner of Temple Street when he collided violently with a man who came dashing out of a store without a glance to see where he was going.
Both men staggered a little from the shock and the stranger’s black derby was knocked off. It was rolling toward the gutter when Dick caught it and turned to restore it to its owner.
“Beg pardon,” he said regretfully. “I had no idea——”
He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening with astonishment. For a second he stared in bewilderment at the young man before him.
“Well, I’ll be hanged!” he ejaculated.
The other man looked scarcely less surprised.
“Exactly!” he returned. “You took the very words out of my mouth.”