Browning did not answer, or turn his head, but continued walking away.
“He’s niffed,” said Jack. “That’s queer, for him.”
“He’ll get over it,” declared Rattleton.
But Frank was perplexed and disturbed.
“I don’t like it, fellows,” he declared. “Never saw Bruce take a joke that way before.”
“Oh, he’d thought it a fine thing if it’d been on somebody else,” said Harry. “Let him go. I’m hungry. Let’s have some lunch.”
He caught hold of Frank’s arm, attempting to draw him into the hotel, but Merry would not go.
“I don’t like it,” he confessed. “I don’t care to carry a joke so far that any of my real friends will take offense.”
“Bosh! If Browning is mad about that, it will do him good to let him alone till he recovers.”
Frank continued watching Bruce striding away across the square, and into the Rue Castiglione.