“If that is true, I’m afraid you have not formed a very good opinion of me,” said Hodge, somewhat gloomily.
“On the contrary, I have formed a very good opinion of you,” assured Rattleton.
“Then it can’t be Merry has told you everything.”
Frank was not a little surprised by Bart’s manner, for Hodge had been a fellow who could not easily suppress his self-conceit, and it had always been his desire to impress strangers with the idea that he was something quite out of the ordinary.
A vague feeling that something was wrong with Bart seized upon Merriwell.
“You’re not well, old man,” he said. “I know it. Don’t say you are.”
“Never was better in all my life.”
“But something is the trouble—I can see that.”
“Oh, no!” assured Bart; “you are mistaken, I assure you.”
But, for all of these words, Frank was not satisfied, as Bart’s manner had plainly betrayed the fact that he was trying to conceal something.