“And you’ll find they are talking of Merry just the same,” declared Harry. “They haven’t forgotten that he twirls the sphere.”
“Oh, no, they haven’t forgotten; but what if he were not available—what if he should refuse? How long would his glory last! Another would arise to fill his place, and he would be forgotten. Glory! It is the dream of fools. Give me plenty to wear, plenty to eat and lots of time to rest, and the world may have its glory.”
Frank laughed.
“The same old Browning,” he said. “And yet you are as much of a football and baseball enthusiast as any man at Yale. It breaks your heart when Harvard or Princeton wins from Old Eli. You go into mourning and don’t recover for a week. Oh, you put up a good bluff, old man, but I can read you like an open book.”
Bruce grunted derisively.
“Very astute,” he commented, and then relapsed into silence, as if it were a great effort to speak, and he had already exerted himself too much.
“And think of the pretty girls Merry wins by his popularity,” said Jack. “He has opportunities to kiss lots of them.”
“If a fellow has an opportunity to kiss a pretty girl he should improve it,” declared Hodge.
“Ah!” cried Rattleton; “such an opportunity could not be improved.”
To this all agreed, laughing, with the exception of Browning, who had closed his eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep instantly.