“Well, if you get shown up after being so critical,” said the Englishman, “I shall not shed tears. Mr. Proctor, I wish to see you after training is over. Will you wait for me here, or come over to the baths?”
“I’ll see you downstairs, Hollingsworth.”
The Englishman nodded to Proctor and the two gentlemen at the west side of the observatory, who had listened to the talk, but had offered to take no part in it, descended the steps, disappearing from view.
“I give you my word, Frank,” said Hodge hotly, “that I’d rather punch that fellow than any man I’ve encountered in a whole year! I simply ached to hit him, but, of course, I wouldn’t pick up a quarrel with him here.”
“I hope you refrain from picking a quarrel with him anywhere as long as we remain in Ashport.”
“But he was so confounded insolent!”
“Which is the manner of some Englishmen of a certain grade. They entertain a contempt for Americans and are unable to conceal it. The better class, like Mr. Ashley, for instance, have come to understand and respect us.”
“You seem to be a rather broad-minded young man,” said one of the gentlemen. “I observed that you held yourself in perfect restraint throughout that talk with Hollingsworth just now.”
“Too much restraint is as bad as none,” muttered Hodge.
“That depends on what you consider too much,” said Frank, who had caught the words.