Bart could not help being suspicious of that happiness. He could not help wondering if it came through an understanding between Frank and Elsie. And that had been brought about while Merry was away from college!
If this was true, Bart felt that Elsie was lost to him, and the ambition had gone out of his life forever. Therefore he sat alone in his room and gazed longingly, earnestly, and almost hopelessly, at her pictured face. Her open eyes seemed to smile back at him reassuringly, but they did not lift the gloom from his heart. Her lips—--
Impulsively, he lifted the picture and kissed it.
The door opened quietly and some one stepped into the room.
“Hello, Bart, old man!” cried a hearty, familiar voice. “What are you doing there?”
Hodge sprang up, his face flaming, and tried to hide the picture behind him.
Frank closed the door and advanced into the room.
Hodge stood beside the table, trembling from head to feet. His eyes were fastened on Merry and he was speechless.
“I thought you’d come round to see me, Bart,” said Frank. “You did not, so I came to see you, though I’m missing time that I ought to spend in grinding. Oh, I’ll be a greasy grind for a while now till I get on Easy Street again. It will take lots of stiff work for me to catch up, but I believe I can do it.”
Still Bart stood there without speaking, looking straight at Frank.