“And I am proud to have such admirers,” he gravely declared, a look of earnestness on his face. “I had rather have the love and admiration of the boys of this nation than all the wealth of the Klondike! This boy says he wants to grow up and be like me and that there are others who have the same desire. Those words will serve to make me still more careful in regard to my actions, for more than ever I realize that the example of every man affects others.”
The crowd was suddenly silent. From some other these words might have made no impression, or might have sounded stilted and egotistical; from the lips of this splendid specimen of perfect manhood they made a deep and lasting impression on many who heard them.
“My boy,” said Merry, “what is your name?”
“James Lee, sir; usually called Jimmy for short.”
“Well, James Lee, I thank you for your great faith in my prowess, but I’m glad you did not involve me in a fight, for I dislike fighting more than anything else—unless it is lying and cheating, and things of that sort. I prefer a fighter to a liar any day.”
“I don’t s’pose you ever told a lie in your life?”
Frank laughed again.
“I fear I have,” he confessed. “I am not a second George Washington in that respect, but I hope I have never told a malicious or harmful lie, and I hope I may never again tell a lie of any sort. I see you are wearing our colors to-day. Do you live here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you are for Yale?”