“It’s awfully good of you!” exclaimed Hooker, his eyes blurring a bit. “I appreciate it, but have you asked your friends if they want to meet me?”
“Certainly not. My friends will be ready and glad to meet any one I choose to introduce to them.”
The outcast shook his head doubtfully.
“I’m afraid not,” he said sadly. “It can’t be that you know about—about my—father?”
He stumbled over the final words, the hot blood surging up to his cheeks.
“I’ve heard,” declared Merry quietly.
“You have?”
“Yes.”
“That he—that he——”
“I have heard all about it.”