“Yours energetically,
“Bruce Browning.”
“Well, it’s simply marvelous that he stuck to it long enough to write all that!” laughed Frank. “And he, like the others, thinks the check a fake.”
Hodge got up and stood looking sullenly out of the window.
“What’s the matter, Bart?” asked Merry, detecting that there was something wrong.
“Nothing,” muttered the dark-faced fellow.
“Oh, come! Was there anything in those letters you did not like?”
“No. It was something there was not in the letters.”
“What?”
“Not one of those fellows even mentioned me!” cried Hodge, fiercely whirling about. “I didn’t care a rap about Diamond and Rattleton, but Browning would have showed a trace of decency if he had said a word about me. He made a bad blunder and was forced to confess it, but I’ll bet he doesn’t think a whit more of me now.”