Arthur lighted his cigarette, took several whiffs, staring at Frank all the while, and finally observed:
"When the governor came home and told me about you, he said you didn't touch liquor and didn't smoke; but I sort of fancied you had been playing it clever with him for reasons of your own."
Merry flushed a little.
"In short," he said, "you thought I was fooling him?"
"Well, I thought it rather clever of you, for you were trying to get dad and a lot of those men of dough into some sort of a railroad scheme, and I reckoned you were playing it fine with them."
"That's not my way of doing things."
"Beg pardon; no offense. Everybody is slick in these times, you know. You'll find the men you are dealing with are all sharp as steel. They never play any game frank and open."
Frank looked doubtful.
"Of course you do not mean to place your father in that class?"
"Well, I fancy the old boy knows all the tricks," laughed the lad softly. "He's been able to hold his own with the rest of them. How did you get through college without drinking?"