"After I had admitted who I was, the fellow who spoke to me asked how I felt about the wrestling match. I told him I was all ready to meet Princeton's best man, and then he asked if I was betting any money on it. I shook my head, and he said 'that's right.'"
"What followed?"
"Oh, there were a number of polite remarks, and the crowd got around; the Princeton men suggested that it would be pleasanter if we were by ourselves, and I felt that they were right.
"They were so decent about it that I had no hesitation in going into a back room with them. There they asked if I was taking anything."
"Did you say you were taking everything that came your way?" asked Hill.
"No, I didn't. I told them I was in training, and could take nothing but Bass' ale."
"Huh!" grunted Hill.
"Did they set up a bottle?" asked Rowland.
"Yes. It was about the dinner hour, at which time I was allowed to take ale, and I thought that it would do no harm; of course it was wrong—I admit it now, but at the time I thought a single glass of ale wouldn't hurt me, and it would be more polite to these chaps to go through the form of drinking with them. So they had a bottle of champagne, and I drank ale."
Mellor hesitated.