Dashleigh sat down in a chair. He was not satisfied.
“I heard the other day that Belton is soon to quit Yale,” Dick volunteered.
“That doesn’t explain anything!”
“Who said it did? I merely made the remark. He has fallen so low in his exams that he can go no farther. Seems to me that was what I heard. Either that or money matters forces him out of Yale. But probably it isn’t money matters, for he could find something to do to keep himself up.”
“Yes, if he was willing to work like a horse and live like a hermit. That’s about the only way for a fellow to go through Yale, or any other college, without money.”
“And wasn’t it Horace Greeley who said that if a man is to succeed in anything he must live like a hermit and work like a horse? Anyway, he said something like that.”
“Belton is from the South, isn’t he?” Dashleigh asked. “Scarcely probable he’d work like a horse to get through college.”
“From Washington, I think. Do you know, that fellow looks almost like a negro to me. I don’t wonder that Inza Burrage has never given him any encouragement.”
“I believe you’re getting struck in that direction yourself,” Dashleigh laughed.
Starbright flushed and looked uncomfortable.