“Will you grant it?”
“It is the foolish man who makes a promise before he knows what he is promising.”
“It’s not for my sake, but for Defarge’s. He is the only friend I have left.”
“The only one?”
“Yes.”
“Why, there are Chickering and his friends.”
“They are no longer friends of mine.”
“How is that?”
“I quit them to-night, Merriwell. I have sickened of them. I do not wish to pose as better than I am, but I don’t think I ever really belonged to that gang. I fell in with them and got to going round with them. To confess the truth, the reason why I stuck to them was because they hated you. I hated you, also, but not for the same cause that inspired their hate. I hated you because I was jealous of you; I confess it. They hated you because you would have nothing to do with men of their class. To-night, in Chickering’s room, I gave the whole bunch a little game of talk that set them gasping. I told them just what I thought of them all and that I wanted to never have anything more to do with them. You may doubt it, Merriwell, but I am done with all of them for all time.”