“Splendid!”
Inza clapped her hands.
“That’s it!” she nodded. “You should do it, Frank—you should write a book that will tell the boys just what to do.”
“I think I shall as soon as I find time. Almost any boy may become a wonderful athlete if he knows how to go about it, and where is the boy who does not long to have a splendid, handsome body—who does not desire to be admired and recognized as a leader among his fellows. If the ordinary boy knew just how to go about it, he could accomplish this. If I ever write that book, I’m going to tell the boys just how to do it.”
“Such a book would have been worth millions to me in my younger days,” earnestly declared the invalid. “Had I possessed it I’d not be here now, a broken-down man.”
It was a sad thing to hear him utter those words, and Frank realized their absolute truthfulness. Bernard Burrage had given out long before there was a necessity for such a thing, and now, even if he were to live some years, he must drag along in suffering and pain, punishment for the neglected opportunities of his youth.
Had he built himself up properly years before he might have remained robust and healthy to the end of his days, vigorous in his declining years.
The conversation now turned to other matters, and when Merry left it was with the promise that he would be on hand when they were ready to start for Fardale.
So Starbright returned alone to Yale.