"He wouldn't borrow," said Shorty, indignantly; "last of all from Hoover. None of us ever owe him anything except——" And Shorty gulps, and the tears that were starting to his eyes burn out before the sudden fire of his wrath.
"Except what?" asks Pop, deliberately.
"A lickin'," says Shorty, with reddening face, whereat the Doctor's head tilts back and the great stomach heaves spasmodically. The grim lines about the wide mouth relax. It is his way of laughing and he enjoys it, but Shorty doesn't.
"I wish you'd tell me what's the trouble with—with Lawton, sir," he almost sobs again. "They won't let me see him, and the boys say it's all a——" But here Shorty breaks off, which is unlike him.
"Yes," suggested Pop, "they say it's all a—what?"
"Shame," said Shorty, well knowing that that shame is mentally qualified by a most unqualified adjective.
Pop ponders a moment. "Has none of the boys missed anything besides Joy,—no trinkets, rings, anything?"
"Hoover and Briggs are always missing something, sir, and Seymour lost a gold pencil."
"But Lawton never borrowed and didn't owe anybody,—in school, I mean?" asks Pop.
"Didn't owe anybody anywhere that I know of!" protests Shorty. "He says it makes him sick to owe anything. If Hoover says anything different, he's lying. That's all."