"Now, you're not taking me to your room," objected the younger man, as his captor, not relaxing the hold on his arm, led him toward the elevator.
"Guess again, Freddy," said Bertram; and the visitor, after a moment of holding back, found himself in the elevator.
When they were in King's room, and the door closed, the host indicated a chair, but the guest remained standing.
Bertram smiled a little wistfully as he regarded the other's youthful strength, thinking his face, in its present condition of repressed emotion, looked as it must have done when he was ten.
"What do you want with me?" asked Freddy, his head held high.
"I wish I knew what you use for a hair tonic," said Bertram, passing his hand over his own fair locks, beginning to feel thin at the crown.
"Don't be a—What have you brought me up here for?"
"To let you pull yourself together for one thing. You were in a fair way to assault and batter all down the avenue."
"You—you fish!" ejaculated the visitor, changing his mind suddenly, and dropping into the offered chair. Quite frankly he covered his flushed face with his handkerchief and choked into it.
King sat down near an open window, and waited for the paroxysm to pass.