"Right you are," was the reply. "And we'll have to work pretty hard to catch up with our classes."
"But your head, Tom——"
"Oh, that has got to take care of itself," had been Tom's reply; and there the matter had dropped for the time being. But often Sam would watch his brother closely, for he knew that poor Tom had been seriously hurt and was by no means entirely over it.
When the two brothers had returned to Brill they had had to tell their chums of all their doings in and near New York. Songbird had smiled grimly on hearing of the fate of Josiah Crabtree.
"Well, he deserved it," the would-be poet had said. "He was a snake in the grass from the start."
"I hope he doesn't cross our path again," Sam had replied. "I never want to see him, again."
"Nor do I," had come from Tom. "If he's a cripple I reckon he'll keep out of our sight."
It was hard work, after all the excitement of their doings in New York, and the added excitement of the wedding, for Sam and Tom to settle down to the hum-drum routine of life at college, but the lads did their best. Nellie Laning and her sister Grace came back to Hope Seminary and the young folks managed to see each other at least once a week. Nellie was very solicitous about Tom, and when he admitted to her that his head still hurt at times she wanted to know why he didn't return to the farm for a long rest.
"Oh, I don't want to drop behind in my studies, Nellie," had been his answer. "I want to get through, and go into business, like Dick has done," and he gazed at her in a manner that caused her to blush deeply.
"Yes, I know. But, Tom dear, supposing your head——" She did not know how to go on.