"You're a chump!" declared the broad-shouldered young miner, backing Jeffard against the wall and pinning him fast with one finger. "You're no man's man, and you're not fit to live in a man's town. Why didn't you come around to breakfast this morning, like decent people?"
"I'm not boarding at the St. James now." Jeffard tried to say it naturally, but the evasion was palpable enough.
"What of that? Couldn't you afford to be sociable once in a way?"
Jeffard prevaricated, and since he was but a clumsy liar, contrived to fall into a snare of his own setting.
"I was up too early for you, I guess. When I came by, the clerk told me you weren't down yet."
Bartrow shook his head and appeared to be much moved.
"What an abnormal liar that clerk must be," he commented reflectively. "I asked him five minutes ago if any one had inquired for me, and he said no."
Jeffard hung his head and would have tried to break away; but Bartrow locked arms with him and dragged him whither he would.
"I'll forgive you this time," he went on, laughing at Jeffard's discomfiture. "I suppose you had your reasons for dodging, and while it's ten to one they were no good, that leaves one chance in your favor. Have a smoke?"