"Perhaps you don't mind letting me enjoy your int'resting joke with you, Mr. Dodge," drawled Anstey, coming into the room.
"It wouldn't interest you, Mr. Anstey. Its foundation lies in by-gone days back in Gridley," floundered Dodge.
"At any rate, your fire has destroyed the—ah—joke. Will you assure me, Mr. Dodge, that the joke was only a good-natured one?" asked Dick Prescott, eyeing Dodge sternly.
"I assure you of that on my honor as a cadet and a gentleman," said
Dodge stiffly.
"Very well then. And now good-night." The plebe who had just perjured himself turned from Prescott toward Anstey. He saw that the Virginian did not believe him.
"Just a word, Mr. Dodge," put in Anstey. "As we are near the end of the barracks year I will not ask for a new roommate. But when we come back from the summer encampment I will see to it that my roommate is some one else."
Bert Dodge paled, then flushed crimson. "Am I entitled to a reason for that, Anstey?"
"Mister Anstey, if you please, now and always hereafter."
"Certainly, Mr. Anstey. May I ask your reason for desiring a new roommate?"
"I think I need not give my reason, Mr. Dodge," and Anstey turned his back.