“Well, you know you made a great fuss about that half-crown.”
“As if it was about the money!” cried Hugh. “I should not have cared a bit if my uncle had asked me for it back again the next day. It was the being cheated. That was the thing. What a shame—”
“By-the-by, did your uncle ever ask what you did with that half-crown?”
“No; but he will next week, at the January fair. He will be sure to ask then. What a shame of the boys to say so, when I forgave—”
He remembered, just in time, that he had better not boast, or speak aloud, of having forgiven Lamb his debt in secret. He resolved that he would not say another word, but let the boys see that he did not care for money for its own sake. They were all wrong, but he would be above noticing it; and, besides, he really had been very anxious about his half-crown, and they had only mistaken the reason.
“How much did you bet on the balloon?” he inquired of Holt.
“A shilling; and I lost.”
“Then you owe eighteen-pence.”
“But that is not all. I borrowed a shilling of Meredith to pay school-fines—”
“What for?”