“I really think it’s wiser,” said Patricia, looking at him with a worried expression.
The telephone rang sharply a second time.
“Don’t tell me it’s that pest again!” cried Patricia, as Ted took off the receiver.
“Yes. Oh, hello, Anne. Well, spill it. You heard what? The deuce he did! Of all the rot I ever—To be sure it will. Thanks a lot for telling me. I’ll see what can be done right away. Goodbye.”
“Well, what’s happened now?” demanded Patricia.
“No use in my trying to break the news gently. Anne says there is a rumor around college tonight that Jack was offered a big bribe to stay out of the Greystone game; that he took it, and has disappeared. Can you beat that?”
Patricia, speechless with distress, simply twisted her napkin into a mere rope.
“The curs! The contemptible curs!” exploded Jack. “I might have known they’d get even with me some way!”
“Don’t tell me there’s a foundation for that rumor!” cried Ted sharply.
“There is,” replied Jack shortly. “I didn’t mean to tell this; but listen.” Rapidly, yet omitting no important detail, he related the story of the afternoon previous to his imprisonment in the belfry. “And the worst of it is, I haven’t a single witness. They can say pretty nearly what they choose, and go unchallenged.”