"O, bosh!" cried Radcliff, giving Jack a sinister look. "You and I'll be better acquainted, some day! Come, boys, show me what you've been about lately. And, see here, Rufe,—haven't I got a pair of pants about the house somewhere? See how that dog tore my trousers-leg! I'll pay him my compliments, too, some time!"
As he was walking out of the house, Lion at the door gave a growl. Jack silenced the dog, and then took leave. Vinnie urged him to stay to supper.
"It will be ready in five minutes," she said; "I was just going to set the table when you came."
But Jack replied, with a bitter smile, that he believed his appetite would be better after a ride of a few miles in the open air.
"Look out for the scamp!" he whispered in her ear; and then, with brief good-byes to the rest, he sprang into the buggy, called Lion to a seat by his side, and drove away.
CHAPTER XXXII.
AN IMPORTANT EVENT.
Radcliff resumed his place in the family. But he soon found that his relations to it were no longer what they had been before the days of Vinnie and Jack.
The "new elements" had produced a greater change than he supposed. He no longer possessed the boundless influence over the boys which his wild spirits formerly gave him. They saw him in the light of this last revelation of his character, and contrasted his coarse foolery, once so attractive, with the gentle manners and cheerful earnestness of Vinnie and Jack; in which comparison this flower of the Betterson stock suffered blight.