“On your mettle?” she suggested.
“Yes; that’s it, more on my mettle, I found I did care for it … a great deal, in fact. But still, it’s not so absorbing to me as it might be. You see, while each battle is a sort of problem which I must work out with my wits and muscle, yet to me the issue is never in doubt—”
“He’s never had a fight go to a decision,” Stubener proclaimed. “He’s won every battle by the knock-out route.”
“And it’s this certainty of the outcome that robs it of what I imagine must be its finest thrills,” Pat concluded.
“Maybe you’ll get some of them thrills when you go up against Jim Hanford,” said the manager.
Pat smiled, but did not speak.
“Tell me some more,” she urged, “more about the way you feel when you are fighting.”
And then Pat amazed his manager, Miss Sangster, and himself, by blurting out:
“It seems to me I don’t want to talk with you on such things. It’s as if there are things more important for you and me to talk about. I—”
He stopped abruptly, aware of what he was saying but unaware of why he was saying it.