"I want to be a brakeman,
And with the brakemen stay,
I'd ride upon the choo-choo cars
Through all the livelong day,"
he warbled, rocking backward and forward in time to his song.
"Why don't you go down to the railroad yard and put in your application, then?" was Reddy's stolid advice. "If I intended to be a brakeman I wouldn't study law."
"Alas! I am obliged to obey the wishes of my cruel parents," whined Hippy. "I am seriously contemplating wrapping a few little things in a handkerchief and leaving home forever. I remember once when I was very young and unsophisticated I decided upon this step. I was deeply incensed with Father because he had punished me for playing truant from school. I went upstairs to my room and packed three neckties, a boxing glove, two books, a baseball and a picture of myself in baseball clothes in a suit case. I carried the bat, and as a last precaution I took a toy pistol and my bank, which boasted of sixty-four cents. I started at about eight o'clock in the evening and went as far as the summer house at the lower end of our grounds. I sat down to rest, went to sleep and woke up about two o'clock in the morning. Then I discovered that I was afraid of the dark and didn't dare go even as far as the house. I crept into the summer house and stayed there until morning; then I went home, suit case and all. I managed to get into the house before any one else was up, but I decided there were worse places than home. However, if the brakeman aspiration proves too strong I may be obliged to leave home again. After all, it may be my vocation."
"Hippy Wingate, when will you be sensible?" asked Nora O'Malley.
"Never, I am afraid. You see, my associations tend to make me foolish. Birds of a feather, you know, and when one's intimate friends——" Hippy paused. "You understand I don't like to say that you in particular are responsible, but——"
"I'll never forgive you for that," declared Nora.
"Then that means that our engagement——"
Hippy was not allowed to finish. A shout went up from the others, and he and Nora were surrounded.
"Hippy, how could you?" The pink in Nora's cheeks deepened, but she did not deny his statement.