ILLUSTRATIONS
| “I shall have to ask you five dollars, which is halfthe customary fee” | [ Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| “Bless my heart! Whatever have you been doing,Betty!” | [ 38] |
| “Am I to conclude that it has been a wilful disregardof rules?” | [ 162] |
| The famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’ssilk hat was heartily applauded | [ 228] |
BOUNCING BET
CHAPTER I
“P ’R’APS I ought to be going,” remarked Tommy suddenly, à propos of nothing.
“Going! Why, you just came!” exclaimed his host.
“But I was here yesterday, and——”
“Do you mean you want to get off—you have something on hand?” Mr. Meadowcroft inquired.
Tommy grinned. “No, sir, nothin’ o’ that sort. I’m too comfortable.” He bounced up and down in the springy easy-chair as if to illustrate his words. “And, my goodness, I’d a heap drather be here than anywhere else. Only dad, you know—I was sort of experimenting on you—‘Sorry to have you go, but here’s your hat’—and all that, you know.”
“Don’t experiment any more, then, for it’s only a waste of time,” Mr. Meadowcroft rejoined kindly, his unusual voice and the courtesy of his manner making his words the more impressive to the country lad. “It’s mighty good of you to drop in on me as you do, and I hardly know how I should get along without you now. I certainly hope nothing will induce you to put that to an experiment.”