“Because there will be no one to lay the blame upon. He is out of the store.”
“That is true. I didn’t think of that. But I invited him to come around and call. If he should, and something else should be missing it would be laid to him.”
“I don’t believe he will call. I am terribly hard up, and our source of income has failed us. Haven’t you got a dollar or two to spare?”
“No,” answered Jasper coldly. “I only get seven dollars a week.”
“But you have nearly all that. You only have to hand in two dollars a week to your uncle.”
“Look here, Philip Carton, I hope you don’t expect to live off me. I have all I can do to take care of myself.”
Carton looked at Jasper in anger and mortification.
“I begin to understand how good a friend you are,” he said.
“I am not fool enough to pinch myself to keep you,” said Jasper bluntly. “You are a man of twenty five and I am only a boy. You ought to be able to take care of yourself.”
“Just give me a dollar, or lend it Jasper, and I will risk it at play. I may rise from the table with a hundred. If I do I will pay you handsomely for the loan.”