“Mother thinks he’s got kidney disease. Old men are very apt to have that trouble.”
“I never heard him complain of being sick.”
By this time the two boys had reached the village.
“I think I’ll drop into the drug store,” said Rodney. “They keep cigarettes there, don’t they?”
“I believe so.”
“Mother don’t like me to smoke, but I do it on the sly. I’ll give you a cigarette, if you want one,” he said, in an unusual fit of generosity.
“Thank you, but I don’t smoke.”
“It’s just as well, for you are poor and couldn’t afford to buy cigarettes. Well, I suppose you’ve got to go on.”
“Yes.”
So the two boys parted. Rodney entered the drug store, and not only bought a package of cigarettes, but drank a glass of soda water. It did not occur to him to offer Grant soda water, for that would have cost a nickel, while a cigarette was inexpensive.