“No, I’ll wait a while.”
“It isn’t about that trouble at home; is it?” asked Sid in a low voice.
“Well, in a way, yes,” admitted Tom. “You see I don’t know when I may have to leave here, and it wouldn’t be just right to enter for a contest and then have to drop out.”
“Do you think it would be as bad as that?”
“It might be—there’s no telling.”
“Tom,” said Sid, and his voice took on a new tone. “I think you ought to enter, and practice up to the last minute. If you have to drop out, of course, that’s a different matter. But I think you ought to do your best.”
“Why? There are plenty of others. Why should I?”
“Why? For the honor of Randall, of course. You never were a quitter, and——”
“And I’m not going to begin now,” finished Tom with a smile. “I’ll enter the games, Sid.”
“I thought you would,” was the quiet answer.