“Well, suppose I did know of one—or you did—what would you do? Would you tell the coach or the captain?”
“What good would it do?”
“That’s not the point. Would you?”
“Well, you must have a reason for telling. Don’t you learn that in psychology?”
“Of course. Well, my reason might be that I wanted to see the crew do good work and not lose on account of some fellow who couldn’t last out a race because he broke training rules on the sly. Or it might be that I wanted to see the fellow himself take a brace.”
“Both good reasons, son. Both good. As the Romans say, Mens sana in corpore sano. You would do it for his own physical good. Very nice. For his mental improvement also.”
“I’m serious,” declared Tom.
“So am I, you conscientious old wind-ammer! I know it. The trouble is you’re too serious. Why don’t you let things slide sometimes?”
“I can’t.”