"There's nothing to be done, as far as I can see, Dick."
"That's because you're not hearing what we hear. But it won't be long before you get it, too. It's just got to us, because they know we're friends of yours."
"Well, in the name of Sam Hill, what is it you hear?" asked Frank.
"Want it straight?" asked Ned. "The word's round that the Club is going to be disbanded, and that you're the cause of it. I almost got into a fight with the first guy that told me."
"Yes," added Dick, "and they say that the best fellows are getting out on account of you."
"Where did you get that?" asked Frank.
"Some one saw three or four of the fellows' mothers coming from the rectory the last few days, and one of them asked Joe Rooney if his mother was going to let him stay in the Club. You know Joe's father keeps a store on 42nd Street and is somebody. Well, Joe is true blue even if he is a dude, and he said, 'Why shouldn't I stay in the Club?' She said, 'Oh, I thought all the decent boys had left. I can't have my boy ever put his foot in that place again, with that pack of rowdies.'"
This was news for Frank, but to their surprise he showed little concern.
"Don't you see, Hank," said Dick, "that you are getting in bad. If a lot of mud is thrown, some will stick. It's easy to give a fellow a bad name, but it's hard to get rid of it. Why don't you do something? I am sure Father Boone also will get a lot of annoyance from it, unless you clear yourself."
But Frank did not seem to mind. It was so unlike him that Ned said, "If we didn't know you so well, Frank, we'd think you were mixed up in it ourselves."