“I suppose I shall have no expense while there,” he mused, “being Harrington’s guest. I think I may risk it, and if I get stuck he’ll help me out, though I’d hate to ask him.”
For Rex had formed a resolution. He had determined to go on the coveted trip without his mother’s consent. He could leave a note explaining where he was.
It would not be half as terrible a thing, he argued, as for a fellow to run away from home and not mean to come back. There would be a great row raised about it, he supposed, but meanwhile he would have had a good time and the worst that they would do to him would be to send him away to boarding school, and he shouldn’t mind that very much.
He thought all this out on his way back from the hotel. To be sure, he would have to use the money he had been saving up for his mother’s present, but then he was in no mood to give her anything now.
He felt some twinges as his thoughts touched on this point, but at that moment some one took his stand in front of him and exclaimed: “Surrender or give the countersign.”
It was Harrington.
“Yale,” answered Rex promptly.
“You’ve decided to go, then,” said Harrington. turning around to walk back with him. “That’s right. We’ll have oceans of fun. We’ll meet Stout and Cheever in New York, and we can just paint the town, I tell you.”
Rex was not certain that he would do any town painting. He would be quite content to be in Harrington’s company.
“I can go if it doesn’t cost too much,” he replied, thinking it best to be frank on that point on the start. “You see, my allowance isn’t a big one as yet, and I don’t dare ask for any more.”