“Well, a man’s got to let loose occasionally,” he said, as he began collecting his toilet articles.
“I suppose he has,” Amidon admitted without enthusiasm.
“I guess I ought to cut out these midnight parties and get down to business,” said Copeland, as though recent history called for some such declaration of his intentions.
“Well, it’s up to you,” Jerry replied. “You can let ’er slide if you want to.”
“You mean that the house is sliding already?” Copeland asked.
“It’s almost worse than a slide, if you want to know. But I didn’t come here to talk about that. There’s plenty of others can tell you more about the business than I can.”
“But they don’t,” said Copeland, frowning; “I suppose—I suppose maybe they’re afraid to.”
“I guess that’s right, too,” Jerry affirmed.
“Well, you’re in a position to learn what’s going on. I want to push you ahead. I hope you understand that.”
“Oh, you treat me all right,” said Jerry, but in a tone that Copeland didn’t find cheering.