“By going to Prof. Richardson and interceding in Stone’s behalf. You can’t deny that. You certainly did it.”
“Will you wait until I attempt to deny anything?” requested Roger coldly. “I did go to the professor and tell him a few plain facts which I happened to know.”
“Facts!” sneered Bern. “Lies which Stone had poured into your ears. It’s remarkable that you should take the word of a creature like that instead of mine.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Hayden. I spoke to the professor about the encounter between Rollins and Stone, and likewise told him of Stone’s heroic defense of Amy. Prof. Richardson believed Ben had attacked Hunk without reasonable provocation; he was not aware that the affair had been brought about by Rollins’ bullying abuse of little Jimmy Jones. I was not the only one who gave him the straightforward facts; an eye-witness of the whole thing had spoken to him about it before I mentioned it. Naturally, I am grateful toward Stone; I’d be a fine fellow if I wasn’t.”
“He’s a cheap dog, and all your efforts to patch him up and make him appear decent won’t succeed; his real nature can’t help coming to the surface. Why, it’s only necessary for one to take a look at him to size him up. What has he told you about me?”
“I prefer not to speak of any private conversation that may have taken place between Stone and myself.”
“Oh, then he has told you a mess of stuff. I knew it. If you wish to know what people think of Stone in Hilton, I’ll furnish evidence enough. His father was convicted of counterfeiting, sent to prison, and——”
“Do you believe that the errors of a parent should blight the life of his son?”
“‘Like father, like son,’ is an old saying, Eliot. Water won’t run up hill. But Stone’s own record is enough to ban him from decent company. His own uncle admitted that he ought to be sent to the reform school, and he would have been if he hadn’t run away. The people of Hilton regard it as a good riddance, too.”
“It’s hard for a fellow when his own relatives turn against him.”