“Perhaps you never knew.”
“That’s right, perhaps I didn’t. Seems to me, though, I’ve heard it was somewhere in New York State. Is that right?”
“Let it go at that; it’s near enough.”
“Oh, if there’s any reason why you don’t care to tell, of course you’ve a right to decline to answer.”
“Do you know, Sleuth, I always feel a natural disinclination to gratify the unwarranted curiosity of people who try to pry into affairs that are of no concern to them.”
“Oh, piffle, Fred! I’m not prying. What’s the matter with you? I was just thinking that probably before coming here you attended a school of more importance than Oakdale Academy. You knew as much about football as any fellow in this town when you appeared here, and that’s how you happened to get on the team as quarterback last year. Eliot said you were the fellow best adapted for the position, and you proved that he was right by the way you filled it.”
“Thanks for the taffy. Your generosity in handing it out has got me going. What do you want to know next? Ask and ye shall not receive. Rubber and you’ll get it in the neck.”
“Oh, all right, if you’re going to take it that way,” muttered Piper sourly. “Still, I don’t see why you should be so thundering suspicious. That is, I don’t see unless——”
“Unless I’ve some dark and terrible secret to conceal. You’re still making a jack of yourself trying to connect the Sages with your desperate jailbird, Gentleman Jim. It doesn’t seem to me, my astute detective friend, that you’re making much progress on your latest case. Apparently that reward is keeping well beyond the reach of your grasping fingers.”
“Even Sherlock Holmes required a certain amount of time to solve his problems,” reminded Piper, causing his companion to laugh loudly.