“It is true, and what is more, he hinted that you had committed a great crime.”
“Come, come; you must have been dreaming.”
“I was as wide awake then as I am now.”
Lamont, senior, smiled knowingly.
“You must drop this black bird.”
“I am of age and have the right to choose my friends,” was his son’s answer.
“Then keep him and yourself in the future.”
The young man gazed at his father in wide-open astonishment.
“You certainly don’t mean that,” he said.
“I do. He is your friend, you say. Keep him and yourself. I guess that’s plain.”