"Did you think it was right for you, in your position, to play?"
"If I had thought it was wrong I assuredly should not have played," the young man returned.
"Everybody is talking about it, and father says he thinks you have disgraced your calling."
"Disgraced my calling by playing an innocent game?"
"But father thinks it is a shame for a man who is preparing to do such work as yours to have people talking about him as a mere ball-player."
The blood mounted in hot surges to the young man's face. He felt like saying, "Your father be hanged," but he controlled his anger, and said, quietly, "Elizabeth, don't you ever think for yourself?"
"I suppose I do, Fred, but I have been brought up to respect what my elders think and say."
"Don't you think that they, as well as we, can be narrow and mistaken?"
"It is not for me to judge them. My part is to obey."