The talk became more serious after that, and the subjects ran all the way from Football to Elective Courses. At nine o’clock Mr. Collins disappeared and returned presently with a tall pitcher of lemonade and a tin box of biscuits. The conversation again became jocular, Tooker starting it with:
“Well, Teller, I was right after all, wasn’t I?”
“About what?” asked Sanford gravely.
“About the lemonade,” replied Tooker with the straightest of faces. “You said you didn’t think Mr. Collins would give us lemonade to-night and guessed you wouldn’t come. I told you he would, though!”
Sanford’s shocked denials were drowned in the laughter of the rest, from which Tooker’s voice emerged again:
“—Very wrong, I think, to consider your stomach as much as you do, Teller. I’ll have another biscuit, please, Arthur.”
Kendall found Ned Tooker fascinatingly amusing. Kendall was not much of a joker himself, but he was blessed with a generous sense of humor and he enjoyed Ned’s ridiculous remarks thoroughly. Presently the little gathering broke up, Tooker tugging at Sanford’s sleeve with one hand and exhibiting the empty pitcher with the other:
“Come on, Teller, it’s all gone; honest; look for yourself.”
Sanford informed him that he was a “silly ass.”