“Short for Montfort.”
“Why, that’s French, isn’t it?”
“Yes, my mother was French. But, I don’t remember her at all.” They went up the steps at the end of the path, passed through the gate, and crossed the road to the Green. “Say, you’d better come up to my room and fix up a bit, hadn’t you? I live in Morris, the house on the corner there. I don’t know what they think about scrapping here, but maybe if a teacher spotted you there’d be trouble.”
“Thanks, I will, if you don’t mind.”
“Not a bit. Hope my roommate isn’t in, though. He’s a regular Indian. Here we are.” The steps were deserted now, and although the open doors of several rooms proved their occupants at home, Number F was dark and empty. Monty switched on the light, closed the door and viewed his new friend. And Leon viewed Monty. And after a moment their lips began to curve upward, and then, quite suddenly, Monty had subsided on his bed, and Leon on Standart’s, and they were shouting and rocking with laughter!
CHAPTER VII
MONTY SHAKES HANDS
And, really, their appearance was cause enough for laughter. Their clothes, no longer dripping water but damp and creased and dirty, were spotted with leaves and twigs. Collars and ties hung like limp rags. Mud flaked from their shoes. They were, in short, two as disreputable looking youths as one could expect to encounter in a day’s march, and, to add to their sorry appearance, each bore evidence of the recent encounter. Leon had escaped somewhat lightly, only a bruise on one cheekbone showing, but Monty’s countenance was sadly disfigured. His nose had bled a little, his right eye promised to be purple by morning, there was a contused area around his chin, and that maltreated ear was, while not as large as the football he had likened it to, at least much bigger than the other one.
After a minute their laughter subsided into chuckles, and Monty said a bit sheepishly: “I guess we’re a couple of fools, partner!” But Leon shook his head as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “No, we’re not, Crail. We had a good time, didn’t we?”
Monty grinned. “Sure! And I guess I sort of needed exercise, for I was getting mighty glum and mean feeling. Do I look pretty bad?”