“I’m going to!” Kid dived into his pocket, but Ben seized his arm.
“No, you shan’t, Kid! It isn’t going to be allowed, is it, fellows?”
“No, sir!” said Dick Gardner. “Let it be a lesson to you, Lanny, not to be sneaky. You heard Kid say he’d take the things back and instead of coming and telling us like—like a man you made believe you liked the things and made us sell you ours cheap. Now you take your medicine!”
“If he does he will die,” murmured Bert. “I wouldn’t take one for fifty dollars!”
“That’s it!” cried Stanley Pierce. “Let’s make him eat one, fellows. Come on!”
But Lanny, with one fearful howl of fright, broke through the group, eluding the restraining hands that reached for him, and fled upstairs. Above the laughter of those in the hall came the sound of a slamming door and of a bolt driven home. Ben turned to Kid, laying a hand protectingly on his shoulder.
“Don’t you pay him a cent, Kid. And if he bothers you any more you come to me.”
“Thanks, Ben. Still, rather than have him or anyone else feel that I hadn’t acted square——”
“No one says that, Kid. The idea! Why, I—I didn’t half dislike those tablets, honest! We don’t want you to take them back, do we, fellows?”
Everyone agreed that he didn’t, Bert louder than any. Kid shot a reproachful look at him and Bert grinned.