“Very well, I’ll tell him,” answered the nurse. “I hope it’s good news, for the poor boy’s just about worn out.”
“It is,” Hansel assured her. “Good-by.”
The next morning Phin was back at school, and Hansel had to listen to his thanks when the two met in the library at the noon hour.
“Oh, rot!” said Hansel finally. “To hear you talk one would think I’d taken some trouble. It was the easiest thing in the world.”
“Maybe,” answered Phin, his pale, thin face very earnest, “but it was a mighty kind thing to do, Hansel, and I want you——”
“La-la, la-la-la, la-la!” sang Hansel, to drown the other’s protestations. “Phin, you annoy me! Shut up! Who’s going to win this afternoon?”
Phin smiled, shook his head, and took a generous bite of the sandwich he held in his hand. “You ought to know better than I,” he replied. “I feel as though I hadn’t been here for a month. What do they say?”
“Say we’ll win, but I’m afraid we won’t. And I feel like—like a traitor, Phin. If Warren beats us—!” He shook his head sadly.
“Heroic measures are sometimes necessary,” responded Phin, with his mouth full. “Whichever way it turns out, you won’t be to blame.”
“I suppose not, but it’s plaguey hard to see your team beaten, and know that you’ve helped beat it!”