“Billy, don’t waste time on him. I’m up against the worst ever, and I want your advice.”
“My advice!” He laughed. Yet what boy is not flattered by such a request from a lovely girl older than himself? “Are you banking on my wisdom? Yours is much greater.”
“Not for what I wish to know, Billy. Tell me about Mr. Alvin Short.”
He faced her quickly. “Alvin Short! I don’t know anything exactly, except that his reputation is as bad as a man’s can be. I get it from my brother Hal.”
“A grafter?”
“Yes, and worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yes. For one thing, he grafts within the law; but those he cinches get it—” Billy lifted an eloquent finger to his neck.
“I was afraid so. That’s where he’s got dad, I’m afraid.”
“Gee! Then he’s—” Billy paused, a great disgust for the man rising, but to be routed by a hot sympathy for the girl. “By gracious! You won’t have anything to do with him, will you?”