"Her fancy man flattened me out."
"Flattened you out?"
"Hit me on the back of the head with a stick."
"Nothing very serious, I suppose; still it's a pity you got mixed up with those people."
"Yes; the girl came down next night with another stick to flatten out her fancy man." Unconsciously there was a note of pride in Jack's voice.
"Dear me, what terrible people! It's a very great pity you got mixed up with them at all—a very great pity."
"Yes, it is a pity," Jack agreed. He seemed so pensive that his father regarded him in some concern.
"Many young men entirely wreck their lives by these youthful entanglements," he said. "Those sort of girls, who appear beautiful and fascinating at your age, usually strike one as coarse and outré a few years later."
"That's very possible," Jack admitted, and he smiled as though a weight had been lifted off his mind.
They turned in at the big double gates.