ou
fellows together, and you seem like a jolly lot. Heard you singing, you
know. Great voices--good singing."

Then he stopped speaking, and they stared at him, wondering what he was
driving at. For a moment there was an awkward pause, and then Bloodgood
went on:

"I was up pretty late last night, you know. Had a little game in the
smoking-room. Plenty of booze, and all that, and I'm awfully rocky
to-day. Got a splitting headache. Didn't know but some of you had a
bromo seltzer, or something of the sort. You look like a crowd that
finds such things handy occasionally."

At this Frank laughed quietly, but Diamond looked angry and indignant.

"What do you take us for?" exclaimed the Virginian, warmly. "Do you
think we are a lot of boozers?"

Bloodgood turned on Jack, lifting his eyebrows.

"My dear fellow--" he began.

But Frank put in:

"We have no use for bromo seltzer, as none of us are drinkers."

"Oh, of course not," said the intruder, with something like a sneer.
"None of us are drinkers, but then we're all liable to get a little too
much sometimes, especially when we sit up late and play poker."

Frank saw that Diamond had taken an instant dislike to the youth with
the diamonds and the red necktie, and he felt like averting a storm,
even though he did not fancy the manner of the intruder.

"We do not sit up late and play poker," he said.

"Eh? Oh, come off! You're a jolly lot of fellows, and you must have a
fling sometimes."

"We can be jolly without drinking or gambling."

"Why, I'm hanged if you don't talk as if you considered it a crime to
take a drink or have a little social game!"

Frank felt his blood warm up a bit, but he held himself in hand, as he
quietly retorted:

"Intemperance is a crime. I presume there are men who take a drink, as
you call it, without being intemperate; but I prefer to let the stuff
alone entirely, and then there is no danger of going over the limit."

"And I took you for a sport! That shows how a fellow can be fooled. But
you do play poker occasionally. I know that."

"How do you know it, Mr. Bloodgood?"

"By your language. You just spoke of going over the limit. That is a
poker term."

"And one used by many people who never played a game of cards in their
lives."

"But you have played cards? You have played poker? Can you deny it?"

"If I could, I wouldn't take the trouble, Mr. Bloodgood. I think you
have made a mistake in sizing up this crowd."

"Gues