he last time you played at my
house," retorted Dick, quickly.

"Oh, well, that--er--that was on a table you were used to, and----"

"He's worried about losing the money!" interrupted Guy Fletcher. "Come
on, Simon, I'll play you. I'm not afraid of ten dollars, even if my
father isn't quite as wealthy as his."

As a matter of fact Guy's father was very far from being as well off as
Mr. Hamilton, but Guy took upon himself as much importance, and gave
himself as many airs, as though his parent was a multi-millionaire.

"Hold on!" exclaimed Dick sharply, straightening up and thrusting his
hands in the pockets of his well-fitting coat. "Now don't you fellows
get any wrong notions into your heads. Go a little slow. You asked me to
come into a public billiard-room and play a game with you. I----"

"Yes, and you refused because you're afraid!" retorted Guy.

"That's where you're wrong," replied Dick coolly. "I refused because, in
the first place, I don't play billiards in a public resort like this. I
like the game, but I have a fine table at home, and I see no reason why
I should waste my time hanging around in a place that's thick with
tobacco smoke, and where the language isn't the most polite, not to put
it too strong. Besides, the tables are in such poor condition that----"

"Oh, so you've turned Miss Nancy!" exclaimed Simon, with a mean smirk.

"If you think so just come up to my gymnasium and put on the boxing
gloves with me," invited Dick with a meaning smile; but Simon knew
better than to accept. He had once boxed a friendly round with Dick and
had been sore for a week afterward, for Simon was "soft."

"Another reason," continued Dick, "is that I never gamble, whether it's
over a game of billiards or something else. I don't believe it's right.
It isn't a question of money at all. In fact, if you need a little
cash, I don't mind lending it to you. But I'll not gamble for it.

"However," went on the wealthy youth, "don't let me stand in the way of
you two having a good time. 'Every one to their notion,' as the old lady
said when she kissed the cow," and Dick laughed.

"What's the cow got to do with it?" inquired Simon, who did not see the
point of Dick's joke.

"Afraid," murmured Guy, but so low that Dick did not hear him.

"The cow," retorted Dick, with a glance at Simon, "is a second cousin to
the one that jumped over the moon. But, aside from all this," he
continued, more seriously, "if I did feel like play