human
It wasn't Merriwell's fault that the freshies didn't win,
gpt
Not a bit of it, agreed Pierson.
human
I was expecting a great deal of Merriwell, but I believe he is a better man than I thought he could be.
gpt
Then you have arrived at the conclusion that he is fast enough for the regular team?
human
I rather think he is.
gpt
Will you give him a trial?
human
We may. It is a bad thing for any freshman to get an exalted opinion of himself and his abilities, for it is likely to spoil him. I don't want to spoil Merriwell--
gpt
Look here, interrupted Collingwood, impulsively.
human
I am inclined to doubt if it is an easy thing to spoil that fellow. He hasn't put on airs since coming to Yale, has he?
gpt
No.
human
Instead of that, he has lived rather simply--far more so than most fellows would if they could afford anything better. He has made friends with everybody who appeared to be white, no matter whether their parents possessed boodle or were poor.
gpt
That is one secret of Merriwell's popularity. He hasn't shown signs of thinking himself too good to be living.
human
Yet I have it straight that he has a fortune in his own right, and he may live as swell as he likes while he is here. What do you think of that?
gpt
It may be true, admitted Pierson.
human
He is an original sort of chap--
gpt
But they say there isn't anything small or mean about him, put in Collingwood, swiftly.
human
He isn't living cheap for economy's sake. You know he doesn't drink.
gpt
Yes. I have made inquiries about his habits.
human
Still they say he opens wine for his friends now and then, drinking ginger ale, or something of that sort, while they are surrounding fizz, for which he settles. And he is liberal in other ways.
gpt
He is an enigma in some ways.
human
I have heard a wild sort of story about him, but I don't take much stock in it. It is the invention of some fertile brain.
gpt
What is it?
human
Oh, a lot of trash about his having traveled all over the world, been captured by pirates and cannibals, fought gorillas and tigers, shot elephants and so forth. Of course that's all rot.
gpt
Of course. What does he say about it?
human
Oh, he simply laughs at the stories. If a fellow asks him point-blank if they are true he tells him not to let anybody string him. He seems to regard the whole business as a weak sort of joke that some fellow is trying to work.
gpt
Without doubt that's what it is, for he's too young to have had such adventures. Besides that, there's no fellow modest enough to deny it if he had had them.
human
Of course there isn't.