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.
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