had partially sobered him. He shoved the crowd aside and stepped out into the road.
"Do you want to repeat that suggestion to me?" he demanded.
Herbert was bewildered. He stood there, trying to penetrate the darkness.
"Is that McNair?"
"It is, and I've just asked you a question."
"I don't quarrel with a drunken man," Herbert said contemptuously. "If you fellows have any respect for yourselves or this club you'll stop this kind of thing and clear out." He got back into the car. "As for you, McNair, better get to bed somewhere and sleep it off."
Before Tom could make a move toward him he had gone on.
The men he had left laughed, but they were vaguely uncomfortable. One of them picked up Herbert's hat, lying in the road, and they kicked it back to the club house. But Tom moved along morosely. There was bitterness and despair in his heart; the unexpected meeting with Herbert in the cool night air had effectually sobered him. And Herbert's contemptuous attitude rankled in his mind. He had stood in the light of the car lamps, immaculate in evening dress, and politely refused to soil his hands with him. Well, he could make him do that, if he wanted. He could walk into the club house and smack that tidy face of his. Or he
At the foot of the steps lay Herbert's soft hat, battered and dusty. As the men went on he hung behind them, and when his chance came he picked it up.
He waited until they were on the terrace above him. He had no feeling of resentment toward them. They were good fellows, and he had eaten their bread and drunk their liquor. It was not their fault that Kay had abandoned him to them; had gone away and not come back.
"Well, so long, everybody," he said. "I reckon I'll be moving on."
They protested, vigorously and sincerely, but he only smiled up at them and shook his head.
