Dick had never spoken to him like this before.

Had he offended him unwittingly?
Had he been disloyal to his sovereignty?
Dick walked to the fireplace, and, pulling a letter from his pocket, read it through twice, apparently heedless of his subject's presence.
Then he looked up suddenly, and, crushing the paper viciously back into his pocket, stared hard at his perturbed companion.
"Young Aspinall," said he, sharply, "do you say I'm a fool ?" "Oh, no," replied the boy, staggered by the very suggestion, "I should never think of saying such a thing." "Should you say I was a blackguard ?" "No, indeed, Dick.

No one could say that." The hero's face brightened.

There was a warmth in Aspinall's voice which touched the most sensitive side of his nature.

Dick would have liked the ghost to be near to hear it.
"Should you say I've let myself be led astray, and made a mess of it here, at Templeton ?" "No, Dick, I don't think so," said the boy.
"What do you mean?
_don't think_.