"I shall be in ten years, though," said Dicky.
"Then you might repudiate the loan," said the G. B., and Dicky said "What?" Of course he ought to have said "I beg your pardon. I didn't quite catch what you said"—that is what Oswald would have said. It is more polite than "What."
"Repudiate the loan," the G. B repeated. "I mean you might say you would not pay me back the money, and the law could not compel you to do so."
"Oh, well, if you think we're such sneaks," said Dicky, and he got up off his chair. But the G. B. said, "Sit down, sit down; I was only joking."
Then he talked some more, and at last he said—
"I don't advise you to enter into that partnership. It's a swindle. Many advertisements are. And I have not a hundred pounds by me to-day to lend you. But I will lend you a pound, and you can spend it as you like. And when you are twenty-one you shall pay me back."
"I shall pay you back long before that," said Dicky. "Thanks, awfully! And what about the note of hand?"
"Oh," said the G. B., "I'll trust to your
