“My, wouldn’t I like that!” he exclaimed. “Are the other fellows nice? I suppose they’re mostly all swells like you, aren’t they?”
“I’m not a ‘swell,’ thank you! There are all sorts of fellows at Yardley, though. I guess the kind you call ‘swells’ are pretty few. Lots of them are just poor fellows――――”
“Oh, I don’t mind. I am poor, you know. I mean dad is. We used to have a little money, when the boat yard was more――more flourishing, but nowadays we just sort of scrape along. That’s why I couldn’t go to boarding school. It would cost too much money. I’d like to, though. Say, wouldn’t I just!” Toby’s face lighted. Then he laughed. “I guess it wouldn’t do, though, because I’d have to fight half the school for calling me red-headed!”
“You’d have your hands full then. We’ve got about three hundred fellows.”
Toby shook his head sadly. “I wouldn’t last, then, would I? The only thing I could do would be to dye my hair black. Do you have to study very hard?”
“Yes, we do,” answered Arnold, frankly. “Especially in fourth and third classes.”
“I’ll be in third next year. Last year was my first. Say, wouldn’t it be great if you could get your father to let you come to Yardley?”
“Yes, it would be dandy,” answered Toby, smiling wryly. “And I can see him doing it! How much does it cost, anyway? Say it slow, will you, so it won’t sound so much?”
“Is that all?” asked Toby carelessly. “Would they take a check for it? Go ahead. What else do you have to pay for?”
“Room and board, of course. That costs from two hundred to three hundred and fifty, according to your room.”
“Well, I’d want a nice room, of course; one with a southern exposure and hard and soft water. How much would I have to pay for storing my automobile?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” laughed Arnold. “That isn’t an awful lot of money, is it?”
“No, indeed! Oh, no! But I suppose there’d be extras, wouldn’t there? Maybe I’d have to tip the principal and the teachers, eh?”
“You’d have to pay five dollars a year as an athletic assessment, and pay for your washing and your books. Books don’t cost much. You can get second-hand ones usually if you want to.”
“I guess not!” exclaimed Toby indignantly. “Nothing cheap for Tobias Tucker! Well, I’ll figure it up and think it over. But say, honest now, do all boarding schools cost like this one of yours?”