With Mask and Mitt

distinctive hatband, from the furious and absorbing intimacy which he developed with

r the fraternity the countenance of the faculty. If any member of the Omicron had been asked-by his father, let us say, for no[Pg 67] student would have ventured upon such dangerous ground-what kind of fellows belonged to the society, he would have answered emphatically "mighty nice fellows." And the answer would have been in the main true, for the tendency toward conformity is strong in b

tcher," said Durand one morning

walk and stared in amazemen

do you

d Durand, soberly. "He's b

he

g

There may be more. He's running bills at one drug store anyway, and I thin

m?" demanded Poole, angrily.

ot his guardian. I don't run the Omic

Poole. "What did you get

fact, and between ourselv

east not let your gang lead him off. You knew he was a scholars

and praising him and kowtowing to him as if he[Pg 69] were a little tin god? You don't suppose he cares anything for my opinion, do you? Yo

ake out," he said. "You always were prejudiced against the fellow, you and Lindsay too; and I think I know why. Owen's soured because he can't catch Carle

never, so far as I've known, said one word against Carle to any one. He did say why he changed O'Connell for Patterson. Patterson wante

I am," s

have you seen

ok in on him eve

you think

m and O'Connell as second-string batter

rd him coachi

so. There was nothing

his dormitory entry, leaving Poole to meditate on the conversation. The meditation concerned but

se own records were high, or who remembered some especially striking failures on the part of Carle, were of the opinion that he was falling in rank. The great majority of middle weights considered him, in gene

t at his desk for an unpleasant half hour, and later having performed a little problem in addition and subtraction which apparently gave him no relief, accepted unhesitatingly the invitation of Jon

es, and Carle was bright enough to take full advantage of opportunities afforded by the recitations. But all the time, as his outside interests increased, and the circle of intimates with whom he idled grew, his study became more superficial. The translation book was no longer reserved for special emergency; it lay open on his desk from the first line of the lesson to the last. His newly develope

g

the young teacher of history, at a faculty meetin

smile. "I haven't noticed it," he sai

g faculty member of the Omicron, must know Carle's habits of work much better than he himself did; and, secondly, that he was but a tyro at the business, with much to learn, both as to boys and the ways of the school. He did not see that the Principal m