The Guarded Heights. Camp Wadsworth

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СКАЧАТЬ limped about thoughtfully. He named a tailor of the town. He prescribed an outing suit and a dinner suit.

      "Because," he said, "if you're asked about, you want to be able to go, and a dinner suit will pass for a Freshman nearly anywhere."

      "If," George asked himself defiantly as he walked home, "Squibs thinks my ambition unworthy, why does he go out of his way to boost it? Anyway, I'm going to do my best to make touchdowns for him and Mrs. Squibs. Is that Princeton spirit, or Bailly spirit, or am I fooling myself, and am I going to make touchdowns just for myself and Sylvia Planter?"

      VII

      The meeting he had desired above all things to avoid took place when he was, for a moment, off his guard. He was on his way to Dickinson Hall for his first examination. Perhaps that was why he was too absorbed to notice the automobile drawn up at the curb just ahead, and facing him. He had no warning. He nearly collided with Lambert Planter, who walked out of a shop. George stopped, drew back, and thought of dodging behind the procession of worried, sombrely clothed Freshmen; but there wasn't time. Lambert's face showed bewilderment and recognition.

      "Certainly it is Mr. Morton," he said in his old mocking fashion.

      George glanced at the surprised features which, in a masculine fashion, were reminiscent of Sylvia; and beyond he saw, in the rear seat of the automobile, Sylvia herself, lovelier, more removed than ever. Betty Alston sat at her side. Evidently neither had observed the encounter, for they laughed and chatted, probably about the terror-stricken Freshmen.

      George swallowed hard.

      "I heard you were going to be here. I wanted to keep out of your way."

      "But why?" Lambert laughed. "You have a scholastic appearance. You never mean – "

      "I am taking my entrance examinations," George said. "I want to make good here."

      He looked straight into Lambert's eyes. His voice became incisive, threatening.

      "I will make good. Don't try giving me away. Don't you tell Miss Alston where I came from – "

      "Yeh. The big fellow! Morton! Stringham and Green say he's going to be a wonder."

      It drifted to them from the passing youths.

      Lambert whistled. The mockery left his voice.

      "Go as far as you can," he said.

      And followed it with:

      "Don't be a self-conscious ass."

      He smiled whimsically.

      "Glad to have run into you – George."

      The driver had noticed Lambert. The automobile glided nearer.

      "I – I've got to get away," George said, hastily. "I don't want your sister to see me."

      Lambert turned. His voice, in turn, was a trifle threatening.

      "That's all nonsense. She's forgotten all about you; she wouldn't know you from Adam."

      George couldn't help staring. What a contrast the two young women offered! He wanted to realize that he actually looked at Sylvia Planter, Sylvia of the flesh, Sylvia who had expressed for him an endless contempt. But he couldn't help seeing also the golden hair and the soft colouring of Betty Alston.

      Lambert sprang into the car. Sylvia and Betty both glanced at the man he had left. George waited. What would happen now? Sylvia's colour did not heighten. Her eyes did not falter. Betty smiled and waved her hand. George took off his cap, still expectant. Sylvia's lifeless stare continued until the car had rolled away. George sighed, relaxed, and went on.

      Had Lambert been right? He didn't want to believe that. It hurt too much.

      "She saw me," he muttered. "She stared, not as if she saw an unknown man, but as if she wanted to make me think she saw nothing. She saw me."

      But he couldn't be sure. It seemed to him then that he wanted more than anything in the world to be sure.

      And he had not taken advantage of his chance. Instead of looking at her and fixing the stark fact of hatred in his mind, he had only thought with an angry, craving desire:

      "You are the loveliest thing in the world. The next time you'll know me. By God, the next time I'll make you know me."

      VIII

      In the examination hall George called upon his will to drive from his mind the details of that encounter. Lambert might be dependable, but if Sylvia had actually recognized him what might she not say to Betty Alston? He didn't want to see the kindness vanish from Betty's eyes, nor the friendliness from her manner. Lambert's assurance, moreover, that Sylvia had forgotten him lingered irritatingly.

      "I will not think of it," George told himself. "I will think of nothing but this paper. I will pass it."

      This ability to discipline his mind had increased steadily during his hours before Sylvia's portrait. The simple command "I will," was a necessity his brain met with a decreasing reluctance. For two hours now it excluded everything except his work. At the end of that time he signed his paper, sat back, and examined the anxious young men crowded about him in the long room. From these he must sooner or later detach the ones of value to himself. That first quick appraisal disclosed little; they were clothed too much to a pattern, wearing black jerseys, more often than not, black clothes, with black caps hanging from the supports of their chairs. In their faces, however, were visible differences that made him uneasy. Even from a uniform, then, men, to an extent, projected discrepancies of birth, or training, or habit. He sighed and turned in his paper.

      At the foot of the stairs groups collected, discussing the ordeal pessimistically. As he started to walk through, several spoke to George.

      "How did you hit it, Morton?"

      Already he was well spotted. He paused and joined the apprehensive chatter.

      "It's a toss-up with me," Rogers admitted. "Don't tell me any answers. If ignorance is bliss, I want to stay dumb."

      He caught George's arm.

      "Have you met Dicky Goodhue? Hello, Goodhue!"

      Goodhue gave the impression of not having met Rogers to any extent. He was a sturdy young man with handsome, finely formed features. George looked at him closely, because this young man alone of the Freshmen he had met remained unmoved by his fame.

      "Would like you to meet Morton, Goodhue."

      Goodhue glanced at George inquiringly, almost resentfully.

      "George Morton," Rogers stumbled on, as if an apology were necessary. "Stringham, you know, and Green – "

      "Glad to meet you," Goodhue said, indifferently.

      "Thanks," George acknowledged as indifferently, and turned away.

      Goodhue, it came upon him with a new appreciation of difficulties, was the proper sort. He watched him walk off with a well-dressed, weak-looking youth, threading a careless course among his classmates.

      "How long have you known this fellow Goodhue?" George asked as he crossed the campus with Rogers.

      "Oh, СКАЧАТЬ