“Nay, nay, my dear old college chum,” said Ready, who really took extreme delight in irritating Diamond. “Far be it from me to indulge in such rudeness. Still I cannot help thinking that you would not have stood a ghost of a show had I happened along in advance of you. I would have dawned on her delighted vision like a ten-thousand-dollar diamond sunburst, while you would have resembled a two-dollar rhinestone cluster. I have no desire to cause you misery, so I shall take care not to let her see much of me, well knowing it will lead her in time to regret her choice of a side-partner if she often beholds my intellectual countenance and fascinating figure.”
Juliet bit her lip and suppressed a laugh, but Diamond, knowing Ready was guying him, felt like hitting him.
“It’s a good thing for you,” whispered the Southerner, “that the ladies are here.”
“How?”
“If they were not, I’d give you a black eye!”
“Go ’way!” said Ready. “I think you’re horrid!”
Frank’s rooms were crowded now, and a chatter of conversation arose. Of course, Merry was the center of interest, but he found an opportunity to draw back and look around. These were the loyal friends he had made—the dear friends of his school and college days. They had clung to him through thick and thin, and he felt his heart swelling with affection toward them all. Even Dade Morgan was included, for Morgan had tried his best in these final college days to prove that he was repentant for the past and ready to do anything in his power to make atonement.
Memories of old times came rushing upon Frank in that moment. He thought of his first meeting with Hodge at Fardale, and of the adventures, struggles, and triumphs that followed. He thought of his coming to Yale, of his freshman struggles, of the enemies who seemed to rise around him as he toiled upward and onward, of the friends who were here and who had remained firm in every change that befell him.
Oh, those grand days of toil and pleasure at Yale! He felt that he would give much to live them all over again. But the end had come, and now he was going out into the world—going to bid Yale farewell!
This thought brought him a feeling of unspeakable sadness. It seemed that he was leaving the only home he knew. Home—yes, it was home for him. In truth, he had no other. Life lay before him, and he was to set his course toward a high goal when he received his sheepskin and turned his back on his alma mater. But he felt that he was being parted from the happiest portion of his life.