"Of course you would; I'd blame you if you wouldn't. But you wouldn't have done it for me alone, would you?"
"I don't know—I'd got sick of reporting classmates. I hope I won't have to face that question again."
"Drake, I wouldn't either have asked or expected you to do that for me. I didn't report myself because you didn't do it for me; I took my chance and was not reported. It was all right for Stone to report himself if he wanted to. As for being shoved into his position as acting senior cadet officer, that didn't amount to a hill of beans, and you know it. It was a very temporary matter, and it didn't make any difference to Stone or me or you or anybody else. At the same time I don't mind saying that I was sorry at the time I supplanted Stone. I'm also sorry you have seen fit to brood over this matter. I suppose I can get along without your friendship, though I was perfectly sincere in offering you mine."
"Do you know who's going to have five stripes?" asked Robert sharply.
"Why Stone, of course—I haven't seen the stripe list yet, but I don't imagine anybody else will be considered for that job."
Without saying anything more, Robert took a newspaper clipping from his pocket and handed it to Farnum. Stonewell, who had been silent during the talk between his two classmates, now said, offering his hand to the latter, "I congratulate you, Farnum; I'm sure you'll have a good brigade; you may depend on my helping you to the best of my ability."
Though Farnum was ordinarily a very self-contained young man, his eyes bulged when he saw himself gazetted as cadet commander. He hesitated for a moment, seemingly lost in perturbed thought; then turning to Stonewell, he took his hand and said, "Stone, this is very kind of you," and without another word passed out of the car.
"Bob," said Stonewell rather sharply, "I have a request to make of you, and if you are the friend I take you to be you'll heed it. I want you to drop this matter of five stripes. You'll make a nuisance of yourself and will make me ridiculous. I want you to promise me you will not go around and tell people Farnum shouldn't have five stripes and that I should."
"Stone, I boil over every time I think about it; I can't help it. It just makes me mad to see Farnum smirking and grinning, and usurping the place that belongs to you. But I don't think he'll enjoy his job, feeling in his heart that everybody knows he's an impostor. The idea of his saying to you 'this is very kind of you.' I'm disgusted!"
"Well, Bob, don't think about him, and as you feel so strongly try to avoid talking about the matter. Let's talk of something else. The entire squad should arrive by to-morrow, and we ought to get in some good practice——"