“Miss Huntress, you have inspired me with an ambition which I never before possessed. I would give more than you can conceive to merit such praise from your lips as you have just bestowed upon another, and from this hour, my purpose shall be to ‘go to the front,’ as you have expressed it. I shall deliver the valedictory two years from next summer.”
Gladys laughed gleefully.
She never dreamed of the fierce enmity and jealousy that lay beneath all this, and she was delighted to think that she had aroused his desire to excel in his class.
“It will be a worthy contest,” she said; “and I honor you for your resolution. I shall watch the rivalry with a great deal of interest, I assure you.”
“Will you wear my colors if I succeed, Miss Huntress?” the young man asked, in a low, almost passionate tone.
“That depends——”
“Upon what?”
“Upon whether Geoffrey takes his degree at the same time; if he gains his year and leaves with your class, I think I shall have to be loyal to him, even though he should suffer defeat,” Gladys replied, though in her heart she felt sure that he would not fail to do himself honor.
“That is hardly fair,” urged her companion; “‘to the victor belongs the spoils,’ you know.”
“Yes; but you will have your own friends to rejoice with you, and I could not desert dear old Geoff, though he should fail a hundred times,” she returned, a tender glow overspreading her face.