"No, that I can't," frankly answered Gall. "I have heard Trace hint at some reason for dislike, but he never said what. Miss Brabazon asked me about it once, but I did not learn anything. I think they are vexed that he, a new fellow, should have his name down for the Orville Exhibition."
"That should not cause them to persecute him."
"True. But, you see, when once a prejudice arises, it is not easy to allay it."
"Did it ever occur to you to realize Paradyne's position to your own mind?" asked Mr. Henry, "He is clever, generous, noble, forbearing; wishing to live in amity with all; and yet he is subjected to this cruel persecution: and for no cause that I can find out. Think it over, Mr. Gall, at your leisure; and now goodbye, and thank you for your company."
Mr. Henry sat back in his chair, listening to the senior boy's departing footsteps. There were times when he felt utterly depressed, as if every bit of spirit and energy had gone out of him. He was in a false position at Orville College, and he knew it. Since the first day of his entrance he had been fighting a battle with conscience; this of itself, with his sensitive mind, was enough to wear him out; it needed not his hard work added to it.
"I can't keep it up," he said to himself, as he rose, caught up some books, and went out to give his lesson. "And it is not right I should. Once the Oxford examination's over, the end shall come; and then, if I have to leave the college, why, I must leave it. I'd rather be back at Heidelberg."
Meanwhile Gall was walking slowly away, and "thinking over" the matter in regard to Paradyne: not because Mr. Henry had desired him to do it, but on his own score. Gall's was a just nature; he felt vexed with himself for the past; angry with the school in general.
It was not an opportune moment for Loftus to meet him, with his supercilious face, his still more supercilious words. In the middle of the grass, near the gymnasium-ground, they encountered each other. The under-current of enmity between these two was of long-standing, and Gall at least had inwardly and bitterly resented it. What Loftus said was never precisely known; some stinging taunt, reflecting on the "new friendship," meaning little, perhaps; but the other was not in a mood to bear it. The next moment, Gall had knocked him down.
He lay sprawling, the distinguished Loftus, his golden curls in contact with the base earth, his handsome nose bleeding with the blow. Gall stood erect, with compressed lips; the wondering boys were flocking up, and Mother Butter's dog stood by, barking fiercely, as if it were a raree-show.
Loftus rose. Whether he would have struck again was a question; he was not deficient in personal bravery, rather the contrary, but these elegant dandies rarely go in for blows. No opportunity was given one way or the other, for Mr. Henry, hastening up, stepped between them.