“Really? I thought——” He hesitated and then turned a laughing face to the other. “I guess I won’t say it.”
“Go ahead,” begged Phillip. “I can’t see how you could have taken me for an old stager.”
“Well, you looked so kind of don’t-give-a-hang, standing under the tree there, that I thought you were probably a soph. Hope you won’t take that as an insult.”
“No indeed; why should I? I rather wish I was a sophomore, I reckon.”
“Phew! That’s regular treason! Don’t you know that a freshman holds a soph. in the deepest contempt?”
“No, I didn’t know it. Why?”
“Oh—well, just because, I guess. It’s—it’s reciprocal. You have to; it’s part of the game.”
“Oh.” Phillip looked puzzled. They had reached the steps of the recitation hall. “Well, I’m going in here,” he said, hesitatingly.
“So’m I,” answered his new acquaintance. “And say, afterward come over to my room in Thayer with me and we’ll see if we can’t find that other squirrel, eh?”
“Thanks,” answered Phillip; “I’ll look for you.”